Medical Transcription: How do you stay connected?
The medical transcription profession is becoming more geographically disconnected all the time. So many of us work from home, some as employees and some as contractors. The normal places we used to network do not seem as prevalent as they once were either. So this week got me thinking about how we stay connected.
I think this profession is one where you can easily become isolated. I also think that’s a dangerous place to be. Connections are important in life, both personal and professional.
Connections to People
I ran across a wonderful quote the other day. Jack Kornfield said, “When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world, we lose connection with one another – and ourselves.” What a powerful statement.
Are you busy? I don’t think I know anyone who would say no to that! And yet, sometimes we are just “caught up in the busyness of the world.” A blog I frequently read said this week if you’re too busy for connecting to people, it’s not that you’re too busy, but that you have a time management problem. Somehow in our world today the phrase “I’m just so busy!” has become like a red badge of courage, proudly worn and shown off to the world. And we compete with each other about who is the busiest! If you’re too busy for connecting with people, rethink that one.
Connections to our Industry and Profession
Years ago, we didn’t have a way to stay connected to the happenings in our profession. We worked, often in offices in the basement of the hospital, interacted with coworkers, and came home. I don’t think many of us even realized it WAS a profession back then. Then AAMT was born. That gave us a connection to the profession and to others who understood what we do. Local chapters thrived as people came together with a common passion, seeking recognition of what we did as a profession and not just a job.
Today that world is very different. Some still get their connections to and about the industry through a professional association. The internet has opened up a wide world to us as well. We interact with people across the world, many of whom we will never meet in person. We have resource sites for reference material. We have many different associations that we may belong to and where we participate. We find websites and blogs where we can connect with like-minded people to share ideas and brainstorm about our future.
The truth is there isn’t just one place anymore. The world is full of a great deal of opportunity. If you aren’t staying up to date on things, they will change without your knowledge. I talked with an MT this week and when I reminded her that not everything online is negative and you can learn to filter that out, her response was “I just don’t go online and read things.” Wow, then how do you get your information? I challenge you to be sure you’re connected to more than one source so you have a well-rounded picture. Even with things that may be perceived as “negative,” there is often a morsel of gold within. Don’t develop tunnel vision by accepting all of your information from one place.
Connections to YOURSELF
Do you ever feel personally disconnected? I sure do. It’s those times that I know it’s time to step back, take some deep breaths, and spend some time doing something for pure pleasure and enjoyment. It is how I refresh. Sometimes it’s as simple as spending time sitting on the couch with Turbo the Wonder Dog, petting him and feeling how soft his fur is and getting his hugs and kisses. Sometimes it’s curling up with a great book, not a business book, a great novel that’s just a for fun read. Sometimes it’s even just getting out of the house, going to the farmer’s market, or going to have my nails done. Even a short trip to Starbucks often does the trip. It’s important to stay connected to who you are as a person as well!
Connections are Important
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ~ Maya Angelou
Having connections makes us happier people. We are more informed. Spending time with people who support what we are doing in life helps as well.
What Are Your Connections?
How about you? What are some ways you stay connected? Are there other ways you could try? Leave your thoughts in a comment here. I look forward to it.
Related posts:
- Medical Transcription: Alternative Career Paths
- Medical Transcription Tips for New Graduates
- Medical Transcription: What’s Your Best Tip?
- How Does Technology Change Medical Transcription Tribes?
- Medical Transcription: Rights and Responsibilities
Tagged with: Connections • Goals • happiness • medical transcription • medical transcription goals • using social media in medical transcription • values
Filed under: Challenges in Medical Transcription • Professional Development
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I’m one of the few who don’t work from home, so I connect at work every day, although not much in a professional way, since none of my co-workers is as passionate about transcription as I am. I use e-mail daily, I phone my mother in Memphis every evening, and I try to use Facebook to communicate.
I reflected on my life a few years ago and realized there were two friends who used to be close friends but with whom I had lost touch. I immediately reconnected with one (who was overjoyed) but the other one had divorced, changed her name, moved, etc., and it took some extensive searching on Google to find her (turns out she had also remarried, changed her name again and moved to Michigan). To make matters more difficult, her maiden name was the ubiquitous “Smith.” Anyway, I finally located her and she was absolutely delighted and we have renewed our close friendship by phone and e-mail. She constantly thanks me for finding her again.
