A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry
Unusual Entrance into MT - bs66
Posted: Mar 15, 2010
Looking for cases in which any MTs on this board were NOT specifically trained thru an official MT school but rather had equivalent medical studies schooling/background/hospital work... and managed to market yourself or simply applied to jobs and found yourself a start as an MT (in otherwords, without going thru any special "MT course" or certification since you had already gone thru university level courses in which you learned the same required medical subjects).
If this is you, please tell me your story.
I didn't have any responses in the New MTs section-- anyone??
My entry into MT wasn't unusual for its time, but it - sm - Zircon
[ In Reply To ..]would probably be considered unusual now. A relative was an MT. I had been bouncing from office job to office job. One day I was having lunch with her in the cafeteria of the hospital where she worked. She showed me her office (back then, MTs often had their own offices, even inhouse at hospitals). Then she took a tape she was done transcribing, and let me have a try at it. (HIPAA wouldn't let you do that, now). Considering I had no training, I was able to do enough of it (albeit with some strange mis-spellings of some medical words), that she said should look into it as a profession. Seemed like a good idea to me, too, since I had enjoyed the time I'd spent playing with transcribing that tape.
So I took a Medical Terminology course at night-school. Was always pretty good at spelling, so that class was pretty easy. Step-2 had been to go on to Transcription Lab in the next semester, but I had already transcribed some corporate meetings in one of my Kelly Girl jobs, and fine at that, too. I had signed up for the Transcription Lab class that summer, but the teacher said I didn't need it, and offered me a job UCLA. I considered it, but ended up taking a job at a small service that was closer to home. (Even got my own office, too!) And the rest (although rather ancient), is history.
I was working as a temporary word processor through an agency in my town, and.... - SM
[ In Reply To ..]...the agency got a call from the radiation oncology department of a local hospital seeking someone who could cover for their MT/clerk while she went on a 2-week vacation. I had NO MT experience at all, but my service was desperate to cover the opening and they figured I could pick it up quickly. I had one day of training with the clerk before she went on vacation, then managed to somehow limp along those next 2 weeks (the doc was Korean, and very heavily accented). They actually offered me a job at the end of the two weeks, which I didn't take.
I found that I really liked what I had done those two weeks, however, so when the local trauma center's transcription department was hiring I applied. They knew I had virtually no experience, but decided to let me test anyway, and I passed, so I started working there and remained for a couple of years before I left to work from home.
So, I really just sort of fell into it.
This was in the late 1990s, BTW. - NM
[ In Reply To ..]nm
My story - jus me
[ In Reply To ..]Way back when MTs worked in-house and we used tapes, I got a PT job at a MTSO. I pulled the tapes, assigned them, made sure priorities were done. I typed the log for the reports and took them to the hospital, etc. I streamlined my duties so that I had time left on my shift with nothing to do. I picked up a tape and started typing. Turns out I was good at it and the company hired someone else to do the clerical work. I took a 2-year Health Occupations course in high school. I had some terminology in class, but no other training/schooling. I have always had a love for anything medical.
I would never had picked MT as a career and I did other things over the years, but did MT PT, but when my last child was born I went to FT MT and still here 16 years later. I'm looking to get out though.
Then there's hope 4me - bs66
[ In Reply To ..]Good to know, thx 4 the replies. That's exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to hear!
I don't want to go spending more time & money on an education I already have. It may be tough to break in and get one foot in the door, but I have a few ideas. Thanks guys.
You did notice that none of these experiences were recent? - deb
[ In Reply To ..]I don't mean to be a downer, but if there is anyone who was RECENTLY in your position, that might give you a better idea. Just about everyone got into the business the way these ladies did years ago, but especially over the last few years, it's very unlikely to happen. It's very hard to get hired today without actual transcription experience, regardless of what your medical background is. But I wish you good luck, if that's what you want to do.
Did they not used to have MT schools? - bs66
[ In Reply To ..]I agree & see your point- we shall see. It's certainly worth a try, I will talk to my doctor friends to see if they will give me a job or two.
Appreciate the advice. I know it may be a long shot, just thought I'd ask so I don't expect too much, lol
oh, do let us know where your connections get you. - curiouskitty
[ In Reply To ..]x
I would read every part of these forums very carefully: - The MT schools are cranking out MTs and s/m
[ In Reply To ..]getting rich doing so. Only problem is, the MT jobs in the US are paying less and less each year, because they have the option of sending our work to India. So if you income continues to go down, as it WILL in the MT field, how will you cope with the ever-rising cost of living? If you think things are bad now, just wait 4 or 5 years.
