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

frustrated and depressed - red

Posted: Apr 01, 2010

Is there anyone out there that is making the same or more money with MQ since all this has changed.

I am an MME and I just cannot seem to make any money. I try so hard to make ends meet, this is going to be the first time I will not be able to make my car payment.

When I get on a roll the system seems freeze up or I just get horrible dictators the rest of my shift.

I feel alone? If there was someone who can tell me, they are able to stay at same rate, then I can look and see what I am doing wrong, or figure out how to build up my speed. :(

Here is how I am managing - Badcat

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't know if this will help, but here is how I am managing. I am for the time being stuck with the Q. As far as I know my rate has not gone down, but I am one of the lucky few who never runs out of work and I have never had the system freeze up.
The way I am managing is actually thanks to their new policies. I'm not spending time tearing my hair out anymore over anything I can't understand, and I'm not wasting time looking every single blank up. They taught me not to care. That may not be a really great attitude, but I will tell you why I have it.

I actually went to my doctor today and my blood pressure was 180/120. Now my pressure has always run BELOW normal, and he glared at me and asked me what I had been up to. So I told him everything. He was absolutely shocked, and he said he was very glad that his office have their own in office dictators. (Not hiring, unfortunately.)

When I told him that I couldn't quit yet, he put me on a blood pressure medicine, a nerve medication and something to help me sleep, and this was after I just finished kicking the Percoet and Lyrica I was on before my back surgery. He told me that the only way I would survive my remaining time with the Q was not to take the job seriously, since they are not taking me seriously.

The only way I have improved my own line counts is by not spending more than 2 minutes researching, putting in blanks and sending to the client and not to QA. After rolling it all around in my head, that was the only answer I could come up with, and so far it has worked, although I suppose sooner or later they'll get me with an audit, but I don't care.

At any rate you are not alone... read this board.. nearly everyone on here is in the same boat and hanging on by the blood of their fingernails. If you have the means to find another way to make money i would say go for that, because things at the Q are not going to improve.

Good luck to you.

frustrated and depressed - red

[ In Reply To ..]
thank you yes, this does help. I have spent time re-reading and double checking reports. I was put on swing shift with the promise I would have more QA HA - I probably get only 10 QA reports a shift now.

Thank you, this helps. :)

Hey, Badcat! Youre right! I work for a different co. - that is like MQ, and I came up with - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
the same attitude adjustment as you did. Since I'm not taken seriously by my company, and what they pay me is seriously a JOKE, I don't take them or the job seriously, either.

I still transcribe the very best I can. But I don't spend much time with blanks. Can't hear it? Too bad. QA is a joke, so I don't take them seriously. I bypass them, and send blanks to the client. I don't waste time looking up un-spelled foreign names, or omitted addresses. They get a blank. It it didn't matter enough to dictate, then it obviously shouldn't matter if it was left blank.

Yeah I love trying to locate an address for Dr. Mumble-Mumble - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
who might be in the same town or could be in a neighboring state and hasn't seen the patient in the last 10 years!

Addresses? - Pffffftttttt

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't look up addresses. Never have and have never gotten in trouble.

I ad the new doctor under the new tab. If I can't understand the name, they are Dr. __________.

They don't pay me to look up addresses, so I don't do it.

Good idea - Broke MME

[ In Reply To ..]
I am so thankful for your ideas. I too had been spending waaaay too long looking up blanks and suffering for it in my pay. I now will do just a quick once over and move on. Maybe if we all did that, they might take another look at what is wrong with the current MME system.

Not just you - anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
I have even been so paranoid that I think "they" are watching me and when I am having a good day, they switch up my accounts so that my production will slow down. Down approx. 25% from when I started 6 years ago.

I'm not so sure it is paranoid. - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
I feel the same way and I have been watching this for a long time.

paranoid - red

[ In Reply To ..]
you might have something there. At first I thought okay focus. For 2 days I had a good days. Then after that must have gotten every bad dictator out there. So slowing down double checking and trying to do my best, I was given a verbal warning for errors.

So tell me, we just leave QA markers stop double checking?

to red - adios

[ In Reply To ..]
I too am looking for another job because I believe it is affecting my health.