Although I enjoy Facebook, I am somewhat disappointed in its shallowness. I friended people so I could keep up with things they are doing, see some current pictures, etc., and instead I have a few “friends” who do nothing but play various games and “collect” stuff for their farms, aquariums, etc., which means nothing to me and has very little to do with connecting. Even in e-mail, I have a friend who uses it only to forward “cute” stories and jokes. She tells me nothing about what’s going on in her life.
As an introvert, I’m not socially comfortable with myriad connections, but I do want the ones I have to be informative, uplifting, and meaningful. I really dislike small talk and chitchat. I’d rather have one good long discussion on one’s philosophy of life than countless other discussions on more minor issues. When I say I want to know what’s going on in your life, I’m really interested in your LIFE, not details of your daily busy schedule. The former is the communication; the latter is just a calendar.
As important as connection is to me, I make sure I set an example, and at Christmas we always send out a Christmas letter about what has gone on in our family since last year, end it with reminders of our phone numbers, e-mail, etc. At the end I hand write a personal note. I always include a photograph of the whole family – the WHOLE family – including our 2 adult children and their families. The cost of enclosing the photo is negligible compared to the pleasure it brings. (We take it on Thanksgiving when we are all together.) I’ve heard a lot of good feedback on getting that picture every year, since most of our extended family and friends are out of state and some haven’t seen us for 20 years or so.
We have always valued communication and connection in our family. Thanks for bringing it up.
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Kathy Reply:
September 1st, 2010 at 9:12 am
Carol, I am so with you on the Facebook games! I’ve blocked all of those applications as it’s just not relevant for me. I also love your description of communication vs. a calendar, we do get so stuck on the calendar sometimes that we don’t have real true communication. I used to do Christmas letters and can’t even tell you now why I stopped, but I think it was around the time of my divorce almost 10 years ago. Connecting to people is so important to helping keep our lives grounded.
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I found your article very relevant. I have often felt isolated working from home, especially since the unexpected and untimely death of my husband 2 years ago. It has become so bothersome that I have actually been considering changing professions just to get out of the house, but I’m pulled back by the freedom and benefits it offers of being available for my children. I am not at a conclusion yet, but am getting closer.
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Kathy Reply:
September 1st, 2010 at 9:13 am
Melanie, first I am so sorry you lost your husband. When we lose someone close to us in death, it’s really easy to isolate. What other options do you have for getting out of the house now and then without changing professions? Find those and see if it makes a difference!
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I too seem to be disconnected at times. And trying to keep up with what’s going on just seems to be more effort than it’s worth at times. And how about all those article, and informational emails you try to keep so as to go back and hopefully read and save for when you need to reference them. Good thing it’s on computer, because if it was in paper form, my family would kick me out of the house! It would fill an entire house!
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Kathy Reply:
September 1st, 2010 at 10:43 am
Good point, Sonya. I use InstaPaper to save articles online that I want to read later. It’s saved me a ton of time in finding things later and doesn’t clog up my bookmarks!
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I am guilty! I am one of those people who say I am sooooooo busy that I have to make an appointment to go to the bathroom!
I wanted to kind of put in my 2 cents’ worth on the other posts I’ve read here. (Time lapse….I see that I have donated FAR more than MY 2 cents’ worth and wish I could shorten this but won’t….LOL)
Regarding the loss of a spouse or any dear family member or friend, it so often happens that you isolate yourself at those times because of just not wanting to face others feeling that THEY might not know how to react to you as an individual instead of half of a couple. I haven’t lost a spouse other than through divorce, and I can truthfully say that even then I felt like I couldn’t for some strange reason contact those friends that had been “our” friends….and actually, most had been just “his” friends and became mine through marriage. Still, we were married for 17 years, and that took a whole lot of people out of my life, you know? In the past 2-3 years, though, I have reconnected with some of them. It’s not the same, and I live many states away from them (since I’m not in Minnesota anymore), but even so we connect on occasion, always via email, and ALSO always only superficially unless I am the one to break the ice with personal questions when I reply. I noted from one email that a friend had cancer, other friends (many by the time I heard about it) had children graduate from high school (many already having produced children/grandchildren to my friends), and others had spouses who had passed on. You know, if you don’t pay attention to what’s going on around you, you can really lose track easily….and I will admit that it was all my fault because I COULD have stayed in touch even though they were “our” friends but we weren’t an “us” anymore. So, when you suffer the loss of a spouse (or even a divorce), you have a couple of mental blocks that others don’t seem to have.
