montgomery1961 Montgomery's List: MT

• Some schools offer more hands-on transcription training than others, and that's one way to compare them.

   

  Here's a side-by-side comparison of the number of reports/number of minutes of dictation that students of each school transcribe during training:

   

   

   

  Andrews:

   

  1048 reports

   

  3412 minutes of dictation with another 1500 optional minutes.

   

   

   

  M-Tec:

   

  840 reports 

   

  2425 minutes of dictation with another 300 reports and another optional 1000 minutes of dictation.

   

   

   

  Career Step:

   

  639 reports

   

  1920 minutes
• I am an Andrews grad and I got a job right out of school.  The person who interviewed and hired me stated that they do not normally consider recent grads, but they do consider Andrews grads and M-Tec grads.

• When you start out, you'll be hard put to accomplish 25 lines per hour, but you should improve quickly

• Maxells.  I bought them at WalMart for $34.48!  THEY ARE WONDERFUL.....THEY ARE WONDERFUL!!  They are the Maxell NC-ll noise cancellation. 

• You don't have to memorize everything...just have a basic understanding of what you're reading.  I would highly recommend memorizing the prefixes, suffixes, and combining forms in the LOM book (you'll know what I'm talking about when you get your stuff).  But even that,isn't too hard.  Make flashcards and work through them.  Many will probably be common knowledge, some you might have to push into memory.  But, by the time you finish each lesson in that book, you will have gone over these terms so many times, much of it will have just sunk in.

• This is the honest truth. I spoke up about my bad experience with Career Step on their forum and I was immediately banned.
• I went to CS.
  
  I passed the final after 4 attempts (they only allow 3), I guess I was "special".
  
  I got a job and have been working for 2 years now. I feel that I have learned more in my job than I ever did in the course, however, I didn't put much effort into the course when I first started.
  
  CS doesn't hold your hand while you do the course. It is self-paced and you have to put in the effort and rely on the message board for MT guidance. If you want step-by-step guidance, then M-Tec or Andrews would better suit your needs.
• I found that out to be true
• I have changed some views on my MT school choice, however, I don't regret it. I paid $1500.00, got what I needed, and worked my butt off after employment to attain where I am today. It's what worked for me, however, it wasn't the easy way to go.
  
• Now that I have been working for 2 years (still a newbie), I am realizing how much I had to re-learn, blah, blah, blah. It's all really boring actually. However, if I could do it all over again, I would still do it the same way as I have learned many things. I have finally crawled out of the hole I put myself in.
• Reconsider Andrews or M-Tec.
  
  You will hear "CS grads get jobs and that is what matters," and to them it is. What should matter to you is how steep that learning curve is going to be when you start your first job and the quality of employer that will be willing to hire you. I am a CS grad. I accepted job with an excellent company within a few days of starting my job hunt, but I used resources outside of CS to give me a better foundation than their course alone provides. I was lucky to have some folks point out the weaknesses of that course and to be in a position to afford to round out my education using other materials and resources.
• 1. Purchase...
  2. Purchase...
  3. I also recommend [i.e., purchase, ed.]...
  4. You might also check out the SUM program CDs [ibid.]...
  4a. ...foot pedal...buy...
  7. ...lacking in computer knowledge, take a class or two [ibid.].
  
  I used resources outside of CS to give me a better foundation than their course alone provides. I was lucky to have some folks point out the weaknesses of that course and to be in a position to afford to round out my education using other materials and resources.
• I think it should be noted how many times Gomer referenced the outlay of more money to achieve good results. By the time a person considering CS buys what is necessary to make herself a good job candidate, she may have spent the difference between CS and either Andrews or M-Tec.
  
  The moral of the story is to go ahead and spend wisely the first time, as these resources are already packaged within the tuition price of Andrews and M-Tec.
• It always bothers me when people say "If you don't need your hand held, go to Career Step rather than M-TEC or Andrews." I'm not even sure what in the heck that means. I went to Andrews. NOBODY held my hand. They taught me, corrected me, and made sure I didn't leave until I was employable. If that is what is considered hand-holding, then I'm all for it.
  
  Meri
  
  ETA: I finished the course is 6 months and was employed within 2 weeks of graduating.
• I am the exception rather than the rule. I am a Career Step graduate and, while I do think believe it hurt me personally, I was motivated strictly by tuition cost (bad idea). I worked my tail off, am very self-motivated, did a lot of outside research, worked at it all day and half the night and graduated in 3 months with honors. I went to work immediately for MedQuist. I have since left MedQuist and am happily working for a wonderful company. Be prepared to work hard.
  
