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

MT Survey for Statistics Class Project - HIT Student AdaBee

Posted: Oct 10, 2014

Hello Medical Transcriptionists, Past and Present! I'm doing a survey of current and former MTs for my Intro to Statistics project. Your participation would be deeply appreciated! Answers are confidential. I’m collecting data about MTs in the USA - what they know, what they have experienced, and what they think. Data will be compiled, analyzed and presented in a final report.

Please consider adding your voice to this project. Your input is valuable. Feel free to post wherever MTs gather, or email to colleagues.

You can access the survey here: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1830922/b00c8f4306d3.

Thank you!

I took the survey. :) - Nothing to lose

[ In Reply To ..]

I did too. I doubt it will help, but it felt good to say what I was coming - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
here to post anyway. POOR sound quality and horrible ESLs should NOT be blamed on the MT!! So sick of that. Low pay and horrible ESLs. They need to tell the doctors until they can speak clearly, they need to write it out!

Had to chuckle at all the dislikes because I - took the survey. S/M

[ In Reply To ..]
Not that it matters one way or the other. I don't even have a job anymore, so I really, TRULY, have nothing to lose. I just gave her the truth. She can do with that truth as she wishes. No skin off my nose, and glad to see you are equally sick of MT.

I don't like the fact that our jobs went to India, but the Indians didn't "steal" them; they were SENT there, willingly, by the money-grabbing MTSO's. But not to worry. EMR point/click software will take MT away from the Indians, too. It's just a matter of time.

why? - why?

[ In Reply To ..]
why would you want to analyze this profession? It won't even be here next year.

MT Survey - the why and who am I - HIT Student AdaBee

[ In Reply To ..]
Hello! Please forgive me for not explaining the project further.

I'm a 22-year veteran of MT, in my last year of the HIT program at a community college in the Rocky Mountain Region.

My Intro to Statistics instructor assigned a project: design a survey measuring different kinds of data (categories, numbers, etc.) and divide respondents into 2 groups such as men vs. women.

MTs are near and dear to my heart. I've been telling my program director for the last couple years about the MT profession - the kinds of things in the survey.

So rather than doing a survey about men vs. women, should the toilet seat be up or down, I decided to collect data from MTs, current and former.

We were asked to gather 30-40 responses. I have over 250 responses. I asked permission to keep it open and continue collecting data because I felt I was onto something important. Since I am only a community college student, I asked one of my stats-minded HIT instructors for help with data interpretation.

After 22 years in the industry, I absolutely understand your skepticism. You are invited to participate. I'd like to give as many MTs a voice a possible. The demographic information is optional and can be skipped.

The project is due in stages and the semester ends Dec. 8. We are to turn in a report, analyzing and interpreting the data, with graphs and so on.

While somewhat expected, the data so far is sobering, striking, and I feel there is a story there that needs telling.

In case I don't make it back here, feel free to use the email in the beginning of the survey for any questions. Thank you, and sorry so long!

Thank you - Curious

[ In Reply To ..]
Thanks for the clarification, I went back and completed the survey :-)

Thanks! :) sm - AdaBee

[ In Reply To ..]
I really appreciate it.

Why indeed? - Curious

[ In Reply To ..]
OP, please identify who you represent. Why the questions in regard to HIM and RHIT? I didn't finish the survey due to concerns over how the information is going to be used. Where is the final report being presented?

Who even cares who it "represents"? This - field will be empty by mid-2015, anyway.

[ In Reply To ..]
nmsg

Did not complete it - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Apologies in advance for the one huge paragraph . . . tried twice to fix that, but the board isn't recognizing the "return" key. ........

I started it, but did not complete it because the questions did not allow choices for my situation. In other words, the questions forced me into making a choice that was invalid or leaving it blank. They didn't go far enough for those of us who left the profession or they left off some obvious choices that would have been the only thing I could have chosen. ................

For instance, the question that asks about where we worked includes radiology tech, but does not include a slew of other possible situations. The one that asks if we have heard of health information management and the RHIT. Well, what about HIM credentials other than the RHIT? Where are you trying to go with that? You can already see from other responses that people are concerned about that -- it makes your survey appear to be a shady marketing trick on the part of some for-profit college with an RHIT program. ...............

