Medical Transcription: What’s Your Best Tip?
If you subscribe to our mailing list here, you know we are doing a survey this week to help with planning future topics. As I read the great comments that have been made, I was struck by how much we as a group like to share and mentor each other. Our group is pretty evenly divided among the groups I identified, from students to those with more than 20 years of experience, although interestingly no one so far has been in the group with 6-10 years of experience.
Today I went to see the movie “Switch” with my niece. It was a nice cool day to get out of the house and just do something that would be fun, hopefully make us laugh, and spend some time together. After this week’s discussion about connections, imagine my surprise when the movie started out by talking about how we are all so busy that we often don’t take the time to connect with others! It seemed to be the topic of the week.
Today I want you to be a mentor. Nobody is exempt here as each of you has something to share, no matter what your years of experience may be. For this Fun Friday activity, think of what ONE tip you would give to someone in this profession. Here’s the key: You pick the person (meaning it doesn’t have to be a newbie, but it can be), and share your very best tip for success in this profession.
If you are on the coast where these hurricanes are headed, do stay safe. You are all in my thoughts and prayers.
Again, everyone has something to add here. So give it some thought and let’s hear what your one best tip will be! I will look forward to reading these!
Related posts:
- Medical Transcription Success: What is your Best Tip?
- Medical Transcription Tips for New Graduates
- Medical Transcription Pay: Are We Our Own Worst Enemy?
- Medical Transcription: The Future
- Medical Transcription: What’s Wrong With This Picture?
Tagged with: Fun Things • Goals • medical transcription
Filed under: Challenges in Medical Transcription • Fun Things
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For my one tip, I’d say invest in yourself. Consider yourself a valuable piece of equipment, worthy of care, deserving of the best tools for service, and requiring scheduled down time for preventive maintenance and upgrades.
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Kathy Reply:
September 3rd, 2010 at 9:27 am
Crystal, investing in yourself is so important! So many times we invest in everyone else and forget ourselves!
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My tip is for those who are getting ready to test for an MT job. Often employers will put the worst of the dictation first. Applicants will sometimes be scared off and screen themselves out. That’s one less test to grade I guess.
Just remember that every applicant is going through this along with you. Some of them are going to shut off their computer and run, but you aren’t. Take a nice deep breath. Then listen for something, anything, that you can understand, and work from there. It’s possible that later in the report you will hear some of these terms more clearly and you can go back and fill in the blanks. Don’t guess! Most employers want MTs who know what they don’t know. Of course if you have nothing but blanks, that tells them something else entirely.
The bottom line is, just get through that report, but whatever you do, keep going. You may be much more comfortable with the next report(s) and the fact that the first one wasn’t good may not keep you from getting that job. Picture yourself in a room full of MTs taking this test. At the end of the test, only 2-3 will be left. You want to be one of the ones who didn’t give up.
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Kathy Reply:
September 3rd, 2010 at 9:30 am
Linda, what great advice for ANYONE doing job testing! This applies no matter what stage of the profession we are in!
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Well, I made a short posting, but there were technical problems and it didn’t show up, so I will try once again.
We have been asked by Kathy “officially” to be a mentor today. Since I work at home and so online and by phone are my choices, here goes:
“ATTENTION ALL NEWBIES AND STUDENTS!”
Although I’d certainly be willing to answer questions and try to help you on OTHER days, TODAY has been designated by Kathy as “Be a Mentor Day.” If I CAN help you with any questions, concerns, issues….I guess the thing to do would be to post in this blog as I check here quite frequently. (I’m not sure how secure we are in giving our email addresses here, but I’ll defer to Kathy and see what she says. If she thinks it is fine to post it in here, I’ll do another short post and give my email address.)
Again, if I can answer questions or help you with concerns or issues you have, Kathy has declared today officially as “Be a Mentor Day,” and I’d love to help anyone that I am able to. (I guess that also means that if someone posts in this blog that it enables any and/or ALL of us to mentor that individual…and I think THAT is a great idea!)
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I just read what Crystal and Linda wrote and I think they are great responses! I didn’t realize what Kathy was requesting was more in the way of a specific “tip.” I guess right along with what Crystal and Linda have already said are my 3 biggest tips:
(1) Learn how to do research (especially online) if you are having a problem in your transcription, whether it is finding a medication name, a doctor’s name, or information about a specific piece of medical equipment or surgical hardware. There are websites for just about anything these days–all you have to do is type it in somewhere and you’ll find something! I like Google, my Yahoo search engine, and then often find help in Drugs.com, ecare.com (for UPIN lookups of doctors, depending on how much information you have), and then also when I find a good source of information, I save it to my “favorites” to make it easier to find the next time I need it.