  However, if I had it to do over again I would go through Andrews. You really cannot put a price on good education.
  
• I am a recent Andrews grad and would just like to mention that all of the above are included in the Andrews tuition. While a student at Andrews, I did not purchase anything more than a notebook.
  
  I cannot recommend an Andrews education strongly enough. I was offered a job with a very good company exactly 1 week after graduation. Andrews provides an excellent education but be prepared to work for it. It is not an easy course and requires dedication and commitment. Exactly what the MT career requires once working.
  
  If you have not yet paid your tuition, I respectfully urge you to reconsider your choice of school.
• I did not have to purchase anything besides a notebook with my M-TEC course.
• I recently graduated from M-TEC, and believe me, there was no "hand holding" whatsoever. The course was tough, but it prepared me well, and I was able to get a job with the company that was #1 on my list right out of school. I would advise anybody considering getting into this field not to cut any corners whatsoever when it comes to their education. There is so much thrown at you when you first start working, so much more to learn and absorb, and on top of that you are also faced with the rather harsh reality of production demands, so you want to make sure you are as prepared as much as possible. By cutting corners with your education, you will just be making it that much harder on yourself in the long run.

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• Yes, I would do it all over again even with the knowledge of how frustrating this job really can be. There are days that are beyond frustrating, and there are days that are smooth sailing
• My reasons for doing this all over again would remain the same: The freedom to work the hours I choose, freedom from management checking out my collar size, freedom to work from home, and the ability to earn more than just the same old standard wage day in and day out. Benefits are not important to me as I am covered under my husband's insurance, but they may be very important for you. I have set a minimum standard wage for myself, and as long as I can meet that or more, it beats going to a job where I know I can only earn $_____ no matter how hard I work or what I do. I suppose it depends on your reasons and how passionate you are about those reasons.
• Yes, I would definitely do it again.
• I have really enjoyed this career, although I must say there certainly are frustrating times. There are good companies to work for, not-so-good companies, and downright bad companies. You will learn a lot about this on this board. Suffice it to say that I received excellent training at M-TEC, am with a company that I really enjoy, have freedom to arrange my own work schedule, and also have the freedom to add to my income if I wish. You cannot go wrong with M-TEC. You will basically be "guaranteed" a job by virtue of your training if you do well.
• Yes, I would do it again, except I would do it sooner.
  
  ETA: ...and I would do it better (as in I would attend Andrews or MTEC) and do it right.
• the benefits of working at home as an MT are becoming overshadowed by my own personal desire to have more paid time off, paid holidays, and MY OWN RETIREMENT PLAN instead of riding on my husband's retirement wagon.
• I don't hate the job. For many years I was VERY happy in this profession. I still enjoy my job and my own situation is still viable - but that could change at any moment. I see what happens all around me and I'm not the type to stick my fingers in my ears and chant "that won't happen to ME."
  
  The reason I say that I wouldn't make the choice again is that I would rather have spent the time getting myself established in a situation that has a more positive outlook than MT does.
• I enjoy the work, but I hate what is being done to the field by all those people ready to sell themselves to a low bidder or happy to make up for lack of proper (or often any) education by offering to work for free or next to it.

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• There are times when it is feast or famine...times when there is so much work to be caught up, and times when there is not enough work to pay the bills.
• over-hiring.
• My solution was to cut my hours back with the national and take on supplemental work, with an MTSO and/or get my own accounts as well. I do the MTSOs work via internet and I enjoy working that way. I have a few small accounts of my own as well. So, I am kind of all over the place
• There IS work available...but you have to be very flexible and open to many different options. In this field, I don't believe it's wise to gather all of your eggs in one basket
• whether you will be able to make a living (not get rich) as a medical transcriptionist in the future and whether the cost of a good education will be worth it

• 1. Your attitude.
  Can you sit at a keyboard for long hours typing what someone else has dictated? Can you refrain from the impulse to discuss with any other human being what you hear in those dictations, regardless of the integrity of that person, because it violates the patient's confidentiality? Can you take constructive criticism from others in order to advance your knowledge and abilities?

  2. Your speed and accuracy in keyboarding (macros and expanders help here). Also a good working knowledge of grammar and punctuation are important.

