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

what attracted you to the MT field? - sm

Posted: Mar 07, 2010

I didn't know what I wanted to do. I was very independent and a home body. I'm also very disciplined and prefer to work alone. When I made more than my friends with degrees, I stayed...I feel like a criminal for how much I got paid for how little I do. Easy money, ability to stay home, no managers lurking over shoulder. We are the last man on the totem pole here in the medical "profession" and we are getting cut out. It was too good to last forever.

Original reason? I love to type! - NYMT

[ In Reply To ..]
I "fell" into the profession in 1983. I was a file clerk in a mental health clinic, and they asked me to do some transcribing and I loved typing so much I would draw the jobs out as long as possible. That's still my motivating factor, though the money is a huge part of it now, after 20 years of full time, and I also work best alone. The contract I've got right now is very lucrative (almost $1,000 a week!). I never want to do anything else!

Original Reason for me is it paid better than the clerk - job I applied for 25 years ago.

[ In Reply To ..]
It was a whole 3 dollars an hour more to be a rad MT. I had support though and there were no QA people. the physicians read their reports and we didn't need QA. We did the job right the first time or it was corrected on the dictator's end and then it was mentioned to us the mistake we made.

QA has been detrimental to this field. It makes us feel inadequate, etc. These are just MTs anyway and most of the ones I have ever sent, they cannot understand it either and tell me that or they send it through and just delete the blank as if it never even existed.

I'm still making good money. The evolutation of online MTSOs that I can contract with is definitely better than it was even just 10 years ago.

I went from on-site hourly that was very demanding to doing tapes from home and still do tapes for one older doc that is my friend as well as a former coworker. This online stuff is a breeze in my opinion. Grab the work, transcribe it in 24 hours, and get on with my life.

I refuse to be a victim in this. I will find some good. The good is being here for my children, husband, cooking, can do laundry and transcribe, I can meet a friend for lunch. I do not have to buy clothes or supply gas or put up with office garbage that goes on every day amongst people that have nothing better to do than complain.

Let's be appreciative for what we have. If you have internet to post here, consider yourself blessed because some MTs cannot even afford that if they are a single Mom struggling, etc.

Look at the good side. Focusing on negatives is nonproductive to say the least!

Have a great day!

Come on over to Medquist then, love to have you I'm sure. - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
N/M

Re: Paid better than the clerk ... - Ronda

[ In Reply To ..]
You are so correct about the QA aspect. It often attracts a certain self-important type MT who fancies herself very wise, a great ''educator'', and wastes time and money splitting hairs about trivialities. Extremely detrimental to MTs and the ironic part is that company management (usually non MT personnel) are too dumb to realize how counterproductive and what a huge waste of money this is.

The original reason for me was that I love to type, and - sm - Zircon

[ In Reply To ..]
have always been good at spelling and English. I had bounced from job to job before that, because I just don't fit well into the typical business-office scene.

At my first MT job, we all actually had our own little offices! I could just close the door and deal with tapes, not the actual doctors. It was perfect!

And yes, back then when I quit being a "clerk-typist" and became a Medical Transcriber (the term I STILL use and prefer, over AHDI's term, "transcriptionist"), it was a large step UP in pay. And each year, the pay went up.

I worked at some bad MTSOs, but had a couple good ones, too. One small one I left back in the 1980s when I moved away had the NICEST owner/boss... and it's still there. I often get tempted to move back there, for that reason alone.

When I made my career choice back in the 70s, it was down to MT or Court Reporter. My friend chose CR, and I chose MT. Mainly because I didn't want to take years to get into CR. I took a 20-week Medical Terminology course at a local trade school, and had a job before I'd even graduated. The teacher (an MT supervisor) had also offered me a job at the large university teaching hospital where she worked, but it was too long of a commute for me.

Now, many years later, my friend is still a sought-after CR, owns a nice home on the beach, and put 2 boys through college. And of course, we all know where the MT "career" ended up -- beaten and barely recognizable by MTSO middlemen and scam "certification" organizations.

mt - PT MT

[ In Reply To ..]
I have a bachelor's in business and was working in marketing for a medical device company (the original maker of the Per-Q-Cath). We made NICU products, and I absolutely loved my dream job until.....Bard bought us out and let our entire marketing dept go. I decided at that point that I wanted to work independently at home and get out of the office politics, long commute, etc. I searched for an at home job that would utilize my strengths yet still be medically related. I went back to night school at a tech college and got a certificate in MT. I then found a small MTSO that trained me on the job (1998). Within one year I was making more money than at my previous marketing position and had the best mentors and supervisors who taught me so much! I thought I was set for many years. I absolutely loved the company and the work. Fast forward 5 years when MQ bought our small company out. Things went downhill from there both from the buyout and with my health. I have stayed only because it is a good fit for me and my family (DH works an unpredictable schedule), allows me to be at home for my kids and still contribute somewhat financially. I am PT now, not by choice, but I am grateful for what I can still produce when it is not NJA. I just wish that we as MTs were still as highly valued as we once were.

I love anything medical but allergy prevents me from working with patients so - Typin_away

[ In Reply To ..]
I love the medical field, but I can no longer work in it for 2 reasons. One being I had a hip replacement due to a giant cell tumor and cannot be on my feet for any significant length of time. Two even while being a receptionist for my former career, I developed a SEVERE latex allergy so I cannot be around it at all. Even rubber bands and rubber grip pens make me react.

I wanted to continue in a field I love while still being physically able to do my job. When I was younger I did medical billing and HATED it so here I am.

Why MT - mtperson

[ In Reply To ..]
I had a neighbor who asked me to babysit for her children once while she went on an interview at a local hospital. She was excited about it because she could pick her hours to work as long as she worked 20 hours per week. I liked that!! I've never been good at being on time, etc. So, I took a medical terminology course and landed a job in the medical records dept in a local hospital before I even finished the course. That was in the good ole days when you could learn on the job. By the way, the neighbor did get the job.

MONEY! - mrs.krabs

[ In Reply To ..]
Fast typist, quick learner, on the job training, and working on college degree in office systems specializing in medical field. It was a very lucrative career back in the mid 1980s. In the long run, I planned it so I could stay at home with my kids, and thus far I have managed to do so. Left MQ and looking for some freelance work. I really don't want to work for another MTSO. Kids are growing up and now I'm thinking about finishing up my Bachelor's degree and moving out of this sweat shop, but damn I'll miss the terminology and would hate to waste my expertise in this field.

My mother dragged me in, kicking and screaming, when I was 16. - CrankyOldBroadOnTheBeach

[ In Reply To ..]
I knew how to type, I could spell, and I had passed high school biology.

Back in 1972, that was all the qualification that was required.

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