(2) Maintaining as large as possible a group of social and professional contacts. Your social contacts, of course, will help you to maintain your sanity and also help you to understand that your entire life does NOT consist of only your job or career! In fact, your career may enable you to have the income to expand what you are able to do WITH your social time and social contacts, but it should not define or LIMIT your social life! Maintaining a good group of professional contacts can be of benefit in both helping you FIND work and also in helping you with situations you might find yourself in with regard to work. You can’t go wrong when it comes to surrounding yourself with a large number of personal and professional friendships and acquaintances.
(3) I wanted to add something to what Crystal was talking about. I think that we all need to remember that as important as money IS in our world today, you have to TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF! Remember that if you get sick and/or too run down to work, you aren’t doing anyone any good. If you work when you are just too tired and your brain and ears don’t want to function anymore and your fingers don’t want to cooperate, you will probably make more errors. It’s time to either take a power nap or get a good night’s sleep and come back when you can give it 100%. There is NOTHING that will get you OUT of this career faster than making too many errors, and lack of sleep and alertness (on top of lack of just plain being educated, qualified and prepared) are the fastest ways to lose your job! Also, there are built-in problems with our line of work including “middle-age spread”(even for those who haven’t reached middle age yet), the possibility of blood clots due to so much sitting, problems with vision due to looking at a monitor for long periods of time, problems with posture (if you do not observe good ergonomic principles when you set up your work station), and carpal tunnel syndrome and other repetitive-use types of injuries. You have to be proactive in making sure you get up on a routine basis and MOVE to avoid these situations or at least minimize them.
I’m sure there are many other things that we could address, but these 3 seem to me to be the biggies. They all impact your present and your future. They affect your physical well-being and your choice of career and how it can affect all aspects of your life. Some people find that they love the work but need to be around other people and so find themselves working physically within a hospital or clinic; they will find that the structure of taking coffee breaks and lunch break and starting and stopping at regular times can be a real blessing. Other people find that working at home offers many real benefits but can be a little restricting as far as live human contact goes, and hopefully it can come to some kind of balance. Either way you go, this is a career with ups and downs like all careers, but if you enjoy non-stop learning, then this could be a great career to have because the field of medicine and health care changes many times a day and never seems to stop. I always say, “If I haven’t learned at least 3 new things today, then I have wasted a day!”
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Kathy Reply:
September 3rd, 2010 at 9:32 am
Sherry, this is a great list! So many things we can all add to the conversation. Thanks for the great tips!
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My 1-year anniversary as an MT will be next week and although I don’t have many years of experience to lean on to give advice from, perhaps I have a perspective that will be helpful to even newer MTs.
1. Learn to embrace the technology that is available to us. Text expanders can look complicated to learn, especially if you look at the big picture, but they aren’t. Take one step at a time. I have used both SH and IT and have found IT to be far more complicated to master, but also capable of more. I know when I was in school the most we got was essentially “here is a text expander, try it out” which is fine, but that means I had to take a considerable amount of time to master it. You have to take the initiative to learn how to use it, whether you’re a new graduate or a veteran who feels overwhelmed by text expanders. You have to invest the time in learning this, but it pays off later. I have worked with really good MTs who are only using auto correct erroneously thinking it is the same thing. Auto correct serves a purpose, but it is not the same. Sure if all you want to do is expand words it is the same thing, though with a much smaller capacity. I use my expander to open documents, open web pages, to edit, and as a reference. Last week I finally figured out how to use commands in IT (I recently switched from SH). The first command I made was to simply start a new sentence because my SR program tends to not start a new sentence. With this one new command I improved my editing speed by an average of 55 lph. Explore everything your expander can do for you! Take one step at a time and read the manuals.
