A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

How many "careers" do you know where... - sm

Posted: Jul 08, 2013

...the company's server goes down and you're left hanging ready, willing and able to work for hours with no communication for such hours and NO compensation? Even fast food restaurants would have paid me even if their fry machine went down. Finally, at the end of the day, just a nonchalant email saying the server is back up and please send your work. Aagggghhh! I have so had it with MT. No timeclock involved, so I guess we MTs have to "eat" yet another loss. Sorry, small rant is over.

Umhm, but please note, this is not/never was a "career." Careers - have movement. This is a job.

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These aren't just little nitpicking words. People our ages with careers spent the last 20-40 years gaining knowledge, moving to continually more demanding and usually better paying positions, preparing for their moves by taking continuing ed classes, going for another degree, etc.

It's important to understand what side of this enormous difference we stand so that we can understand what's happened to us.

Career people are typically decision makers, analysts or highly technical people who cannot just be replaced by computers (computers may mean 1 career person can do the work of 4, but that's not replacement, that's providing that person a computer "assistant"). Career people compose their own letters, memos, reports, or tell an assistant what to put in them, and put their own signatures at the bottom. They don't type them up for others.

Career people have mostly, but not always, landed on the pay-raise side of this giant chasm that's opened up. We, people who took a repetitive job and developed skill at that one job, then just did that same thing year after year, did not. Fact is, your typical 30-year MT has maybe 2 to 5 years of skill (2=one hospital for a very long time) repeated 6 to 15 times.

true; interesting points - nm

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I beg to differ - OP

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This most definitely was a career for me at one time when I was making $60,000+ a year and working less than 40 hour weeks. I was/have been an MT, QA, MTSO, etc., so I have seen the "great" sides of this "career." I also continued my education, have a degree and happily took every opportunity to further my knowledge.

Fast forward to 2013, I am just about finished school in a different field. I will agree with you that now MT is no longer a "career," but a job, although up until a few years ago, it was a "career" for me.

Indeed (sm) - Career MT

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I've been doing this for about 20 years. It did indeed used to be a career. Particularly when working in-house, one could start as an MT I and advance all the way up (raises and all) to an MT III, supervisor, or higher. There was very much room for advancement as your skill level and knowledge increased.

It's unfortunate that the MTs newer to the field never got to experience the days when MTs were truly respected and treated as such in the workplace. It sounds like a fantasy now, but that time really did exist. I started out entry level and quickly rose to MT III and along the way was rewarded with very substantial raises. What a shame those days are gone and will likely never return.

Career MT - Thank you/OP

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I do believe you hit the nail on the head regarding newer MTs. I've been at this for close to 30 years and I am nowhere near retirement age. Advancement was most certainly something we could strive for and a thirst for knowledge was so exciting for me. I so loved that I could learn something new every day and be appreciated for my input to patient care!

Yes, it sounds like a fantasy in this day and age. Oh, remember the raises and actually being appreciated? Sigh...

Umhm, but the skills you developed the first few years - are what you have been selling ever

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since. A few changes with technology, but basically the same skills people who entered the field 3 or 4 years ago have.

And, how much you were paid in the days when hospitals were desperate to find competent MTs within commuting distance is irrelevant to the issue of whether what you were selling became, over all those years, increasingly more valuable--i.e., higher, more complex skills and ability to handle increasingly higher levels of responsibility. Like someone who installed drive belts in an auto factory for 30 years, you had a good-paying job back in the New Deal/build-the-middle-class days.

Now, some MTs did turn it into a career by becoming supervisors, taking classes, learning to give presentations, and moving up to lower management or the technical side as IT developed. Some started school, became vocation college teachers, ran professional organizations and lobbied legislatures, or wrote books for MTs. Some became nurses and developed in that career. Whichever direction taken, from those positions career people took on other challenges. Movement.

But that's not us here at this forum. We may have done wonderful things with other parts of our lives, be highly successful people, but when it came to work we found a comfortable little pool to paddle around in and stayed there. That's why this is a job, occupation, vocation, not a career.

