At Home Computer Job?

Hi! Don't know how I missed this thread...I'm also an at-home medical transcriptionist. I started as a transcriptionist in about 1996. Had always been a secretary prior to that. I'd gone to my local community college and started an Associates Degree program for medical transcription. I think they've since discontinued the program and now have an on-line training program that takes about a year! Anyway, I was lucky enough to land a job at a multispecialty clinic closeby while I was still going to school and worked there for about 2 years which gave me some great experience! And we did it on typewriters, if you can believe that! After I quit, I worked for a couple of different companies that allowed me to work from home, using my computer and tapes, and one company allowed me to dial in and access voice dictation that way. I then found someone locally who did transcription on her own (had her own docs) and I actually worked for her for a while which was great. Then I found the current company I'm working for, Healthscribe, who is based in Sterling, Virginia. They're actually actively seeking (experienced) MTs right now! The company really is an awesome one to work for. They sent me to Virginia for a week for training (on their software), which was a lot of fun (got to meet others there for the same reason from all parts of the country), then sent me home and sent me a computer fully loaded with their software. The transcription is all done through the Internet (wav voice files) from hospitals and clinics all over the U.S. They set you up with a primary and secondary account and, though I've had to be switched a couple of times to a different account, I've never run out of work. The money is there to be made but I don't push myself harder than I want to (I work full-time, 40+ hours a week) and I'm pretty of happy with the paycheck I get. They've got all sorts of benefits...health insurance, 401K, vacation and personal days. You do sometimes have to work some holidays but if you do you're paid double-time for them. I've been with them now for 3 years and all in all I'm happy with them. The hardest part, for me, of working at home is that I miss the whole "social" aspect of working, especially now that my son is older (he's 13). It's got its definite advantages and disadvantages...but I keep thinking how I don't have to deal with rush-hour traffic, buy new work clothes all the time, etc., and it's a pretty good deal! :)
 
Hi TerryMia,
Thanks for posting your a little about your job experiences. Please keep in touch as I would love to hear more about your transcription experiences. I'm going to be using the WAV files. Of course right now, my first 2 days with my books, I'm doing the 'get familiar with the terms etc.' The harder part comes a little later. LOL

And.... everyone.... please feel free to offer any advice as well. What helped you in the memorization process? What did you do, if anything, to help increase your typing skills?
I depend on you all for your encouragement in doing my exercises with Cathe everyday. Now I'm also needing (like real bad...hint hint...) your experiences in the transcribing field. LOL

(Tracy, sorry I haven't emailed you back. The school I'm taking the course from is CAI.):)
 
Hi Wanda! You're welcome! You're going to LOVE using the WAV files...I've tried a lot of different methods of transcribing and this is hands-down the very best...totally has spoiled me for anything else. Good luck with your training! It's an interesting field to be in, that's for sure! As I said, I've been doing this now for about 7 years and I still learn something (or things) new every day! I've always been a pretty fast typist since I've got an extensive secretarial background...but learning medical terminology can be a bit of a challenge! It's definitely like a language all its own...of course, it all eventually clicks and when it does it sticks! lol...I'd say one of the harder things to stay on top of is the constantly-changing new drugs...there are new ones coming out all the time, lol...that, and dealing with docs who are bad dictators! LOL...There are some really excellent ones out there...and there are some really baaad ones...I just like to think of those as a challenge! All in all, I think you'll love it! :)
 
Hi Terry, Nice to see your post. I've been a transcriptionist for over 15 years. I'm lucky in that I have no bad dictators. I've worked for the same clinic now for 8 years and all the docs there are great. I wouldn't even think of moving on and working for someone else. I'll probably stay with this job until retirement.

Congrats on getting your course work Wanda. I have no advice for learning medical terminology since I learned on the job. I don't think it has been mentioned yet, but there are programs out there that we use that are like using shorthand. It is an abbreviation expander. For example, instead of typing out "the patient", I type "tp" and "the patient" automatically prints out. Any terminology that is really hard for me catch onto gets put in this as well as medications. Since I type for the same docs every day, I have many abbreviations for what they say as they say the same things over and over. You can even put full paragraphs in it. Really gets the line count up there to make more money. It is a great program and hopefully you'll get to use it. There are many of them out there.
 
Hi Kelley, fellow MT! :) Yep, almost forgot about abbreviation expanders! Believe it or not, I hadn't used one until I started working for Healthscribe, the company I'm with now. Since they actually provide the computer and software, they had Instant Text loaded on my computer and taught us how to use it in training. You're right...it really can get the line count up there. I think it probably works the best the smaller the number of docs you transcribe for...I mean, I DO use mine quite a bit...but I think I'd be able to use it a lot more if I didn't transcribe soooo many different docs day to day.
 
Yes Terry, It is great. I work for the same docs day after day. The hospital I work for has personal expansions that we put in ourself plus shared expansions that are put in by the supervisor that can be used by any transcriptionist on the system. We also have "normals." These are longer than abbreviations and contain full physical exams. If one of my docs is doing a full physical on a patient, I just type in his initials plus "np" for normal physical. The entire physical pops up on my screen and I just make any changes that he tells me. And we get credit for the entire physical even though we didn't type it. It is wonderful.
 