As an IC, I work from home and had found that to be VERY isolating in the past. I am working on a hospital account now that still makes me feel that way; however, I’m also working on a clinic account now at the same time, and there is such a world of difference there. The facility is smaller and ALL of the transcriptionists keep in touch with each other by email and even by phone (even though you won’t catch me calling the one who lives in Hawaii). For the longest time, I felt isolated because of working at home…and the only times I felt NOT isolated was when I got out for an appointment (doctor, chiropractor, lab work, for a haircut, for tax preparation, or going to the grocery store, post office, or bank). Last fall we started attending a local church and met many nice people, but we let our attendance fall off after New Year’s Day. However, while we attended, we noted that a lot of different groups (even a women’s exercise group) meets at the church weekly. My husband belonged to a local Kiwanis group that he actually dropped because it was expensive for us but also he just felt he didn’t have enough time with everything else he had going on; still, when I mentioned feeling isolated, he encouraged ME to either join Kiwanis or some other social or local service group so I’d be sure to “get out” whether it was on a weekly basis, monthly basis, or whatever. My point here is that it is a choice. If you “stay in,” then you can definitely feel isolated, although depending on your situation you might not.
Ah!!! The Christmas letter! You know, I made use of a power outage last year and got my Christmas cards written and envelopes addressed even before Halloween! Typically, I make sure they are ready to go “sometime before Thanksgiving” and they get put in the mail generally the first mailing day after Thanksgiving. I think this is my feeble attempt to let these people get THEIR cards from me in time to turn around and send me one back by Christmastime. (Joke’s on me, folks, ’cause I still end up getting probably 4-10 cards when I’ve mailed 25-40.) Last year, after I had already gotten my cards in the mail, for some reason I called my Aunt Dorene in Texas…during the conversation she asked me if I had included a “Christmas letter” because she’d like to know what was going on in everybody’s life over the past year, which is why she had always included a Christmas letter (and sometimes a photo). She was REALLY disappointed when I told her the Christmas cards were already in the mail, and without a Christmas letter. Guess who will definitely be INCLUDING a Christmas letter inside of this year’s Christmas cards? (In the past, I have sent out a letter once or twice….I have a good supply of Christmas stationery just for that purpose, so I may as well use it…another good reason to write the letter.)
Once again, I’ve written a book. Yes, ME….the one who is always so busy that I have to schedule potty breaks. I’ve actually used up all the time that I had scheduled for one, so now I have to wait until my next scheduled bathroom break! hahaha (just kidding)
It has been interesting reading these responses, and I’m sure ones to follow will also be interesting. Thanks for the topic, Kathy. (And I agree with Carol when she says that there is a HUGE difference between real communication with someone vs. a rehash of their so-superficial calendar. I ALSO get tons of those ‘invitations’ on Facebook to join this game or accept these vegetables or return this or that….I REALLY don’t appreciate my friends bogging down my email with all those invitations. I’ve even stopped reading emails that have attachments because of (1) the time it takes to open the darn things and (2) these can often times be the bearer of viruses and other nasty things. These are often sent to me by people who have nothing better to do with their time than forward on junk mail that they received from other people who ALSO have nothing better to do with their time. So, Carol, I hear ya!)
Looking forward to reading more posts,
Sherry
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Kathy Reply:
September 1st, 2010 at 6:17 pm
Sherry, great addition to the conversation. I always enjoy your replies and look forward to them. Now you’re all making me think I need to do that Christmas letter again. The last two years I didn’t even send cards as I was living in Barbados and it was just too much hassle.
