About Me

My name is Nancy Sackman and I'm a medical transcriptionist. Sounds like a 12-step program, doesn't it?!

I got into this career late, at the tender young age of 44, and this is my story.

I had been a typical jack of all trades, quickly getting bored with a vast variety of jobs, from travel agency manager to air traffic controller (crazy, isn't it?) and moving on. Then, I had a son at age 40 and it didn't take long to realize that I really needed to work from home to raise him.

So, I started out transcribing part time from home 7 years ago (as of 2009) for a local doctor. That office then went to an EMR system and that left me without that extra income, but it was then that I realized medical transcription full time was the perfect job for me.

I then applied at a local hospital and was trained in radiology. It was great training and I would recommend it to anyone who is new out of school or who has limited experience. There is nothing like having someone sitting right next to you to answer questions and listen to difficult words.

However, because that job was on an evening shift and my son was about to start kindergarten, I started looking for an at-home transcriptionist position. I spent weeks looking for a position that only required 1 or 2 years experience, and it was discouraging to see companies advertising for transcriptionists with 3 years, 5 years, 10 years experience. However, I finally found one, sent in my resume and actually got a call back! It was a medium-sized MTSO (medical transcription service organization), had insurance, holiday pay, and vacation pay, and apparently was expanding with new accounts so needed a bunch of transcriptionists to start quickly. I'm still friends with the person who hired me and am still grateful to her for that.

From that point on, the medical transcription industry started to change. My company was bought out by large international corporation who took a great American company and ruined it. The stories are apocryphal! If you followed the transcription forums back in 2006, you'll know exactly who I'm talking about. So...after 2-1/2 years it was time to move on.

At this point, I have to look at my resume because the number of companies I've worked for have become a blur!

• I worked for 2 months as a statutory employee - kept runnning out of work.
• I worked for 1 week (yes, week) at a company that had a crazy platform and I quickly realized I couldn't make a living wage working there.

• I worked for 4 months transcribing radiology for a company with great benefits - kept running out of work.
• Somewhere in the middle here, I worked part time for a couple of companies as an independent contractor.
• I worked for 8 months transcribing radiology and acute care, both straight transcription and voice recognition, for another company with great benefits. No, I didn't run out of work, but, oh my, between the foreign accents and getting about half pay for a voice recognition system that didn't recognize anything, I was barely making enough to pay my bills! I knew there had to be something better out there.

Anyway, here I am now, still pounding the keyboard and back to radiology, and due to a series of fortunate events, am working on a great account, have a great team lead, am earning...well, let's just say in the upper range of a transcriptionist's salary, and life is good.

Even now, however, I don't take anything for granted. The medical transcription industry is going through massive changes due to voice recognition, offshoring, and EMR. The only thing I can do is be ready to adapt!

When I was first starting out, there was precious little guidance and real information about the medical transcription career. A friend of mine told me about a couple of job boards, and that's how I found my first at-home medical transcription job. But, other than that, I was winging it.

That's why I decided to start this web site. I've been through it all!

• Doctor's office
• In-house at a hospital
• Small, medium, and large MTSOs
• Employee, statutory employee, independent contractor

I thought that all this experience shouldn't go to waste when there are people who could benefit from it. I don't know everything! But I've been through a lot, have a fairly good grasp of this complex industry, and have an opinion on everything. (I can just hear my family going "We KNOW"!)

My son is now 10 (in 2009), is well adjusted, is in the Gifted and Talented program at a public school, is in Boy Scouts, makes friends easily...I could go on and on! But I owe it, in great part, to a career where I could stay at home and raise him.

Here's to you and your medical transcription career.

Now, enjoy a little voice recognition humor and relax! Go from About Me to Voice Recognition Humor