This isn't a putdown of us, it's about this: Why no raises for us. Above all, our work is not worth MORE and we ARE more easily replaced.

There are three main kinds of raises--cost of living, because higher skills get paid more, and for hanging around. Actually 4--those for the crowds who wield the cake cutters.

For #1: We "got off the backs of business" (remember the old mantra) and with that lost the power to demand cost of living increases. ALL job pay is decreasing across the nation, all industries.

For #2: Our skill level and value of our product remained essentially the same, so why pay more for it.

For #3: Raises just to stay with the company year after year, getting older and requiring more and more sick days and healthcare? Uhuh! About the time employers could hire remote, any remaining rationale for paying a fortune each year to a group of MTs just to encourage them to hang around basically vanished. (Remember the idea of pensions?).

For #4: We're not the people who cut the cake. We're the bakers.

Career Choice - For most people

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I believe this was a career choice. I believe most people took an MT course with a career in mind. Your post makes no sense. You can have a career at Target or Walmart and not be a big decision maker. Careers come in many forms and sizes.

I - got

[ In Reply To ..]
into this as a career choice, and so did many others. A career is a profession or occupation, and that is what medical transcription is. Career people are not always decision makers, and I have no clue where you got the impression that a career person cannot be replaced by a computer. By the way, many of those who type up letters for decision makers are called secretaries and many chose that as their career. Many people have careers where they are not decision makers.

I also know most of us have spent many, many years gaining knowledge in our career. Many of us used to love our career and made a pretty good living at it. Don't try to demean our career choice just because the MTSOs destroyed it through greed. By the way, no matter what you or the MTSOs think, a computer will never replace us.

Career vs job - My take

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I'm no expert here, but this topic led me to do some research on C vs J.

I've been an MT for 25+ years and have enjoyed the "glory days," but I've always felt that it was merely an exchange of services for a fee. It was really a means to an end, and not the end in itself. I've always sought a high level of proficiency...but, in the end, it's just piecework. MTs don't generate ideas; we simply process them into another form. In the past, we were compensated very well indeed (and respected to boot), but I wouldn't say these things equal a profession.

I've always known that I could be discarded and replaced in an instant; a professional, IMO, creates a niche for the product of his/her mind and then markets that product based on demand. MTing has been satisfying, remunerative, and intellectually stimulating, but I would hesitate to call it a profession. We're only as good as our last paycheck -- once the pay period ends, we start at zero again and have to start accumulating lines. Sounds like a job to me.

Another example: I've played an instrument and studied music for 50 years. Music is a lifelong pursuit for me, and I'm usually paid for performing. Strictly speaking, I'm a "professional," but really, it's still just piecework. :(

Just an observation.

Not a profession?? - fedupMT

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Wow, reading these posts really got me ticked. I am sorry but if we are just producing a product like robots with no intellectual process behind it to be able to call it a profession, why then must we know anatomy, physiology, pharmacology and all other sub-specialties so we can FIX the mistakes made by our dictators?? I don't know who you ever transcribed for but I have had to make corrections just to save a person from being killed by the wrong dosage dictated on numerous occasions. I have had people say the wrong organ systems, body parts, made up their own medical terms and what not that needed to be corrected and it is an everyday process. If we are just spitting out "piecework" then why do they still need editors for their VR technology? Just for that reason, it spits out "piecework" with no intelligence behind it. I am pretty sure an editor at a magazine or book publishing company considers their "job" a career and a profession. We are not mindless worker bees that spit out a product exactly as given to us!! That kind of senseless view on our "profession" is what got us in this horrible mess in the first place. MTSO's see as such, worker bees that mean nothing and are worth nothing and they want us all to buy into that mentality so they can continue to pay us slave wages and treat us worse than fast food employees. I am horrified that another experienced MT would simply buy into that and say in the end its just "piecework."