2. When we’re new we’re all proud of our accomplishments. That first time we hit our required line count we want to sing it from the roof tops. Don’t do it. Never, ever tell your co-workers your line counts. What if you, the brand new MT, just announced to the world you’re faster than your co-worker that has been here for 3 years? There is no safe place to discuss these things, so just don’t do it. As new graduates we often do not realize how much variation there is in our industry. I had no idea! I knew someone doing 200 lph within a few months of graduation and I was struggling to make 135! It was so discouraging. Then I realized I was comparing apples and oranges. She was on a clinic notes account with 2 doctors. I was on two accounts that were both large hospitals and were mostly ESLs. I could go weeks and not hear the same doctor. I’m not saying her work was easier than mine or I was a better MT, not at all, but it is important to realize that you cannot really compare line counts and production until you know all the variables. When we’re new, we don’t understand that yet. If, heaven forbid, you do share all your accomplishments then with the current social networking boom, people who want to find you to will do it. I had to remove my school from pages I had “liked” on facebook for this very reason. People can put 2 and 2 together pretty fast and find you. I thought I was being helpful by sharing things I learned a long the way and all I did was hurt myself. Protect your information and protect your privacy and seriously think twice about what information you share with co-workers or anywhere online. Ask yourself if it could cause tension or hurt feelings before you share it. You don’t want to burn bridges.
3. The job is not going to land on your lap. I found a job very quickly after graduating. I was picky too! I refused to take anything less than 7 cpl so that limited jobs for a new graduate. I had a very organized approach to my job hunt. I applied with jobs I wasn’t terribly interested in first so I could get my testing jitters out of the way. By the time I tested for my number one choice of employers (who hired me!) I had already taken at least 6 tests. I made my job search a full-time job and spent at least 8 hours a day filling out applications and sending resumes. When I earned the job I did with a very good MTSO, I got so tired of hearing I was “lucky.” No, I worked VERY hard to get that job. I spent a great deal of time on cover letters for each job and on making sure my resume was perfect. I read volumes of information on behavioral interviewing and how to do well with it. I had notes ready with answers to questions I thought I would be asked. I had a list of computer specs ready if asked, as well as a list of my references. I went into interviews very well prepared. You have to sell yourself! No one is going to do it for you.
4. Stay positive! You very likely will run into people who hate their MT job, who even hate their job at the same place you love working for. Don’t let other people’s opinions affect yours! A positive attitude goes a long way!
Well, my updates on my work computer are done so I better get back to it! Thanks to all who have shared! Please excuse my typos if there are any, and I’m sure there are, as I’m on a laptop while I update my work computer! Have a great and productive day everyone.
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Kathy Reply:
September 3rd, 2010 at 11:08 am
Sarah, great points. I must say your point about not sharing your success made me a bit sad. I would encourage folks to find someone, maybe it’s not even someone you work with, and DO have a place where you can share those success stories! When you’re new, there’s nothing like the feeling of finally hitting your line goal for the day, turning in that first report with no blanks and no questions, etc. Those things SHOULD be celebrated as your hard work paid off! I know there are folks who react negatively to that and that’s too bad.
Your point about technology is critical to success. If we don’t embrace technology, it will leave us in the dust. Last, a positive attitude. There’s a simple saying that I love—”Your attitude almost always determines your altitute. Dare to Soar.” It’s on my coffee cup and I see it every day!
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Okay Sherry, you opened yourself up for questions! How do you stay focused all day? This is absolutely my biggest problem as an MT. I’m slow the first hour but then I’m warmed up and I can fly and then…oh look a butterfly! How is the weather where you are?
I am an IC but I need to put in full-time hours. I absolutely love my job. LOVE it! I have nothing negative to say about it. I also have a home to maintain and a very large family with all of the children being quite young.
After a point in the work day my attention span is gone and my mind starts wandering to the laundry or just wanting to be outside in the fresh air!
How do you stay focused to make yourself sit at that desk as much as you need to?
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Sarah, I must echo your sentiments regarding expanders. My advice is indeed the same – find an expander that works for you, then, by gum, make it WORK for you! I was fortunate enough to participate in the new Instant Text 7 during the beta phase, so I’m a HUGE fan of IT7. My line count has soared since I have mastered it, and here is where the investment part comes in. Any time you spend learning about, tweaking, changing, and otherwise personalizing your chosen expander is the best investment you will make. Certainly at first while you are getting used to it, your line count will decrease. But spend as much time as you can on your own studying the various ways to use your expander, go on forums online, ask questions, and read what questions others are asking. Experiment. When something seems awkward, find another way. If you make a mistake more than once, figure out a change in your settings so it doesn’t happen again. Set things up to maximize how YOUR fingers type (or fumble!) and how YOUR brain works and the needs of YOUR account(s). Talk to other users to get ideas of how they use expanders. Never be afraid of learning something new – the key word, in both money and time, is still INVESTMENT. You get out of it what you put into it.