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I stay connected with people by phone, e-mail, and even Facebook. I talk to my sister evey day, my daughter at least 2-4 times a week, and my son, well, I am lucky to catch him 1-2 times a week. I can count on 1 hand the people that I truly consider a close friend. One friend I have had for about 25 years and another one has been close friend for at least 10 years. I know that I can talk to either one of them without worrying about any judgements being made. They both are really, one of a kind, friends.
I also keep in touch with family members in other states by e-mail and I make it a point to share with them what is or has been going on in my life. I only have one elderly aunt and uncle left and I keep in touch with them via e-mail. They do the same with me and we have exchanged pictures via e-mail. At Christmas of 2009, I had my husband take a picture of me and included a little note with it saying this is what I look like now. Everyone was very glad that I had sent it, because there is usually a period of years that I do not see them in person.
I agree that Facebook can be very superficial, but on the other hand, you don’t have to read all of the trivial junk that people post on it. One of the best things that I did was to get in touch with a niece that had dropped out of my life after my brother, her dad, passed away. I had wondered about her and her brother over the years but could not find a current address or correct name for her. I did find her on Facebook by typing her maiden name in and she popped up. We have spent the last few months filling each other in on what has been happening in our lives for the last 10+ years. She has 3 children now, and we are making plans to meet sometime soon so I can see her and meet my 3 great-nephews. We were both excited that I found her after all of this time. Her brother, though, does not want to have a relationship with me and that is okay. Some people cannot let go of the past and live in the now.
I am fortunate in that I don’t feel disconnected from other people. I can be alone and not feel lonely. My ex-husband traveled a lot and was gone for weeks at a time. My current husband goes to our house in Montana twice a year for 2-3 weeks a year and I enjoy a little vacation as well. The animals and I enjoy the peace and quiet while he is gone. He is always busy building something new, or tearing up one part or another in the house, so there is always a lot of noise going on with either the tearing out or putting back together.
I also enjoy this website a great deal. It is a wonderful place to make new friends and discuss the topic of the day or week.
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Kathy Reply:
September 1st, 2010 at 6:19 pm
Linda, I’ve had that same experience with Facebook, reconnecting to some people I hadn’t heard from for years. As for all of the apps, I just hide them so all I see from friends are their real updates.
I love what you say about being able to be alone and not lonely. I learned that after my divorce and it was a wonderful lesson. There are times when I DO want others around, but the times I have to enjoy by myself are also precious.
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How DO you hide all the game baloney, etc., on Facebook? I’d LOVE to do that so I just get the messages.
Also, I wanted to mention that when my husband and I first were married and lived in Georgia, he joined the Masons and made a lot of friends there. It was also a way for him to have a “social life” outside of the two of us going to dinner because where we lived, that was virtually all that was available unless you belonged to the Chamber of Commerce. At any rate, we left Georgia about 6 years ago or so and since that time, although he kept his membership in the Masons he really hadn’t become active in any local Masons Lodge anywhere that we moved to since Georgia. Recently, though, he met some of the local Masons and was encouraged to attend one of their meetings (there are 2 Masons groups within 15 miles of uss), and I thought it was be nice for him to get back into that as a way to expand his circle of friends. (It’s pretty hard when you work in a place where nobody is friendly with you and every other organization that you join you just end up feeling like an outsider, so I felt this was VERY important for him to get back into.) Anyway, he just got back home within the past 15 minutes or so, I’ve finished my transcription for the day, and I want to talk with him for a while before we hit the hay and see how he felt about this group tonight. The alarm goes off at 6 a.m., and I’m yawning already!
