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

How many years does it take to be considered a seasoned MT? - mel

Posted: Dec 02, 2010

I wanted to know what is considered a rookie MT and what is considered a seasoned MT.

Thanks In Advance

Depends on how salty ya are! (nm) - LMAO

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x

Lots of variables - sm

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If you've spent five years typing a dermatology clinic, you still would be considered a rookie in the world of acute care or radiology. So it's hard to give a definitive answer. I would say someone with five years of acute care work is no longer a rookie, but that is just my opinion.

If you are strictly a clinic MT or a radiology MT - SM

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you will never become a seasoned MT. I personally feel you have a wide range of experience which generally comes from working in acute care.

Respectfully disagree with that one. - To season or not to season

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If you've been doing clinic work the majority of your career, quite frankly the acute care isn't THAT hard to pick up. BTDT. Yes, there's a learning curve, but if you've been doing this for a while, it can be done.

To say that because someone is strictly clinic they will never be seasoned is, imo, very demeaning.

I agree - LMJ

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I can do any kind of work type or specialty. BUT, I bow to those who've done a specialty, especially one that is quite involved or technical, because they are SEASONED so well in their specialty that they never have to ask a question.

Just because you do acute care doesn't make you the end-all, be-all of MT. It means you do hospital work. Putting you in a dermatology clinic for a few days might show ya that ;-) Not that you could NOT do it, but that you'd quickly see you just don't get that technical with specialties in acute care.

However, the MT who only works in one specific speciality - SM

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are only seasoned in that one speciality. An employer is more apt to hire an MT who has experience doing a variety of specialties and can do anything that is thrown at them versus the dermatology MT who can only work on the dermatology clinic and will be significantly less productive if she's thrown into say OP notes.

but - LMJ

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that wasn't the question :)

I think someone who spends a lifetime in a dermatology clinic is, indeed, seasoned.

OP didn't ask well-rounded, more apt to be hired, pluggable...she asked seasoned

unless you spent a lifetime doing poor work. See message - Just another viewpoint to consider

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I saw the work done by the transcriptionist in my allergy clinic. She had done that work for 20 years. It was horrible! Her work was riddled with errors, even though she used lots of canned text which, by the way, was also riddled with errors.

Her current employers are fine with all those errors. If she decided to work elsewhere, she probably could not pass employment tests, even for an allergy clinic.

can be said for any specialty, not limited to clinic - nm

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x

If she can learn derm, she can learn op notes. - And once youre doing MT at all, - s/m

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you're halfway there. Dermatology can cover a lot more than just rashes and pimples.

What if someone were to tell YOU, that as an acute care MT, you would never be able to learn pathology? Or ophthalmology? Or veterinary surgery?

Well, it's the same thing. If you can learn one aspect of MT, you can learn other aspects as well. You shouldn't be feeding that kind of skewed "information" to someone who asked a legitimate, honest question.

They'll be seasoned, as a clinic MT and clinic MTs - SM

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make less per line. Every interviewed I've had with nationals, there are MTs who do strictly clinic work and they make at least 1 to 2 cpl less per line than an acute care MT.

Really? - LMJ

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I work for a national company making 10 cpl for a clinic. My bad, I better tell them to knock me down a few cents! LOL! That's just not logical.

I've interviewed and spoken with several companies in the last year and I was offered anywhere from 7 cpl for clinic at one place to 7 cpl for acute care at another (kept looking obviously) to 11 for acute care (that made me want to slit my wrists because the accounts were so cruddy) to 10 for a specialty clinic.

Don't diss clinic work, it's not just for "stupid" people yanno (wink).

thank you!! - Happy MT Robin

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I do primarily clinic work - Oncology clinic - and some of those drug names... I've also done acute care and don't really see that much of a difference. Each "specialty" has their own language, so to speak, and if you're not familiar with Ortho or surgery or ENT, it takes a little bit to get up to speed, but if you're good at what you do, and I think 99% of us on this board are, then we're also good at getting up to speed.

About your 99% comment, I don't think so. - See message

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I know quite a few people who post here. I know their work. I've been shocked in the past to recognize someone talking about how good their work is when they were known for really poor work. You can't tell a thing about most people from a few notes on a forum. My best guess is the percentage who are good at what they do would be shockingly poor, if we knew, which we don't.

Many of us have seen (many but not all) clinics that accepted poor work - Why we are just saying...

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It's just that clinics used to accept quality at a lower level than acute care. I believe that is changing, and that's a very good thing for MT and a very bad thing for those MTs that have been doing poor work for many years on those jobs.

