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

What will MTStars be like in say five years? - JustWondering...

Posted: Aug 04, 2013

I'm thinking it will be a tiny fraction of the size because most of us will have left this "career." It really is sad to see what off-shoring and horrible VR have done.

One can already see it. - The New MTs board

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hardly even exists any more, which is probably a good thing. On a related note, does anyone else get a little wistful when they glance at the archived messages?

Yes, smaller, but subtract understandable unhappiness, and - the level of professionalism

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in thoughtful posts about the work itself has gone up. There's been a real shake-out over the past couple of years.

Some of the complainers were, rather sadly, people who were paid to chat and work slower than needed while they worked in hospital; when they were tossed so rudely out into the pay-per-line world, some didn't understand and change meet the challenges of the transition. Others, though, entered the field to not work hard or consistently and were outraged when that didn't work out for them. In both cases, there used to be screens full of their complaints about having to work consistently to make good money (this went on long before pay dropped too low, and then lower and lower still).

I'm speculating, of course, but there's been an increased focus on quality from at least three directions, and I'd think this would continue and be reflected in increased pride and professionalism among the survivors--assuming there are any of course. Those three directions, though, aren't going away while this field exists: The move from typing to editing. We now improve what (hopefully) are documents "typed" at close to the speed of light by computers. The intense competition between large MTSOs that lead to offering clients increased quality of work. The new government regulations setting new standards for healthcare records.)

I don't know how big a factor this one is, but not all in-hospital departments were well run. All the above has undoubtedly gotten rid of some amateurish, or just plain negligent, in-house managers, again reflected in the quality of what thoughtful discussion does go on here.

A lot of change so far is shown more, though, in what you don't see any more. Just for instance, because it's the only thing coming to mind right now, you no longer see some MTs referring to reports as "theirs" and talking about how they freely replace the authors' words with their own preferences. No matter how good they may have been in other ways, this always revealed a basic and serious misunderstanding of our role and the authors'. Professional IT managers have pretty much put a stop to that, though.

So, if this board exists in 5 years, I expect the level of professionalism to continue to rise, with some rebalancing of wages required (though not enough)and with it a bit more pride in our work among the survivors. We've had major, major artificial intelligence advances in just the past several years, though, so all that's past may just have been the first shoe to drop.

Level of profesional hasn't changed at all... - wheres_my_job

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You are giving a social darwinism explanation for what's going on in MT business. It's a blame the victim mentality that doesn't have any basis in reality.

MT business, like any business, has it's share of low producers, middle producers, high producers. This is true of any business. One could just as easily argue that it is the high producers, with high levels of professionalism, who have been "shaken out" of field, not the other way around. Or maybe it's the people in the middle shaken out?

"you no longer see some MTs referring to reports as "theirs" and talking about how they freely replace the authors' words with their own preferences." I've NEVER seen this happen, or heard of any MTs speak in this way. A fantasy, I'm sure, to go along with the social darwinism you propound.

Sorry, Charlie. Lifelong liberal here. You raise a - real point though. A lot of the

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best of us are also gone. Those weren't shaken out, though, they shook the dust off and walked.

Still stand by a higher level of professionalism among those of us who remain, though. You may not remember the extreme whining gradient, or its slow decline, but I do. We may take out out unhappiness on each other here like rats crammed too tight in a cage, but the unhappiness is about pay, exploitation and insecurity--not about having to work to make money.

I still disagree about the "higher level of professionalism" - wheres_my_job

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"Extreme whining gradient" doesn't allow one to make any claims about quality of work being produced overall.

True. What's changed is the MTSO's level of - professionalism, from so-so to pathetic. nm

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Hmm, remember those outraged that they should - have to learn to use an expander, who

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5 years after many of us had acquired our own, spending an hour or so learning to use them, felt the companies should not only provide them with expanders but TRAIN them in their use? And complained repeatedly about it?

Remember those who insisted it was unreasonable to expect them to do any continuing ed of any kind?

I came to MT from industries where everyone expected to continue learning and developing their skills as a matter of course, and I was always amazed at an extremely poor attitude of SOME here that I had never encountered ANYWHERE else in over 3 decades of work at many places in a variety of different lines of work. The MTs I had met at a dinner an MT friend took me to before I started were all intelligent, well groomed, disciplined people, but others I met in training and saw on this board made it clear that MT attracted some real slugs.