Here's what I say, don't stop double checking but check more broadly, not word for word, and don't try as long to fill in blanks. That is what I am doing. Hard to change old habits but necessary now.

I am sweeping over the report for errors and forcing myself to move on more quickly on blanks.

I have not been able to get my production back since they started playing with everything, ASR, etc.

But I refuse to make myself sick. Would leave now if I could but have to find something else first.

Bill-paying is a nightmare for me too.

I agree with the above poster. We can't take it too seriously, and especially we can't take it too personally. It's not us. We have all taken this job very seriously for a long time. Now we have to think about ourselves.

You are so not alone.

And then we will get verbally warned for too many blanks. - anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
I am certain there is a report published every day logging how many reports you sent with a blank in them. Just feel like you can't win anymore. Enough to make us all paranoid.

No good choices - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
can't send reports to QA, can't send too many blanks to customer, but also can't "guess" what the doc is probably saying. Can we even still DO our job?

My company (not MQ) does this, too. - Suspicious

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

Look, there is no way to win - Badcat

[ In Reply To ..]
Look, I realized a long time ago, that there is no way to win with MQ. They have seen to that nicely. So, I could spend all my time worrying, proofreading, looking up blanks and getting sicker, or I can just do my job like I always have, type the darned thing, try for about 30 seconds to look something up and if I can't too bad, and send it to the client. Either way I can get nabbed by the Q. There is no right way to do this job. So I'm going to do it my own way and not have a nervous breakdown and just wait until the end comes, and when it does I will be free. Heck, I'm free in a way now. Thanks to their policies I am more relaxed. I used to take pride in my work, and try to turn in clean reports, but they have taken that away from me. I get as much right as I can, and what I can't is the client's problem.

If the clients don't care enough to even dictate clearly, and the Q doesn't care enough about the clients and the patients to not begin these asinine policies, why the heck should I care when they are cutting my pay? I'm doing this to pay bills, not for charity. And if my own doctor told me I'm in danger of seriously hurting my health, then sorry Q, this is the attitude you get.

They are NOT WORTH it.

Similar Messages:

Oct 08, 2010

I have been a stay at home mom since my son was born. During that time I also became a cancer survivor(ovarian). When my son started kindergarten, I decided to go back to school. Since medical transcription is really the only legitimate work you can do from home, I decided to go that route. I was amazed at the schooling and surprised at how well I did. I thought for sure, being an older student and out of the education loop for a while that I wouldn't do well. But I surprised myself. I real ...

Jan 29, 2015

So, remember the days way back when we got paid well, were appreciated and could be happy to be MT? Wow I miss that! I hate MTSOs. They all act like we only have work to worry about, they trash you, but never say any good you do. One trainer or QC person grades your work as 99%-100%, another picks apart every comma, period, etc. calling things "critical errors", that honestly aren't! You ask to advance in your position, but no "you're not ready" (after 15 years and previously being a ...

Oct 19, 2009

I'm so depressed, I could just cry. I am getting report after report of the worst mush-mouth, slurring/blurring CRAPPY dictators. I finally just logged off. Still have 4 hours to go and I just can't face leaving 15 blanks in every report. Especially now that we have been told by our QC that we are being graded "harshly." I have tried to leave 3 times and have made less than with the Q and came back. I would go to Walmart, but a friend of our who works there just told ...

Nov 30, 2009

I know a lot of you are going through this...I totally understand. I am in radiology and the workload has been so slow. This has been going on even before the holidays, especially after I got moved to a different CCM. She only wants to change my schedule which, according to her emails, would be foolish since the times she wants me to move to have no work either. I would go above her but what good would that do? I have been actively applying to other places...but haven� ...

Apr 25, 2011

Has anyone gotten so depressed about how their transcription jobs are practically gone that they don't even want to sign in. This morning I said why bother. I am thinking of quitting because I waste time just sitting for eight hours. I would have to cut back big time but it is getting to depressing to sit here. ...