BTW, I am not affiliated with the Instant Text software company (except as a past beta tester), nor am I being paid for my endorsement! My line count increases are payment enough, LOL!
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Kathy Reply:
September 3rd, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Carol, you are so right about abbreviation expanders! I cannot imagine how some folks work without them. Guys, this is perhaps the best investment in technology you can make. Figure out which program works for YOU and then, as Carol says, make it work!
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Thanks Kathy, maybe that point was a bit to negative for me to share; however, I know I’m not the only new MT who has made the mistake of sharing something only to realize it was not recieved in the intended manner. Lesson learned…the hard way. I love working from home, but I hate only having e-mail communication in the MT world; not being able to see someone’s face as they make suggestions or hear their tone as they share an accomplishment. In an e-mail or on a forum sharing your excitement about an accomplishment can so easily be interpreted as bragging or even make another MT feel badly because they have not yet reached that goal. We sometimes forget that what is easy for one person is hard for another. I am a terrible typist so in that regard I struggle to reach the speed I need to; however, I have excellent research skills and an extensive knowledge of anatomy. We all have our strengths and weaknesses and reach milestones at different times.
This is totally unrelated by the biggest skunk I have ever seen in my life just walked into my backyard! LOL! Is it a skunk or a bear that got into a white paint can?? Good grief!
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Kathy Reply:
September 3rd, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Sarah, no, it wasn’t too negative. Each person has their own experiences and sharing those is how we learn! I like to take the phrase “always assume goodwill” and use that as I read emails and forums. If we do that, I think it helps. I also think there’s a big difference in celebrating something you’ve been struggling to accomplish and bragging. I’ve seen both, the latter is ugly, the first one is great to be a part of. Now, goodness, stay away from that skunk!
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“by the biggest..” See, there are those terrible typing skills!
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My tip would be to not give up on your search for the right job, the right expander for you, the right group to interact with, or ways to keep up on the advances in the medical transcription world. In the end you will find the best of all of the things that work for you. I have to agree about IT, it is a little hard to get used to, but I just cannot imagine working without it. Sarah, when I reach one of my goals, be it a great line count, character count, or a good audit report I type something up about reaching the goal and stick it on my desk to just remind myself that I am doing a good job. It can be as short or as long as you want it to be. Of course, if you get a good audit report you need to post it so you acknowledge to yourself that you are doing things right. If it is a bad audit, which I have had before, I post that up to as a reminder of what I need to focus on.
I work from home as well, but I stop every hour or so for a stretch break even if it is only for 5 minutes. I find that when I come back I can focus a little better and it also works the kinks out of my body.
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Kathy Reply:
September 4th, 2010 at 9:49 am
Linda, great advise. One thing I think we forget is that there is no “one size fits all” with companies or work situations. What may be perfect for me, you may really not like. It is so individual. I encourage folks to make a list of what you’re looking for and compare employers against that list. Remember, in any interview process, it’s a two-way street, or should be. They are looking at hiring you and you are looking for a place to use your knowledge and skills. Ideally it should be a fit for both parties.
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Sarah:
You asked some really good questions, and I always like answering specific questions.
1) How do I stay focused all day? First, remember that it is helpful if you can be in a cool (not cold) area to work. Computers generate heat, as do all the peripheral machinery (printer, etc.). Also, I believe that sitting in one place, staring at a monitor, and hearing a lot of the same phrases over and over will DEFINITELY make me start to nod. Keeping in mind that my house does not have air conditioning, a few of the things I do are: dress in comfortable, lightweight clothes; keep a ceiling fan going on low to circulate the air, and even turn on a small box fan on its low speed if the room feels too stuffy or warm; keep my icemaker full and drink plenty of cold drinks; and make sure you get up at least once every 30 minutes and walk around. If you’re drinking plenty of fluids, you’ll need to make use of the bathroom anyway, but even if you don’t…you need to stretch your muscles and remove some of the risk of blood clots in your legs, let your eyes rest from the monitor, and even give your ears a rest from your headset. Once you reach what I call “the point of no return,” it’s definitely hard not to just have to call it a day because your brain just won’t function anymore….it’s far easier to avoid reaching that point by taking even 5 minutes out of each 30 for a short walk, bathroom break, time to grab another cold drink, etc. Since your brain will function better with more oxygen, if you have a basement, make 2 “laps” of the basement stairs to get your heart pumping and getting more oxygen to your brain. If you don’t have a basement, use some other method….climb stairs to your UPstairs, or even go out in your backyard and make a few laps around your back yard (the sunshine will do you good, too). Okay, ready for next question….