Oh, the reason why I felt I should mention this is that when it comes to being an introvert or an extrovert, I just feel that I have no problem meeting people, beginning conversations, or becoming involved in anything I want to. Chris, however, is the exact opposite. Generally, he only gets involved in groups because it is “expected” of him–for example, his boss WANTED him to become a member of the county’s group that is like Chamber of Commerce, but they call it something else. For the most part, very few people attend, even though someone sends out reminders to everyone to attend. MOST of the time, no real business can be attended to because they don’t get a quorum. He gets very disheartened first because he doesn’t really WANT to be there and, secondly, because when he puts himself out there to try to be involved it appears to be for no good reason as others who LIVE here and OWN businesses and want to ENCOURAGE local trade and tourism just don’t even seem to care, so it is nothing but an exercise in futility and he feels that his input is neither required nor appreciated. (Truthfully, I can absolutely understand his point of view! I can’t tell you the number of times he has showed up to these meetings–and also meetings of other local organizations he has been asked to join for one reason or another by his employer–only to be one of possibly 2-4 people attending out of a 12-30 member group so that nothing fruitful can happen, and they end up just breaking up and going home. If the local people who SHOULD care DON’T, then why should HE? It seems they only ask for his input when it happens to be with regard to “what he/his company can do towards whatever the current activity is or goal is that they are working toward….nothing like feeling you are being taken for granted and/or being taken advantage of, right?)
Anyway, I just think there is a flip side to being involved versus being a bit more isolated….related, I think, to being an extrovert versus being an introvert.
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After re-reading my message it sounds like I don’t like to meet people face to face and that is not the case. There are times when I really like to connect with people. When I go to stores, I always get to know the people on the other side of the counter. I like to know their names and then we build on that and talk about other things not related to whatever the transaction is.
My kids tell me that they can’t take me anywhere because I will start talking with perfect strangers. I always tell them that if I have 15-20 minutes with someone chances are that I will know more about them after talking with them than some of their friends. I have found that there are people that just want someone to talk to and have that person really listen to what they are saying. I can’t usually do anything to help the situation but they always thank me for listening. My sister says that one of the best places for me to get to know someone else is sitting in the emergency room at the hospital. My niece had brain cancer for 11 years before it finally took her this year and my sister and I spent a lot of time in the ER’s or in hospitals over the years, and in the nursing home with her and I had the opportunity to meet an assortment of people.
There are many ways to interact with people and you never know when a person is going to cross your path really needing to share some of their problems with someone.
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Sherry, to hide the games on FB, hover the mouse to the right and you should see an X appear. If you click on that, you usually get choices to ignore the app, ignore the person entirely, or cancel. Just ignore the app. It was so funny, after someone let me in on that secret, there’s one “friend” I never see anything about anymore – because ALL she did was the play stuff! LOL
Here’s an idea for those who are interested in the possibility of sending a photo in your Christmas card or letter. This is something we’ve done for years. Sitting a family down for a photo, even if it’s just a few people, can be frustrating because you have to take so many shots to get the best one (thank goodness for digital cameras now – used to take a whole roll of film!). We’ll take a shot, check it, realize so-and-so was looking away or had his eyes shut, etc., and take some more. Sometimes we’ll see someone is too tall standing and rearrange the whole group. I figure if I end up with 20 pictures or so, one of them HAS to be good! Everyone is tired (usually we do this on Thanksgiving before we eat so everyone’s clothes are clean) and everyone is hungry and everyone just wants to get through with it. So when I think I have enough photos to contain a really good one, we will end the photo session by taking a “silly” picture. I set the timer, get back in the group, we count down, and one second before the picture is taken, we all do something really fun. Those pictures are hilarious! My son-in-law, a creative type, keeps his pose a big secret until the very last second. Because each one is doing his/her own thing, you can’t see what the others are doing until you see the photos after uploading to the computer. This is SUCH a stress-breaker, and gets everyone in a happy mood. The grandkids especially love it now. One year the silly picture was so perfect that I sent a copy to my Christmas recipients along with the “normal” picture.
One more thing about connecting with photos – Whenever I run into an long-time-no-see friend in person, I think, “Oh my, how they’ve aged!” Nobody thinks that about my husband and me because they get a picture of us every Christmas and the “getting old” shock is quite modified – after all, they “see” us get older gradually every year!
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Thanks, Carol….I am definitely going to do that (and I’ll see how many of my friends do nothing but play games)! LOLOL
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