Career Vs Job -- Me again - Response

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This thread may be winding down, but I really wanted to respond.

I didn't mean to offend. No, of course we're not just "producing a product like robots." I've paid my dues, too, by taking courses in A&P and pharmacology, etc. Like you, I correct dictation and flag discrepancies; these are things a computer can't do. Whether I've saved any lives by being meticulous is anybody's guess. I've always secretly wondered if anyone actually reads all of this voluminous material we generate. When the day is over, though, a doctor is responsible for the final product; if s/he signs off on the report, s/he is approving its content (though, of course, they'll TRY to put the burden on us!).

Sometimes I think we could be compared to workers in the garment industry. Some are sewing A-line jumpers, and others are sewing red-carpet gowns, military uniforms, or coronation robes. Regardless of the complexity of the garment, it's the designer who conceives of the design, selects the fabric, and, in the end, accepts the applause.

Not just anybody can do MT, either. It takes a certain kind of person and (quirky!) personality to work in isolation and with no recognition whatsoever yet still produce consistently reliable documenation; however, if you don't tickle the keys today, you don't get paid for today. MTing isn't an investment in a stable financial future; it's just...well, piecework. It is what it is. The day you quit typing is the day they'll forget your name. :(

I definitely agree with you - fedupMT

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I guess my frustration is the same as every other experienced MT, we should be treated as professionals but we are not. Gosh, even like one poster said, McDonald's will still keep paying you if there are no customers ordering. It is sick and disgusting what has happened to all of us over the last few years. When I first started as an MT I couldn't even go to a doctor's appointment without getting job offers thrown at me and back then I thought I was so lucky!! Now I am seriously distraught about my future. Looks like is just the time (or even way past time) to go back to school and start a new career.

I understand - C vs J (me again)

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Yeah, I'm right there with ya. I'm distraught, too. A dying art, MT, but a great run while it lasted. I'm willing to adapt but am paralyzed by indecision. I try to remember that in 10 years, I'll be saying, "I just didn't know what I was going to do in 2013, everything changed so fast, but the most amazing thing happened, something I never expected..." What will it be? :)

I have to go with - pieceworker and just a job...

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even though it is a job which requires quite a bit of specialized skill, in the end, it is just a job and you can be replaced by anyone with the same skill set.

To me a professional (not in the broad sense) is a person with knowledge who other people come to and ask "what should I do?" or "how should this be done?" or how can I do this better?" MTs are given instructions, no matter how idiotic or counter-productive, and expected to follow them to the letter without question. We may do our jobs in a professional manner, but we are not considered "professionals."

I - guess

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Teachers, policemen, firemen, etc. are not considered professionals or don't have careers either. They are expected to follow instructions, procedures, do what their superiors say.

Sorry, but others do - seek out the

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expertise of teachers, firemen, police, nurses, accountants, etc. and those occupations can also advance. When is the last time anyone asked your opinion about how a medical report should be done? When is the last time you got a raise or a promotion? MT, especially now, is a dead end job with very little if any possibility of upward trajectory. Many of us even consider our own "credential" (CMT) and "professional organization" a joke and a scam.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a highly skilled worker like MT, but comparing it to occupations that take years of advanced study and training is ridiculous. How many of the above occupations do you think would find it acceptable to make minimum wage and be treated the trashy way these MTSOs treat a lot of us?

Umhm. The original professions were few, attorney, physician, - that sort of thing. Higher education. nm

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x

I have to side with the piecework post. I've been doing this for (sm) - mtwith6yearstogo

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25 or more years and was always motivated to learn more, but not in the last 5 years or so. Pay cut in half, no bonuses, nitpicking, VR, etc. I know I can be replaced tomorrow. :(

LOL, I need to wear my glasses - Blind As a Bat

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I read the post where is said, "so I guess we MTs ahve to "eat" yet another loss."

But I thought it said . . . eat another BOSS. I said to myself, "Hmmmm, we're doing that now? I'd like mine deep fried and covered in buffalo wing sauce."

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