2) I have to go back to the discussion of expanders. If you have one, make the best use of it possible. If you don’t have one but have the money to get one, you WILL be able to recoup the cost once you begin using it, and also as an IC you can certainly count it as a business expense at tax time. If you are building up your personal expanders and making good use of your expander, you will be able to work fewer hours and make a better income. If you choose to continue to work an 8-hour day, you will make MORE than you would in a “normal 8-hour day” because your expanders will allow you to work more quickly so your line count will go up, and your paycheck along with it. I’ve also found that I kind of maintain my interest by “learning those 3 new things each day.” If I’m typing on the orthopedics account I started on about 2 months ago, this can be a challenge as all I do for them are clinic notes and letters. The hospital account I work on is an entirely different story, though, as it is a pediatric hospital with ALL specialties, and patients come from all over the world to this hospital. I can learn many different things on that account due to the variety of the specialties but also because their patients are all children (or the occasional adult with severe mental handicaps). Now, I will also say that you mentioned laundry, etc. That IS one of the perks of working from home. I take advantage of it, too, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that…it can be part of your short breaks to get a load of laundry in the washer or transferred to the dryer. I have explained to my husband many times that even though I may make around $7/hour one day (on average) and another day maybe $9/hour (and when I worked at the hospital, I was making $13.XX/hour), working at home has so many benefits associated with the fact that I AM at home! I don’t have to fill my gas tank so often or even have oil changes as often, etc.; I don’t have to buy special clothes (or just “nicer” clothes) for work; I don’t have to battle traffic; I don’t have to worry about fixing my hair for work every day; I can schedule appointments for doctor, etc., when they are most convenient for ME and I don’t have to try to schedule them 1st thing in the morning or LAST thing in the afternoon so there is less of an inconvenience for my EMPLOYER. There are LOTS of good reasons to be an in-home IC, and you don’t have to feel like loading the dishwasher or doing a load of laundry is an “interruption” to your work day but instead make it PART of your work day by devoting that 5 or 10 minute break that you need to help you maintain a good attention span once you get back to work!
I think I addressed your questions. If you have more, I’m in and out all the time, so just ask! I’m sure others can chime in also. They may have ideas I haven’t hit on. You never know, I could learn 1-2-3 of the things I wanted to learn today!
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Kathy Reply:
September 4th, 2010 at 9:51 am
Sherry, what great tips! I love that we are able to share these things with each other. It’s what makes this community awesome.
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After I finished my above post, I started thinking about different avenues that I have searched for in my life and I would like to share with everyone a non-work related endeavor that I undertook a few years back. This story speaks to not giving up on yourself even if no one else thinks you can do it.
When I was 50 years old my daughter asked me one day if I would join a karate class with her. She had run into an instructor and wanted to try it but did not want to do it on her own. I have always been a big fan of martial arts and was intrigued by how all of the movements were performed. So I talked with the instructor and asked if he would be willing to take on a 50-year-old, ashtmatic, with little to no sense of balance on as a student. He said yes and that began a 5-year journey of learning about exactly what I could do. I learned that can’t is a 4 letter word and learned instead to look at a new move as, I might not get it right away, but I will get it and be good at it. I had no support from my husband in this, only the class and instructor was my support.
I am not saying it was easy because I would have to stop from time to time to use my inhaler, but I did develop the strength and agility to do the moves, I even developed a good sense of balance, which was something I never thought I would do. I, eventually, became a student instructor and would work with the new students. This won’t mean much, but I did earn my purple belt and I was working towards my brown belt, and, I hoped to my black belt. Our class would put on shows for the public and I would participate in those. I, unfortunately, had an allergic reaction to a new medication and developed arthritis in all of my joints and that ended my career in karate.
I used to have my belts and certificates hanging on my office wall, but I put them away after I could no longer be in the class. Since my post had to do with not giving up on yourself, no matter what the odds are, no matter what anyone says you can’t or can do, I think I will get the belts out and put them back on my wall as a reminder that all things are possible. By the way, my daughter and son both joined the class with me but quit after a few months because they lost interest in it.
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Kathy Reply:
September 4th, 2010 at 9:50 am
Yahoo for you! I love stories where people step out of their comfort zone and just go for it!
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