What is MT?

Okay, so today it wasn't coffee or tea that I grabbed to enjoy while I typed, it was Cookies and Cream Ice Cream....My favorite!  

What are you going to read about today?  Medical Transcription.  I will be talking about my job probably on a daily basis so I want to make sure everyone (who is not already an MT) knows what I am talking about :)  So, lets get started!  If after reading this you have more questions, please feel free to ask me!  I will do what I can to answer your questions!  


Just a warning....this is a long one because I want all of this out of the way! 

~What does a Medical Transcriptionist do?  
Well...Some may think that all we do is type the words we hear, as spoken, and that is the end of it.  That is the furthest thing from the actual job we do.  As an MT we are required to type what we hear (from a dictated file), but also we must correct grammar, check medicine dosages, verify the patient information, and reform sentences so that they are full sentences and not run-ons or fragments (this is the biggest pain in the rear for me).  

We also have to be sure that the 28-year-old female with uterine cancer is not being called a "he" or "him" throughout the report or that the 30-year-old man is having his C-section rescheduled.  Uniformity is the ultimate goal in a medical report.  The report MUST look professional!  

In my opinion, the #1 most important aspect of our jobs is to verify medications!  The prescribed medication and dosage MUST be correct.  If a doctor forgets what he put a patient on, where do you think he will go to check this information when the patient calls for a refill?  That is right, the medical report that you typed!  If you typed it wrong then he will proceed to prescribe that patient the wrong medication, possibly a fatal medication or dosage.  Another mistake some doctors make is accidentally prescribing a patient a medication that he or she is allergic to.  It is our job as MTs to alert our supervisors, or the ones in control of the reports, and make sure that they alert the doctor so that this can be corrected.  



~How does it all work?
An MT will get work (dictations) from either a doctor or their company, type it, name it, and send it back in or return it to the doctor.  The procedure for this varies from company to company and from clinic to clinic (or hospital to hospital)  

I can only give my own experience here, and my only experience is with a program called VoiceWave.  Through VoiceWave I connect to my company's computer and it allows me to download my work (dictated files) directly from their computer system.  I then play these dictations through the VoiceWave program and type them as required by that particular doctor office.  I work from a "pool" meaning a group of doctors that I have been assigned to work on with a number of other MTs.  Once we have the files typed, proofread, and all information is verified as it should be then we will name our files as directed and upload them to an FTP site so that the people in the office can grab these files, run their quality checks on them and get them to the doctors' offices.   

If a Transcriptionist works as a single person company (I know someone who has done this) then she will go to the doctor's office every day and pick up the dictations, these may be on cassette, disk, or even a USB flash drive.  While at the office, she will  drop off any transcribed files, these could be printed medical reports or Word documents on a flash drive.  


~How much do you make?
I know...You all have waited for this one right?  Well, I am sorry to disappoint but this is one thing that is so completely varied that I can't tell you an exact number.  I CAN tell you that most MT jobs are by the word, line, or character.  This means that if you don't do the work, you don't get paid.  It is not like a job outside the home where you can have an "off" day and browse the Internet or whatever and still get paid your full amount.  If you don't type, you don't get paid.  There are very few MT jobs out there that pay by the hour (in fact, I don't know of one that pays in this way).  Personally, I range between $1000 and $1600 a month as an IC getting paid by the character and working 6-8 hours (on average) a day.


~IC? Whats that??
An IC is an Independent Contractor this just means that I do not get benefits (insurance and such) and I am required to pay my own taxes every quarter or at the time of tax season.  I also do not have a set schedule, although they DO want to know what times I plan to be at the computer and they want to know if I am going to be away for more than 30 minutes during my designated time (this is where Email on my phone comes in handy).  If I need the afternoon off for a school function or meeting, I tell the people in the office, and I work my hours around the meeting or function.  I also do not have an assigned line count (although some ICs do) This is the ideal arrangement for me and so I am a happy MT!

The other work option is Employee.  This is the same as working outside the home.  You have a chance for paid time off, bonuses, insurance, retirement....the whole shebang, but you also have a set schedule, required amount of lines (sometimes), and the schedule is not as flexible allowing for meetings and such.  Some of my closest MT friends are Employees, and they love it.  I am just not sure if this is the road for me with 3 children!  


~What kind of training do you need?
Every company I applied for required that you received training before they would let you apply for a job.  This training can done in a college setting or through an online school.  There are a few different schools out there. You can find them all just by putting "online medical transcription schools" in whatever search engine you use and researching them.  The school I chose was Career Step.  It was by far the most recommended and praised school at the time of my research.  The training at Career Step is very respected among the companies out there.  In fact, some companies will ONLY hire Career Step students.   See the bottom of this page for links to all of the Career Step courses and if you choose to enroll, mention me for a savings of $50.  Again, in this blog I can only tell you what I know, and I only know Career Step.  My experience with them was, and still is, wonderful.  