In any event, you're only going to get numbers of people who have or have not heard about them, but there won't be much useful information in that number. I can answer that I've heard of them, but you can't infer much else. Yeah, I've heard of both. I work in the first and I know about the second, but that doesn't mean RHIT might be a possible career avenue because I'm an RHIA. (I'm also a statistician, which is why I'm pointing these things out to you . . . a little feedback on the validity of your questionnaire.) ....................

The question that asks how many specialties we've transcribed is going to give you invalid numbers for MTs who have transcribed a lot of specialties. Someone who has transcribed only 1 or 5 can count them easily, so those numbers might be valid. Someone who has transcribed for a number of major medical centers will have difficulty counting the number, so they'll just guess, estimate, or skip the question. People will vary in their understanding of what a specialty is, with some counting subspecialties separately and some not. Instead of asking for the number, you might have provided a check-list of specialties (I know you can do that, because you did it on other questions) or numerical ranges like 1-5, 6-10, >10. ...............

Also, your survey is *not* asking for "my voice" -- it is asking me for information that you can use in your class assignment. My input is not "valuable," except to you as a way to get your assignment done. I mention that because it is important to be honest about the reasons for a survey. ...................

Your survey is not going to be used to make sweeping changes in the status of MTs. It is going to be used for your grade in a class. You said it will be presented in a "final report," but you didn't say where, and that might be a little misleading. Where is where, exactly? Are the results going to be made available to us? And how do we know that answers are confidential? If we don't know who you are, or even what school, or who your instructor is, or if you submitted your proposal through the school's human use committee (which they probably don't even have), what assurance do we have of confidentiality? At a minimum, I would want to know what school you attend.

Dang...I could have used someone like you. sm - AdaBee

[ In Reply To ..]
You ask great questions.

I think I read in the posting guidelines I'm not allowed to post identifying info, correct? Am I allowed to say the name of my school? It's a community college in the Rocky Mountain Region with an HIT program.

The short answer to all your questions is that we had this assignment to do a very basic survey and most of my classmates indeed did a very basic survey, but I had this idea to to do a survey about something I really cared about.

I used the limited knowledge I have, and the limited time I had, not realizing so many people would take it.

As soon as the data began to come in, I realized a few things including:
1. There is some important information here; I feel an obligation to tell this story to the best of my ability.
2. I wish I'd thought to do some of
these questions differently, though I knew I couldn't change the formatting of the questions once it was out there.

I asked about RHIT specifically because that is where my specific program is leading. It's not a for-profit school, but I asked about the RHIT specifically because I had never heard of HIT programs or the RHIT when I was looking for a career change.

The specialties was tricky. There are so many subspecialties that I wasn't sure which to include.

If I had it to do over, I would consult with someone like you with both the knowledge of stats and MT. It just didn't occur to me, honestly.

I figured if I posted it on my Facebook, enough of my friends and coworkers would take it and I'd have my required 30-40 surveys. I got a lot more than that, and because of the nature of the responses, I did indeed want to hear more MT voices.

My final report is due on Dec. 8. There is an email address at the beginning of the survey for anyone who would like a copy of the report.

As far as confidentiality, trusting strangers on the internet is certainly something to be approached with skepticism! I would just say everyone should proceed as their own comfort level allows.

In the end, it is a beginner survey, a student project. I just want to do my best and yes, I'd like to pass my class. The formulas, quite frankly, are kicking me in the behind!

You are learning something really useful! - Stats, again

[ In Reply To ..]
Yes, having someone like me might have helped, but you would not have learned as much. You are now learning what makes surveys so difficult to do. It is nearly impossible to put that in a textbook. There are books on it, but it is not something easy to pick up from reading about it. Learning from experience is good.

It isn't a problem for your project, either. You can submit a write-up of what you would do differently next time. "When I started out, I did this, but based on some questions and responses, I would do this differently next time." You can, and should, include an explanation of the limitations of your data, like the specialty numbers possibly being more accurate for few specialties as opposed for a lot. You might even be able to look at those and see where they become unreliable.