It sounds as if you are one of the clinic MTs that got it right years ago. I think all of the clinics are getting tougher now. I don't expect much difference in quality in the next few years.

Agree - LMJ

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However, I see this as an across-the-board issue, not just clinics. I've seen hospital work that is so bad I've wondered how the MTs ever got hired, let alone stayed on.

I think what we are seeing now (and I would disagree with Happy's 99% number as well) is that MTs are being held accountable really for the first time in their careers for a lot of them. They can't cut 98-99% accuracy and so what happens is the company is bad, they don't listen, QA nags, no one answers emails, etc. I think there's likely a high percentage (not all) of those posters who, frankly, just aren't as good as they like to believe they are. I've seen MTs who are totally able to walk the talk and they are employed, paid fairly, and appreciated by the companies they represent.

I would have to agree with you. That's also what I'm seeing. - A Wake-Up Call

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I think it's a wake-up call for those who care, but it's obvious that many don't care.

I've done both, and really don't know why they think - clinic work is worth less. s/m

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A large clinic has just as much variety, and often do a variety of surgical procedures, as well.

The ONLY difference I've ever noticed that might make clinic work a smidge easier than acute care, is you're not dealing with residents, and not quite so many ESLs. But other than that, and different procedures, it's just as technical, just as difficult, and why MTSOs pay less for it is beyond me. Other than it's just another way for them to cheat MTs.

Um, beg to differ with that. I was a clinic-&-rad - only MT, and just jumped - sm

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right into acute care. Sure, there were different procedures, different words and drugs. But medical terminology is basically the same. You will encounter unfamiliar terminology every time you change specialties, clinics, employers, even doctor to doctor. All the change does is slow you down a little, 'til you're dialed in to the new terminology. It only took me a week or two. So some on - to say an experienced MT who hasn't done acute care "will never be seasoned" is pure hogwash.

My opinion - Violet

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That's a good question. For me kind of hard. My personal feeling is I would say up to 1-2 years (depending on how much you can keep learning) is a rookie, then I would consider someone intermediate. I think I would call someone a seasoned MT if they've done it for over 5 years and have worked in various specialties. I think even if you work in one specialty for 3 or more years I would consider someone an advanced MT. Maybe give them a class II

Agree with Violet but there are major exceptions, both ways - nm

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nm

My opinion - In the trenches a LONG time

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To be called "seasoned" I would say 10 years of 100% acute care experience, preferably at more than 1 hospital. A couple of years of doing nothing but clinic SOAP notes definitely does not qualify as seasoned.

It depends - LK

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I agree with you that the type of experience is very important. I've been at this for 5-1/2 years, but I consider myself seasoned. I started out doing acute care as a newbie and have done it full time the entire 5-1/2 years for a number of different hospitals, currently a large teaching hospital. I have transcribed hundreds of dictators in all specialty areas (including many monstrous ESLs), and I can transcribe anything thrown at me. I guess I'll be even more seasoned when I hit 10 years, but I don't feel there is anything I can't do at this point.

Speaking from personal experience - In the trenches a long time

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I guess I was speaking from my own personal experience. I've been an MT for over 40 years and when I think back to when I had only 5 years of experience, I clearly had much yet to learn.

I've been in it 35 years. Thinking back to when I had - only been in it 5 years, I was - s/m

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making more than twice what I'm making today, with 35 years. In my resume-sending experience during the last 5 years, I've had some places tell me 35 years was not enough experience. Other places told me I was overqualified.

How "seasoned" an MT may be is all in the eye of the beholder, sometimes.

Depends on the clinic. Is it a 2-doc lean-to in the - Ozarks, or a 400-doctor mega-clinic?

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It's not measured in years, but in depth of experience - and commitment to learning.

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A person transcribing a broad range of challenging reports who enjoys reading about and understanding the medical procedures and issues will be far more knowledgeable after a year than a 10-year veteran who never reads medical journal articles and essentially has 2 years of routine experience repeated 5 times.

IMHO, at a minimum, 7 years of acute care with 5 of it on ops. - All specialties, all work types, lots of ESLs. nm

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nm

While I agree with some of what you say - sm

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Maybe you meant that five years which included OP notes because I think five years of solely op notes could present the danger of being almost as limited as someone in a specialty clinic, although obviously across a much broader swath of anatomy, but without much of the physiology part.

You're right; that is what I meant. Heavy op experience concurrent - with other acute care. nm

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nm

Seasoned MT "equaling" knowledge of QA person - Assuming

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I just assumed with the variety specialties that a QA person needs to be familiar with, the seasoned MT would need a least a bit of variety of specialties as well.

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