Nov 22, 2011

I just started with a new company and am really depressed about the "corrections" I am getting back from their QA. I have 35+ years of experience and yet I can't seem to do anything to please them. I'm told to type verbatim, but when I do, they "correct" that, stating I left "the" off when it was never dictated, etc., and other stupid things similar to that. I am to the point where I wonder if I will ever please them because it seems that no matter what I do, they are ...

Jan 03, 2010

I find that lately I am feeling depressed over the reports I've been transcribing. Maybe it's because it's the holiday season and I can't help but feel badly for these people who are so very sick (I do acute care). Lots of oncology these days, for some reason. I wonder how MTs who transcribe for childrens' hospitals or cancer clinics handle it. It must get to them. ...

Mar 18, 2011

This is an internal medicine file for a patient who just is mildly depressed. "Lately she has just had a very labile mood, anxious, depressed, and s/l sonnering around." Any clue? Please help anyone. ...

Jul 11, 2011

I cannot take much more. Those of you who don't have any compassion or feel the need to ever vent and just unload once in a while may stop reading now. I'm not writing to be bashed, stomped on, mashed, or otherwise abused and used more than the Q already does. I catch this crap from them every day, I don't need to hear it from fellow MTs. We are all in this same rocking, sinking, Titanic together. To make a very long story short here's the abbreviated vers ...

Nov 15, 2012

My net pay didn't even hit 20K this year! And then I see that MM is advertising for more MT's, and I haven't had a full day in over 2 weeks? What is really going on here? Okay, done venting now. Thanks for listening! ...

Sep 19, 2013

I just started my first job as an mt nearly five months ago. I've struggled with production, quality, and pretty much any other issue you can think of. I've gotten more and more depressed because my confidence at work isn't good. I've been diagnosed with major depression before, so iknow itsnot the only reason. It just feels like it. I have a lot of trouble concentrating when i have these upsetting bouts of depression. I had one today and only got 500 lines. I was ho ...

Jun 24, 2010

I guess I'm just venting, but suggestions are welcome. The title says it all in a nutshell, but let me explain. I don't have any money. I am relying on someone else to buy food for me every week. I don't have a job and can't find one. I would give up MT and start applying outside the house, but I can't because I am depressed and have severe social anxiety disorder, so that won't work. If I am getting more depressed by the minute. If I even could get a part-time job, ...

Jul 31, 2010

I am so depressed. I guess I am trying to vent to you guys. I have taken 4 tests for companies and failed all of them. I didnt even get an answer back from one. I have been doing this for years. I feel like a dummy. I dont think there are any good companies out there that any one of us can trust. I havent found one. I have sent out my resumes to at least 25 companies I got through my school and on the internet. I also was soooooo scammed through Dit transcription. I just dont know what to ...

Aug 28, 2010

I graduated back in May of this year, from the MT program at a local two-year college. The program was a one-year program, but due to the way the required courses were scheduled, it took two years of attending full-time to finish it. I'm starting to wish I had discovered MTStars before I enrolled in the program; if I had known then what I know now about the MT field, it would have saved me almost $10,000 in tuition for training that feels worthless now! As I read postings by experienced ...

Apr 29, 2010

First put us on VR. Hey, good deal! I like VR. Then then cut our pay in half and make us use a new program. No big deal. It's supposed to be the best! I can live with it. I should still be making the same if not better. Uh-oh. Problems with the program. Support can't straiightens it out but, hey, I'll live with that! Just gotta learn to get around the quirks. Oh, wow! No work. Pay going downhill. Hey, new accounts coming on line. Yippee! Maybe I can finall ...

May 02, 2010

I have never felt more worthless in my life. I work for about half the pay, it takes longer to do because the drafts are so awful. You get marked down if you don't use shortcut keys to navigate or whatever and the object is to keep you fingers on the keyboard, but you cannot keep them in the position you need to for transcribing or fixing all the problems. I find my right hand is always on the control+delete key or end key, and my fingers constantly on the period or ...

Jan 05, 2014

while the managers and higher ups collect their checks with no problems. Got to find another job SOON. ...

May 24, 2010

So, our hospital outsourced and that did not work for me. I am looking for another job, but from what I see, what used to be a valued service is now a low cents per line and you have to work nights and every weekend for half the pay. When were we so devalued and how are they able to take this from us. I am now looking at school because as a widow and two boys to still raise, I can't make it is the income. I am not a slow transcriptionist, but I can't settle for ...

