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Medical Transcription Updates Blog

The Medical Transcription Updates Blog is a great way for you to...

see immediately whenever new pages are added to www.medical-transcription-and-you.com website

keep up with changes or updates made to any existing pages that you might be interested in

get regular insights from a working medical transcriptionist with tips about looking up difficult words, increasing productivity, pet peeves about the job - you name it!

To subscribe to the Medical Transcription Updates Blog, right-click on the orange RSS button (bottom buttons on the left of this page) and then paste the URL into your RSS reader. Or click on one of the buttons underneath the RSS button if you keep a personalized home page there.

You never know when Medical Transcription Updates Blog will bring you new information which can help you in your career. Don't miss it!

I have a freebie for you!

This little ebook is a great way to pass the time while you're waiting for work. Yes, I've been there, done that - sitting around wondering how the bills were going to get paid if I only ended up typing 500 lines that day - it's NOT fun!

Have I mentioned that I don't have that problem anymore working for a hospital? Hourly pay - you can't beat it. I'm not telling you to quit - but sign up when the form pops up and it'll send you the password for the ebook. I'll also send more ways for you to earn as I come across them, because you never know when you'll need that extra cash!

Average Lines Per Day Medical Transcriptionist's Personal Best

Ever wonder how many lines per day are really possible for a medical transcriptionist? I had been trying to decide this week whether to publicize this whopping line rate, especially when it's my own, but in the end decided that it's a positive thing. I worked on Easter Sunday (my one holiday to work this year) and, for some odd reason, we were slammed with work. At the end of the day, 10-1/2 hours, my line count was 3278. That about 312 lines per hour, for 10-1/2 hours and a half-hour lunch break thrown in.

So pick yourselves up off the floor and let's examine the factors that contribute the most to medical transcription success (and for "success", you can substitute the word "pay").

Good dictators. You usually don't have much control over this, but one thing that definitely helps is being familiar with the dictators that you do get, which means trying to limit yourself to a small pool of doctors.

A comfortable chair. You know I joke around on this site, but this one I'm actually serious about! There is absolutely no way I could have "pounded the keyboard" steadily for that many hours if I didn't have good ergonomics. One of these days, I'll try to write something on this important subject.

Good expander program to which you have added every possible word and phrase that you use on a regular basis. So, you see, I didn't actually type 312 lines per hour - it probably was more like 170, and those 170 lines were words and phrases which expanded out to 312.

If you work on improving these three things throughout your career, you can expect a successful medical transcription career (and by "successful", you know what I actually mean).

P.S. I just realized that I never uploaded my page on offshoring medical transcription and didn't really explain why. Well, I sent my rough draft to a dear friend of mine who lives in Bombay (she's also a journalist) and I'm afraid she thought some of what I wrote sounded racist (that was definitely not my intention). So I put away that rough draft in deference to her feelings and will take another look at offshoring of medical transcription, hopefully soon.

Online Medical Transcription Employment

It is really hard to find real guidance when it comes to finding online medical transcription employment. A lady emailed me and said she had been let go by the hospital that she worked for because they sent the work overseas (don't get me started - I feel another rant coming on!) and wanted to know if I had any specific advice. I decided that I did indeed have some very specific advice, and I name companies. So I hope you enjoy the post and I also hope it helps all of you searching for online medical transcription employment.

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Medical Transcription Humor

Medical transcription humor to me is pretty much dark humor. Thanks to voice recognition, examining room tablet PCs, competition from offshore companies, and good old American greed, there's plenty of grist for the mill. My page on salary humor was a rant after the company I worked for changed how they paid us (less pay, not more). My pages on voice recognition humor were started to really point out that a computer can NOT take over our jobs - in spite of the overblown promises the speech recognition vendors may make. In order to catch those hilarious, and sometimes scary mistakes, a human is still needed to make sure that the patient's medical record is accurate. What is funny is the salaries paid to the human editors - 3 cents per line, in some cases. Oh, man! That's hilarious! A real knee-slapper! Voice recognition is a tool to improve productivity, like a word expander program or medical spellchecker. It will never replace human editors (or the knowledge they possess). Nor should it be used as an excuse to pay transcriptionists less money.