What's the problem with the formulas? Aside from them always being a problem early on? LOL. Are you using Excel? It already knows how to do them. If you are doing your calculations by hand, just keep the parts organized. They certainly look scary, and they may take forever, but the actual math is not complicated. It all comes down to addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Maybe my brain is just old? :) sm - AdaBee

[ In Reply To ..]
LOL! Seriously, though, are you saying if I break down the formulas into smaller parts, they are just basic operations? The summation notation gives me deer-in-headlights syndrome. I downloaded some videos from Khan Academy, and the HIT dept will provide a tutor for stats if there are at least 3 of us that will commit to showing up weekly.

My instructor is a gem, but when he lectures I am hanging onto the concepts by a thread, and when I try the homework at home I keep getting stuck. He posts his notes and I print those out and go over them. We don't use Excel. We write out the problems and then use our calculators for some of them.

The worst thing is that I got a little bit behind early on and now I feel like I can't possibly catch up. Do you have any tips on the best way to learn these concepts? Repetition? Doing the problems by hand?

I like your ideas for my report! I'll start jotting down notes each time something is brought to my attention.

Thanks a million for sharing your expertise, I really appreciate it. I'm working in data integrity now, and I LOVE it. But I'd like to become more adept at this foreign language of statistics for sure!

Your brain is not old ... this is just new to you - Stats, again

[ In Reply To ..]
Believe me, your brain can learn this.

Khan Academy is awesome, and it is free. The explanations are excellent. (The guy should be nominated for sainthood, IMO.) Look for probability and statistics in the math section.

Yes, everything is just a bunch of basic operations. Summation is just addition.

The formulas look dreadful because they use notation to mean certain things that would take to long to write out.

For instance, the mean is the sum of all the values divided by the count of the values. Count how many responses you got and hold that number. Now add up all the responses. Now divide that number by the count that you are holding. That is the mean.

It is a lot easier to use some kind of shorthand to say all that.

This is confusing at first because you are trying to learn the inside details. Once you get a grip on them, you start seeing things as packets of info, instead of the details. You can then deal with packets rather than piles of addition ...

I like www.purplemath.com, too. It is very good for written-out explanations.

Had our exam tonight. Eek. sm - AdaBee

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you for the encouragement, it is definitely new! It is also not what I expected!

Our HIT program has Intro to Stats as a requirement for graduation and the other programs in the area don't have a math requirement. We probably scare some students off! LOL.

I have really appreciated your help and your thoughts here. I think once I have more time to study, that will help and boy are you right about the Khan Academy guy!

Have a great week and thanks again. :)

Say, can I ask a few validity questions? sm - AdaBee

[ In Reply To ..]
Some people emailed me to bring up various questions, similar to what you did about not having the option to put down pay/line rates for different types of industry jobs.

Am I right in that I cannot add questions once the survey is out there and taken by 250+ people? Such as adding a pay rate for "other?"

Did it help on some of the other questions that I put in a space for "other" with a space to explain?

How would you have handled the specialty issue? My concern was how to break them down. For instance, would you have listed oncology as one specialty? Or oncology separate from radiation oncology? How about things like general surgery vs orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery, etc.? Would you have included things like speech, occupational, and physical therapy? I started trying to count the specialties I've done and some of them were kind of off the beaten path, you know? Or would you have done a number range like 1-4, 5-9, 10-14, 15 or more?

Please answer at your convenience if you have time, and thanks!

Some of the snotty replies you've gotten do - point out the sad fact that - S/M

[ In Reply To ..]
there are far too many rude, self-absorbed old biddies in the MT profession. Am I right? ;)

Yes, happy to answer - Stats again

[ In Reply To ..]
Yes, you pretty much can't change the survey in midstream. You might be able to add a question, but if you change one by adding another choice, you risk changing responses to the other choices, as well. That is why surveys are often tested on a small group first. You didn't have the opportunity to do that, but you can just explain any limitations you discover in your report.