Aug 18, 2010

Just need to vent!! I used to work for a transcription company on production pay at 7 cents/line after a few years there and basically getting starved out of the door for lack of work they were sending me I quit. Now the clinic they were typing for has hired me to do the same work as I had been doing, same docs, same format, everything!!! At, get this, $8/hour!!!! I have a degree in MT plus close to 5 years experience doing THEIR dictations needless to say!!! Really ...

Sep 19, 2011

Hi there fellow MT's. I am so frustrated and wanted to find out if I'm on an island all by myself, or if there are other MT's that are just as frustrated!! I have submitted, (NO JOKE) over 30 resumes within the past few months and I am getting absolutely, positively NO responses. I have almost 10 years of experience, so I know that's not the problem. I'm starting to wonder if it's my cover letter or resume, but I have used the same ...

May 07, 2012

and more that is unrelated to transcription. This just seems wrong. I get paid by production, yet I am doing all sorts of work that involves something a clerical worker should be doing. Is anyone else experiencing this? ...

Jun 06, 2012

I am just venting. I took a position with a company a few months ago as a secondary income and the platform and dictators are great - very easy to make good money. The problem is there's not enough work to hit my daily line counts and when I ask for more, I kind of get the brush off. It baffles me because there are other accounts in which they have work and they have even needed to post job openings and yet, I sit with no work. I also find it suspect that when I do ask for more work the ...

Nov 16, 2012

New MTs just curious, who has actually gotten a job!? And which company? I need some encouragement because I'm beginning to think this industry is completely bogus! ...

May 19, 2013

I am new to Nuance. I literally started just this month. I have become very frustrated in the last few days. At first I thought I was really learning from my feedback but I continue to get QA scores of no greater than 95%. I work really hard, listen through reports 3 - 4 times, but I've always done something wrong. Just ranting. ...

Nov 12, 2013

After 13+ years of working in transcription, I am so frustrated. The pay is less, the jobs seem abundant but getting hired is like pulling teeth from a rhino! I have plenty of experience in transcription, QA and account management. Hell, I've even worked the help desk and scheduling but no luck! This mama needs Christmas cash and fast! ...

Jan 16, 2015

I have been with Nuance for a month and a half. How the heck can I get my 20 hours a week in when all week I have consistently been OOW. I was told upon being hired that I would have plenty of work. I need a dependable income and if this is going to continue, I will have to look elsewhere. I will say that I like the account I am on and because of that I don't want to change where I work, but my bank account tells me I need money. I have a friend that has told m ...

May 12, 2015

I am feeling rather frustrated and need to vent... Over the last month or so I have been actively pursuing other employment in the MT field. I realize the pickins are slim and the grass is NOT GREENER on the other side, so to speak, but it is what it is and this is the field I am in and need to be in while my kids still need me at home.... However, I am an experienced MT (14+ years experience)... while I understand a company wanting you to test, I do not understand these lengthy 2-hour lo ...

Aug 30, 2010

I have been out of school since July 15 and applied to over 30 companies. I applied for this job at a company and haven't heard back yet. I am optimistic that I may get this job, but it is taking forever to hear back. Passed their first test, took the second one, now I am waiting to hear back if I got hired or not. In the meantime though, how do I find other companies online? I have looked everywhere and felt like I have already applied to every company online ...

Feb 17, 2011

I am new to this industry and have been looking for a job since October 2010. I am very frustrated because I have filled out over 20 applications and taken over 15 tests. I pass each and everyone with flying colors, but yet they have turned me down for having NO experience. I do not understand that if I am passing their tests and they are so "impressed" with me (as they state when they give me my results), then why are they turning me down? I may not have the experience, ...

Jan 20, 2012

I am working on a H&P, specifically the history of present illness and am just stumped on this sentence... Bowel urinary contains 10 (sl- nights n e) (sl- teading or tidding) tendencies, exercise (sl- toilets) unlimited. Does any of this make sense? Or can you make sense out of it? Would be greatly appreciated! ...