~Is it hard to get a job?
This can be a tough one!  Imagine just how many people out there want to work from home.  The most talked about "at home" job is Transcription (whether it is medical or general) so the industry is very competitive!  I can tell you that from around October to January are the hardest times to get hired.   It takes an impressive resume, great timing, and sometimes simply luck to get noticed.  There are THOUSANDS of resumes coming to these companies weekly, and you have to imagine how tired they get of reading the resumes.  You must show that you respect their time and get to the point without a lot of Hoopla on your resume.  You also have to make sure that you are showing your typing abilities on your resume.  I am not talking about typing speed.  I am talking about grammar, punctuation, and spelling.  Would you think of hiring someone to type medical reports, which must be precise, if there were a lot of misspelled words on their resume?  No?  Well, neither will these companies.  In fact, this might just get your name on a "do not hire" list due to the mistakes!  The best way to get a job is to make your job hunt your job.

Here is my experience:  I graduated in August of 2009 with High Honors (want to see an 8 minute video of me receiving my results?  Click HERE), and I began applying for jobs immediately, spending about 4-6 hours a day on the job hunt.  Thirty-nine days, and 102 companies later, I got an e-mail from my top choice company asking for an interview.  I was interviewed the next day and hired a week later.  I have worked for the company since and LOVE it.  I have had 3 or so more job offers during my time with my company, and I have thanked them all for their interest but turned them down.  It is rare to find the right fit as quick as I did.  I had a lot of "we aren't hiring" emails, a few outright "no" emails, and a few "we will keep you on file" emails.  Some companies gave me no response at all.  The job hunt was frustrating, scary, and time consuming.  The day I was hired though....I appreciated it all the more :)  


~Where do I work?
At home :p...haha   

Well...with this being a public blog and my company being a small one I would rather not say.  I would hate for the office girls to be bombarded by emails.  It is a company which remains low key, they do not even have a website set up.  Therefore, I will not be naming the company.  Also, I had some not so nice people hounding me about helping them get hired.  They were very rude, so I don't want to deal with that again.  


~What else is there to know?
*Confidentiality!  If you choose to be an MT you have to understand that you are required to comply to all HIPPA rules.  YES, you work from home, but you are still a MEDICAL professional.  This means that your family members and friends cannot hear or see the reports you are working on.  Some companies allow talking between employees about accounts and doctors but you should NEVER, I repeat NEVER, speak about a particular patient (unless your company allows it of course)!  
*ESL doctors.  These doctors are the ones who use English as a Second Language.  In other words... most are hard to understand, have heavy accents, and do not know the English grammar rules.  They are the toughest of the tough for some (for me its the speeders and mumblers who give me problems).  Unfortunately not all doctors sound like Dr. Gregory House on the Fox TV show House :)  One can only dream about that possibility!  
*Sound quality.  Some doctors dictate while driving, eating, filing papers, listening to a radio (this I don't mind much), a phone is ringing, playing with their children, children are throwing tantrums, in a crowd (in which case he/she may whisper), at a busy nurses station, and my worst so far....while watching their favorite movie or football team with the TV volume way up.  This is where patience comes in!   If you got your training from Career Step, you are prepared for this!  If not...then just have patience and understand that your doctor is just a person who is multitasking because he is too busy, just as you multitask when you are busy.  Patience is key :)
*Speed Talkers and mumblers.  My nemeses!  I have such problems with these doctors!  You just have to, again, be patient!  These doctors are like you, they want to get finished with work so that they can get on with their personal life.  You type faster because you want to be finished right?  They talk faster so they finish faster.  Simple as that.  The mumblers?  The doctor may be tired or distracted.  They could even be shy when speaking to non-humans (recorders) Luckily most mumbling is short term.  
*Variance in work amounts.  Some times of the year the work load slows down for us.  This could be due to the holiday season (as I am dealing with now) or it may be that patients are out of insurance benefits and are waiting for January to come.  It is feast or famine in this occupation for some.  Again, if you find the right company, this is not much of an issue.  I have rarely been told "there is none available" if I ask for extra work.  




Lastly...Be prepared to type!  I know...this is a DUHHHH for most of us...I have heard some who have said "wow, I didn't know this involved this much typing.  I don't type much!"  


Well...If you don't enjoy typing then this is definitely not the career for you! You must enjoy typing!  I type between 45,000 and 100,000 characters a day just for work!  That is a lot of typing!




Okay...if you read all of this...I commend you and thank you!  I hope that you found it at least a bit helpful and informative.  Rob asked if I was typing a novel....always a joker.  My ice cream is long gone, and it is now time to fix some Turkey Pot Pie for dinner!  YUM.  We are tired of regular Thanksgiving leftovers so I had to do something different tonight...Well, Rob just said "I sure am getting hungry babe.  Should I go make a snack?"  So...I am off the Blogosphere and into the kitchen. 


I hope you enjoyed today's post, and if you have any questions or see that I have misinformed you, please let me know!  Again, for more information on Career Step please see the bottom of this blog for links!  Using my referral number and name will save you 50$ and make me a bit of money too! :)  


It is back to work for me tomorrow so the post may be late in the afternoon but I WILL post!  

Have a happy return to work/school day tomorrow, I personally think Mondays are evil!  


Think happy thoughts and smile at least once tomorrow!  See you then!


Sharon ♥