Yes, it does help that you included a choice of "other" with room to explain. More work for you, but you will get more answers.

The specialties thing depends on what you wanted to know. If you wanted to find out how many had done orthopedics or gyn, you would list the specialties themselves. If you wanted to know the number of specialties, you could do wha you did, or just ask for numerical ranges, like 1 to 5, 6 to 10. You could determine the ranges according to what you want.

If you ask for numbers, you leave it up to the MT to decide what a specialty is. If you wanted to define the specialties themselves, you could list the choices. You could be more or less specific as you feel is warranted. It all depends on what you are going for.

I would have gone with numerical ranges, as you listed last.

To did not complete it - Curious

[ In Reply To ..]
I appreciate your thoughtful post and I asked many of the same questions as I went through the survey. I left several answers blank because they were not pertinent or I was not comfortable sharing. My impression was that the assumption had been made that all MTs worked at home for MTSOs and that everyone's salary had gone down the tubes. That is a percentage, but there are also a number of people who survived layoffs and now work in transcription in other capacities. The hospital in my town still has a fully staffed transcription department and I would think that across the United States there are many who are still thriving but those voices are not represented. The RHIT question made me uncomfortable and I didn't supply my email address because that can probably be matched to the survey, which no longer makes it confidential. OP, hope you enjoy compiling the data and I hope you are graded well on your project.

I agree, the ones who are thriving, working for - hospital and doing well are

[ In Reply To ..]
often attacked on this site. I completed the survey and found it as an opportunity to speak about still doing well and not being insulted.

Thank you! sm - AdaBee

[ In Reply To ..]
I really appreciate it!

I wish I'd done some questions differently to be sure.

The assignment was meant to be much more simple. One of my friends asked people if they drank soda, what kinds and how often.

I just have never figured out how to keep things simple! LOL!

After I started getting responses and emails, some mentioned questions I'd missed and boy were they right.

The space for pay is problematic because I forgot to allow for people who do QA and other jobs.

The number of specialties was tricky too. Our statistician who was helping me here on the board suggested ranges of numbers and that would have been perfect. I wanted to ask in a way that could be measured and compared.

I asked about the RHIT because that's what I'm working towards. The program at my school (community college in the Denver area) leads to an AA degree in HIT and then I'll plan to sit for the RHIT next summer.

I've been telling my program director that MTs are uniquely qualified for success in HIT/HIM programs and careers because of their experience, training, fund of knowledge, and I think they should reach out to MTs more (this is what gave me the idea to do a survey in the first place, I wanted to be able to prove my claims).

Also, when I was looking for a change, I didn't even know about this career path or that my MT experience counted.

Thank you for your good wishes! I hope to get a good grade too, especially since I may have botched the exam tonight. :/

Thank you again for your participation!

-- it makes your survey appear to be a shady marketing trick on the part of some for-profit college - SERIOUSLY?

[ In Reply To ..]
shame on you.

Shame on ME? - Did you read before reacting?

[ In Reply To ..]
Did you read the whole thing in context, and the rest of the help I provided, before letting your knee-jerk reaction fly?

Apparently not.

I did not say I thought that. I pointed out things that any survey participant might think, and that one was already voiced by someone.

Why post at all if you are only going to attack someone who is trying to help?

It hardly seems realistic - SM

[ In Reply To ..]
to come down on a student who is completely powerless to affect major change in an industry where every MT is in a stranglehold. Besides, we really have no idea for sure that the responses are not going to get the attention of someone who counts and might be able to reverse things for us. But hey, so what if nothing changes because of this survey. What do any of us have to lose? It gave me a chance to blow off a lot of steam, and for that at least I am grateful. Finally, education is the first step to change, and maybe someone who cares will be made aware of the plight of an MT who might tell someone else. There should be more surveys like this so the rest of the world can get wise to yet another way that the healthcare industry is screwing over the ones they pledge to serve.

@where every MT is in a stranglehold - Not EVERY MT

[ In Reply To ..]
I'm just saying. Some are still doing very well. Albeit few and far btween, but the stats would be more accurate for this project if we are included as well. I did complete the survery.

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