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Determining Line Rate for Medical Transcription Service

I had a question regarding what to charge a clinic for medical transcription. While the line rate for medical transcription service varies widely, the factors you have to consider are what you pay your transcriptionists, what you pay yourself, what it costs for payroll and other adminstrative costs, and what extra statistical reports (if any), copies, etc., the doctors require. For more on this see the link below.

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Medical transcription salary can be increased

Increasing your medical transcription salary can be done - check out these valuable, money-making tips.

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More voice recognition humor, donated by friends who do voice recognition

The voice recognition humor just keeps coming, this time from friends and colleagues in the industry. Check out this fresh batch!

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Medical transcription pay question

I just happened to get a question on the Contact Me form from Chris, a U.S. transcriptionist. Her story is a good example of why a lot of us work from home. Check out the link below for her question about medical transcription pay and my answer.

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Medical transcription job answers

Medical transcription job answers (and more) are on the horizon!

Sorry, folks!! I know you think I've abandoned you - it's been a long time since this blog has been updated, not to mention the other pages on this site. I haven't gone away, but I have had a VERY interesting journey job-wise in the past six months and I'm dying to tell you about it. Did you think this U.S. economy didn't affect even the best of us??!! Well, it did and I need to share my experiences with you. So please stay tuned, and thanks for sticking with me.

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Offshore Medical Transcription

I have been avoiding expressing my opinions on offshoring medical transcription for a couple of reasons. I grew up in India as the child of missionaries, speak conversational Marathi, went to an American school in north India (Woodstock School, in case you've heard of it), and then came back to the United States when I finished high school. So I empathize with India and Indians a lot more than most here in the U.S. But...I also have a job here that is affected by offshoring in a negative way, i.e. in the wallet, where it counts.

I've been sitting on the fence on this matter for long enough, and it's time to go ahead and express myself honestly. You may or may not like what I have to say, whether you're on this side of the ocean or not, but I guarantee it'll be interesting and not for the faint-hearted!

I'm putting the finishing touches on the page on offshoring and will be loading it on line this weekend, so be looking for it. You can subscribe to the RSS feed (bottom of the nav bar), so that you'll get the update when I do finish the page.

Meanwhile, the link below is to one of my rants on medical transcription salaries here in the United States, so have a laugh and check back in a few days.

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Getting Back into Medical Transcription - How to Begin

It depends on whether you want to work from home or in a traditional setting. To work locally, try the newspaper's job classifieds, Craig's List, or directly at local hospitals. To work from home, check out sites such as www.mtjobs.com or www.mtstars.com. if you have the time, go through this list of transcription companies and start emailing your resume - www.mtdaily.com/mtcos.html. This is a long shot, but you never know! The only failure is in giving up.

Need I say it? Update your resume. Click on the Permalink button and follow the links to resume examples.

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Typing Without Looking

Touch typing is the ability to type without looking at the keyboard and is one of those skills that seems like a "long-cut" at first. But put your index fingers on the "F" and "J" keys, keep your eyes on the screen and get used to it! This is really indispensable when you have thousands of words in your expander program and you need to make sure you didn't type "lungs and pleural spaces" (lups) instead of "lumbar spine" (lusp)! Believe me when I say it's embarrassing! The link below is more information on typing efficiency.

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Medical Transciption and You's privacy policy

Medical Transcription and You has a privacy policy to explain the information we may collect as well as our steps to safeguard any information.

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Contact Me is here!

You now have the capability of contacting me with questions or issues. Just remember that I am a single mother and a full-time medical transcriptionist, so all I can promise is that I'll do my best to get back to you!

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