I believe the high number of MT grads also drives down pay. nm - along with offshoring
[ In Reply To ..].
Yeah, but is everyone who graduates as an MT really qualified? - nm
[ In Reply To ..]Especially from the "matchbox" schools?
who knows but with so may gals, so few openings - people will - take anything and tip the pay scale down
[ In Reply To ..].
Deb is correct - I started in MT back in the mid-1970s. - nm - Zircon
[ In Reply To ..]nm
Received an associate degree in Medical Records, - LP
[ In Reply To ..]that tells you how long ago that was and a Bachelor's in Health Care Administration. Worked PT transcribing physical notes and just applied for the position in the MR Dept as FT was open at night and I could do that and still go to school. Liked it so much I stayed in the field after graduating college (30 years ago).
It's possible - Ima MT
[ In Reply To ..]Some of the best MTs I ever worked with were ones who learned OTJ in the 1990s. If you know someone who might give you a chance, you've nothing to lose, of course.
Like many here, I'm self-taught through many sleepless nights and hair-pulling experiences. I had worked in a hospital, typed well, and figured what the hell. Worked out for me.
As someone else pointed out, the odds of that today are very slim because despite what we think, there have been some strides made in the "profession."
My concern is what would you charge? :)
Trained on the job - in 2003 - no schooling here
[ In Reply To ..]Applied for coding work at a hospital (I had only OTJ training for coding too) and they figured if I knew the terminology well enough to code, perhaps I would be willing to type. I gave it a try and loved it.
I'm 50 years old and I have never voluntarily taken a college course - I've always learned on the job or work paid seminars. I've learned and forgotten more software than most people - simply by sitting down with the manual and learning it, and then teaching it to my coworkers.
I don't believe in paying someone else to tell me what book to open and read. Hire me to be in your office, and I'll learn everything you have to learn, and soon know as much or more than the college graduates who manage me that have been there for a decade. I'm not against learning - I'm against PAYING to learn.
old school MT - tired MT
[ In Reply To ..]I am with you. I took 3 medical terminology courses at nearby technical college and the rest I have learned on my own and been at it almost 20 years off and on.
20 years ago?! You think that means it can be done today? - deb
[ In Reply To ..]Sorry, but I'll believe that when I see it. Even a blind squirrel stumbles across a nut once in awhile, but you certainly can't be telling people that since you did it 20 years ago (and one person did it 7 or 8 years ago) that that is the way to do it today. Is there ANYBODY who doesn't think things in the MT world are much different today?
It's the ears, not the college courses . . . - Been There, Done That
[ In Reply To ..]Yes, you can transcribe medical dictation without taking a formal course, but it's no longer a sensible option.
The problem isn't the medical courses, but your ears. You have to learn how to understand what you're hearing, and you have to learn to LISTEN FASTER than your brain listens now. You also have to learn to get it from your head into a computer, and I can just promise you that you are not, by any stretch of any imagination, even close to being able to key fast enough and long enough to even complete a tape in anything like a reasonable time, much less make any money at it.
Would you think that you could become a court reporter just by buying one of their machines? No. MT isn't much different--it's just recorded, not live. In some respects, it's worse--a lot of court reporters cannot transcribe medical dictation because it's too technical, too fast, and generally incomprehensible.
Medical dictation isn't like movies where the gum-popping secretary perches on a chair with a steno pad, writing down the Big Executive's carefully enunciated and punctuated plain English sentences. (In which all big words are spelled.)
MT isn't plain English and the things you learned in medical courses, no matter what they were, aren't what doctors dictate. I can guarantee that your courses did not prepare you to understand what instrumentation was used and what happened after that doctor made that turn into that artery. Nor did those courses prepare you for what medical documentation is supposed to look like, sound like, the conventions of writing it, and what you do with it later. Nor with the technology involved in recording and transcribing it. And on and on.
Physicians dictate at a breakneck speed unimaginable to those who have never heard it. They sound like auctioneers, except that they mumble and slur. They speak in a kind of verbal shorthand. And they do this while eating, drinking, and using the toilet, often in areas filled with noise so outrageous that their speech is nearly inaudible.