Where are they now? We don't see this stuff here anymore. That HAS to signify an improvement.

In other industries where you were expected to keep - learning, its likely your pay didnt decrease, eith

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*

For 5 years my expander increased my income even - as rates dropped. The gone ones

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spent that entire time either refusing to get an expander or not using the one they had.

For most of a decade many of the same ones also insisted that VR could never work and would pass, thus they didn't need to try to take on that challenge, even as so many of us were still making $35-60K a year by working at it with the use of our expanders.

Pay had dropped at that point, but to a good, sustainable point, which the gone ones couldn't participate in--specifically because they had refused to keep their skills up to date. Unfortunately, these fallouts included a lot of people who had once been good MTs and were encouraged in their mistaken notions by a lot of the angry noise here over the need to change.

Not true - just opinions and interpretations - wheres_my_job

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C'mon MOST of us have "taken on the challenge" - it's our pay, and we were TOLD our productivity would increase a tremendous amount! So we tried, and tried and tried and tried and TRIED...finally we had to admit REALITY...which is, they lied about the benefits of VR.

No, it doesn't have to signify anything - wheres_my_job

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people are so overwhelmed by pay issues, no work situation, that that's where the focus is going to be.

There we go...that's it - wheres_my_job

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Now THAT transformation I do well remember. Started in the 90s myself.

MT Stars in - 5 years...

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People griping about all the same ____, only instead of 8 and 4 cpl they will be complaining about 5 and 2 cpl.

Really don't think so. Note the 'newbie" board's - impending demise. We will either

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be paid more, or the industry will be gone. Pay has obviously dropped below the point needed to sustain an adequate labor force, and every year large numbers of MTs retired.

What comes next, I don't know, but it cannot be the same-old for the same, much less less.

They're undercutting and underpaying themselves - right out of business. Hope its soon! nm

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*

I think the demise might be because the new MTs - see message

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Posting and asking for advice or information or just looking to bond, for lack of a better word, are met with:

A. Your school wasn't good enough.
B. You'll never find work.
C. Insinuations of "You're an idiot for going into this field."
D. Ad nauseum.

A few posters try to welcome the new MTs and are courteous; however, most of the posts I saw "welcoming" the new MTs were flat-out rude and obnoxious. If I were a new MT and didn't have such a thick skin, I'd have bounced off this site a long time ago. I can't imagine what it would like to be a newbie, excited about a possible new career opportunity, only to be berated and essentially attacked by a bunch of established "professionals" who somehow have forgotten the common courtesies of basic human decency.

I don't take the lack of activity on the New MTs board to reflect anything other than the general nastiness and negativity that permeates the entire forum on a regular basis.

Just my take.

Agree that must be part. But I'm one who greeted - them with ice water. How dare

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they embark on such a giant endeavor without even googling the field first? Perhaps some throwing cold water on them were just acting out, but most of us are just trying to get a message across that they desperately need to listen to.

I've said before, many stumbling onto this path will NEVER make it back to where they could have been had they chosen a good destination in the first place. Those with the best chance are the ones who waste as few of their working years here as possible.

Newbies won't be able to make a living either - wheres_my_job

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if people were "rude" (flat out telling the truth) maybe it will save the newbie years of misery - they will realize, what those old burnt out MTs were saying was TRUE - and they will get the heck out before it damages their future earning potential too much.

Think it will be like it was 5 years ago - Here a long time

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It has not changed. The people here are still complaining (as they did then) about the lack of work, not making any money, tired of waiting around, going to change and do something else. I read it then and still am reading. No big change in 5 years.

Really? Pay hasn't declined over these 5 years? - nm

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x

I think has stayed about the same for pay - but the complaints are

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100% the same as ever. I started at 8/4 for the same company back then and mine is still the same.

You were getting ripped off back then. - That was way lower than

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the going rate.

I had no issue then and have none now - because no longer working

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24/7 in order to run a home but even with that amount I was able to make say $150-175 per day and that was okay for me.

EMPTY stars nm - ready to get out

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nm

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