WOW!!! I'm going to print out this thread because of the great advice and ideas that are listed here. Thanks a whole bunch.:)

I'm now ready for chapter 2,learning about the terms that pertain to the body. First off is cells. I took all the quizes and tests for chapter 1 and that went very well. But....I'm not typing the terms as fast as I'd like. There is a CD that has the all the terms to review and type after each chapter. The term is spoken and you have to type it. I really need some work in that department. Practice Practice, right?

I never knew there were so many different kidney doctors. It took me awhile to understand the difference between the urologist and the nephrologist. LOL And all those ac, al, and ic ical's sis and y's...
hahahaha

What kind of keyboard do you all use? Do you prefer the regular flat keyboards or those that are ergonomically designed as in the Microsoft ones? I have both. The business computer has the straight keyboard, and my computer has the Mircrosoft one. I have trouble with making capital letters sometimes as the keys are soft and you have to press down so hard on the shift key.
Just wanted to hear your opinions. :p

I think I need to speed up my studying if I expect to get through this in a year. There is 22 chapters in the book and then it is on to dictation. Oh Boy!! }(
 
Hi Wanda, It sounds like everything is going well. I use a split keyboard (the ergonomic one). I find it easier on the wrists. After reading your posts, I'm actually thinking of taking the courses now. If I'm not mistaken, the company I work for is going to be restructuring the pay scale and I think we'll fall into a higher pay scale if we have training. I'm definitely going to check on it. Plus I found out a couple of weeks ago that I'll be getting a new supervisor by the end of the year. Right now my supervisor is in the clinic I work for. Eventually my supervisor will be out of the main hospital. I have heard that we'll still be typing for the same clinic, but it makes me wonder if eventually we'll all be working on hospital dictation as well as other specialty docs. It that is the case, then I definitely would like some training ahead of time. Not to mention the higher pay scale. ;-)
 
Gosh, Wanda your excitement about your new adventure is contagious!! How do feel about the training materials that you received? Is the CAI course put together well? Is it structured? I mean, I know it is self-study but do they give you any guidance about how far you should get in the materials each day, amount of time you should study each day/week, milestones when you should be completing the tests, etc? Thanks to you I am seriously thinking about going the MT route too...don't mean to be a copycat but I've been looking for some other career for awhile now and I think this might be a good fit for me. Thanks! Malissa :7
 
Hi Kelley,
Do you ever have trouble with your wrists from too much typing? I have a friend that does MT work, and she had carpel tunnel syndrome for awhile. She couldn't even do her Karen Voight workouts. (sorry I haven't been able to convert her yet. hahaha)
So another mutual friend suggested using that thumb wrist brace to Prevent injury as opposed to bad consequences later.
????

I also wondered if there was an added advantage to getting a diploma. Thanks for the heads up. I don't know if I said this before in an earlier post, but I do know my dentist wants to see your diploma before he tests you out for transcribing. I was happy to know he would pick someone off the street, so to speak, and not necessarily from a MT pool though.
I think the possibilites are limitless when you know how to do transcribing. There are dentists, chiropractors, clinics, hospitals, and hey...veterinarians.....

Kelley, I think it would be cool if you went to school. Maybe I can copy off your test sheets.....LOL just kidding. Seriously, it would be fun bouncing the things learned back and forth. For sure you would get through the school much much faster than me. You all ready know most of what is in the book. For sure you have the dictation part down pat.

My girlfriend and I are having a big laugh about those kidney doctors as she was also having trouble figuring out what they did.

I'll be burning the midnight oil tonight trying to learn about the cells and then body organs and cavities. Didn't know the body had cavities. Thought you only had a cavity in your tooth. Hahahah
With this chapter I get to get out my crayons and color in my coloring book the body parts. See what you are missing. :p :p LOL
 
Hi Wanda, No I do not have carpal tunnel. I guess I'm lucky as I've been typing since I was 15 and I'll be 41 on Thursday. I taught myself how to type at home as a teenager with my mother's old high school typing book and a manual typewriter. I then took 2 years of typing in high school and won a typing award. :7 My second job at age 17 was a typesetter for a greating card company and then I started transcribing in my early 20s. My left wrist has been kind of sore this past week, but I don't think it is carpal tunnel. It feels more bruised. The little bone that sticks out on the wrist is actually looking kind of big to me also which could be a ganglion cyst and may need to be drained. I'm going to keep an eye on it. If it stays sore for another week or so, I'm going to get it checked out. It's not so bad that I can't workout or anything like that.

I actually emailed the lady who will be my supervisor in the future and asked her questions about more pay, etc from having a certificate. I'll make my decision based on her reply. I'll keep you updated.
 
Hi Everyone,
I'm now ready for Chapter 3!!! :p
Ask me about epiplasmic reticulum and mediastium's. I got that down pretty good in Chapter 2 hahahah.

Malissa in answer to your question about structure; My school isn't structured as how much you study each day to reach a certain point in x amount of time. You have a year to get through 23 chapters of this big book, then on to abbreviations and doctor dictation. Since dictation is where most of the time should be spent,.....well, you have to figure your own math table. LOL
My Instructor advices to spend as much time studying as you anticipate the time you will be working. That way you get acclimated into a routine. Then when you actually get the jobs, you won't be wondering how are you going to get the laundry done and get this dictation back within 24 hours.

Question: What is the Certification test like? How many questions? How long do you have to take the test? Ha...only on Chapter 3 and she's wondering about the BIG test! ;-)
 
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