Yes, MTs used to learn on the job, but it typically took them ten years to get from entry-level to the point where they were worth something. Unless you want to spend ten years floundering around trying to teach yourself, you'd do well to just take a course.
If you're that smart and have that much background, you should be able to fly through even the most demanding of them, and if you choose your course right, you'll be able to get a job and recoup the tuition fairly quickly.
good analysis, I agree, especially with the paragraph - mting
[ In Reply To ..]about the work of a secretary, since I was one, I quote....
"Medical dictation isn't like movies where the gum-popping secretary perches on a chair with a steno pad, writing down the Big Executive's carefully enunciated and punctuated plain English sentences. (In which all big words are spelled......"
On the job training (because a friend needed help bad) in 2000.. - After 8 yrs as a med secretary...nm
[ In Reply To ..]..
My story . . . - Sunshine State MT
[ In Reply To ..]Not specifically trained thru an official MT school.
I found out in high school that I liked to type.
After graduating high school in 1981, I went to a 2-year what I called "secretarial school" and obtained my Associate's Degree in Secretarial Science. The first year was basic typing, shorthand (which I hated), etc.
The second year we had to select either General secretary, Legal secretary or Medical secretary. I went into the medical side where we learned anatomy and physiology, medical law, and transcription which I really liked.
After I graduated, my neighbor was a nurse who worked locally at a local Catholic Hospital for the sick Catholic nuns. That was my very first transcription experience. It was for 1 Indian doctor who dictated on tape and I found it pretty easy.
Have been transcribing ever since!
My start in MT - OJT
[ In Reply To ..]At 17, while in high school, I took a civil service test. I had good grades so they called me from Rancho Los Amigos Hospital in Downey, California. I got a job in purchasing and supply. I worked there for 2 years, then applied to the clinical lab and worked there for 2 years. Then I transferred to medical records where I did rehab research. That is where I saw the medical transcription pool. They were making way more than me. So I decided if I could, I would try to get into that field. Well, they wanted shorthand which I did not have. So I transferred to Neurological Sciences, wards 803 and 804 and worked with the famed Abraham Lu, neuropathologist. He liked me and took me on a tour of his brain library across the hall. He even asked me out!! :) When I left there, I went to Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport Beach and applied directly for a job in the MT department because short hand wasn't required anymore. So we worked on MTST machines. That was the latest and greatest from IBM. The rest is history as far as technology advancements and now I am looking at competing with third world countries with their low level abilities and myriad security risks. Breaks my heart.
Mother dragged me in, kicking and screaming, - when I was 16.
[ In Reply To ..]That was back in 1972. I could type, and I could spell, and I had passed high school biology so I had a rudimentary knowledge of anatomy. That was enough to qualify me back in those days.
Never took any kind of MT course in my entire life. Everything I know, I learned in the school of hard knocks, on the job, where there are only 2 kinds of MTs, the quick and the dead, because if you're not quick, you're dead!
38 years later, I am a CMT. For what it's worth.
Anybody in the last 5 or 6 years learn on the job? - deb
[ In Reply To ..]Everything I've read so far has been about 8 years ago or longer. I've only been in the business 6-1/2 years, and it's amazing the changes in that time. Some of the doctors I work for are in their 60s, and I hope they keep working for a long time, because I don't know what the heck I'll do if they retire/quit. I took an MT course, and I've done acute care. Sure wouldn't want to try to get a job today with just on-the-job training!
These were helpful everyone, thank you :) - bs66
[ In Reply To ..]I appreciate everyone's honesty. I have a full time job in a completely different field and MT is just an idea for 2nd income.
Can anyone take the RMT exam? or are there pre-requisites?
Entrance into MT - GEH
[ In Reply To ..]Well, I worked as an insurance claim examiner in the 70s and read medical records every day in my job, then I worked as a medical malpractice secretary for several years, moved to my small hometown and worked as a transcriptionist in home health for 9 nurses. I did that for about 15 years altogether (2 different agencies) then went to work in the transcription department of the local hospital for 3 years. I got started in home transcription after getting those 3 years of hospital experience and have been doing it ever since. In this horrible economy, in addition to living in a small town with few good jobs, I consider myself blessed to have my skill and my home MT job. Cabin fever is a pitfall of this job but nothing is perfect.
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