  3. Your ability to quickly find the correct answer(s).
  A good hard copy library, good internet searching skills, good software are extremely important for your success but you need the knowledge of how to use them efficiently. A good school will teach you how to do this. Also, of help, are these boards after you have checked every other resource you have access to.

• 4. Your education.
  You get what you pay for and there are good schools out there. Check the AAMT site for their input on what constitutes a good school.
  
  5.Money and time management.
  Can you budget your income for the times when the work flow is less than optimum? As in any production-based industry, there will be times when the work is not as plentiful as other times. In fact, there will even be times when you are flooded with work and might need to work longer hours than usual to meet your turn-around-time so you also need to be a good time manager.
  In the lean times can you and would you be willing to work at other things to supplement your income from medical transcription? Your medical trancription education will translate into many job opportunities in many other medical-related fields that sometimes need additional help.

  6. Your adaptability.
  Can you easily change gears when necessary and learn the idiocycracies of each dictator/account so that you manage your work flow with efficacy? If necessary, could you and would you take on other temporary work to help supplement your income from medical transcription?

  7. Your need for benefits.
  Do you have or need life and/or medical insurance or can you be put on someone else's insurance?

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• Some of the comments were made stating that this profession is getting worse and that they would not recommend becoming a MT to anyone. I was very excited and now I am confused about my decision. I don't want to spend the money and time training for something that seems to be such hassle.
• she does not recommend anyone new starting in this field, but I can tell you that in general I tend to agree with her. There are, however, exceptions.
• If someone is willing to go through the proper training (and Andrews certainly fits that bill) and has realistic expectations of what this profession is all about and what it entails, then I certainly would not dissuade them.
• be prepared for long hours, lots of stopping/starting to look things up, frantic cries for help
• Do NOT expect to make a heck of a lot of money doing this at first.
• You will (at least every MT I know) probably reach a plateau at some point
• you absolutely must be extremely disciplined. Distractions are a kille
• My feeling on these always is...........if every doc was a dream boat - then really...anyone COULD do this job. They're not, so they can't, and that's why I still have a job all these years.
• feels like you've been chained to your chair for 24 hours.
• This is where the money is.
• I just wanted to say that I have been an MT for a year now, and I absolutely love it. I love the work, the doctors I work for, and the feeling I get everytime I finish a report.

  It was a struggle when I first started. I figured I was probably making about $3.00 an hour, but after I got used to my doctors and got my macros together, I average about $23.00 an hour.
• There were times when I was just starting out that I averaged $2-$3 per hour, because of the very poor quality of the tape, the amount of lookup and research that I had to do, and the pulling-your-hair-out factor of it all. A month and a half later, with a LOT of learning still to do, I average about $8 per hour, and it is only getting faster and easier as I go.
• My MT students have visions of doing this work at home, tucking hours around family responsibilities, and I have to say, that is not a reasonable expectation for a new MT. You will work long hours, your pay will be low!
• you will have better pay and some flexibility in your schedule, but that only comes later, after you have done the really hard work.
• I encourage new MTs to be cross-trained in coding, office administration, whatever takes their fancy, because I think we will need to adapt to changing situations. The only ones who will be out of work will be the ones who say, "I only want to sit and transcribe!"
• I have been working in this field for just a little over a year, and I think this is one of the best decisions I have ever made.
• At this point I am perfectly content working for a national company, making not much money, but gradually becoming better and better at what I do. I realize that I could leave the national and pick up my own accounts and my income would go up (or at least my line rate). However, that is something that I am in no way ready to do for several reasons, my inexperience for one and the fact that I am not ready to work 16 hour days or keep working come hell or high water until the work is done. Right now I'm happy being able to turn my computer off when my shift is over.
• Just starting out, don't be surprised to clear about $2 per hour because of all the time needed to research and reference things
• IF it is a job to supplement another income
• then it's, IMO, worth a try.

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• line count.  I can tell you that mine didn't slowly creep up but kind of went up all of a sudden and then remained at that level for a while.  Then a few weeks or so later, I would see another jump.  This happened over and over again. 

• One thing that also seemed to help me was to not obsess over my line counts.  When I stopped watching so closely and counted less often, I definitely did better and felt less stressed about it as well.

  Line counts do increase.  They just do. 
• There isn't a graduate out there who didn't think 1000 lines was nearly impossible at some point as a newbie. Don't sweat it. The companies who hire grads don't expect 1000 lines out of you next week.

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