I Remember Why I Have Fallen Out of Love with Transcription
Once upon a time, I loved being a medical transcriptionist. The work was plenty, the companies were fair.
I eventually became a QA, which I loved doing. I got to train new MT’s. Then somewhere along the line, it became more about the company making money and the transcriptionists being paid less. Didn’t always matter so much whether or not the work was done well, it was more about being shoved through. Don’t get me wrong, there are still those out there that want the reports done right. But unfortunately, they want them done right and fast for half what we used to get paid. Then VR (voice recognition) came into play. We’re paid even less for doing that. Now with the advent of EMR, transcriptionists are beginning to lose jobs slowly. Just here and there. I’m not sure that EMR is going to really affect the MT world too much. The doctors I’ve talked to who use it, most of them hate it. They prefer the old ways of dictation and having the MT fix their grammar, etc.
And let’s discuss the ESL doctors. Somehow, it seems like we’ve begun sending all of our patient information to be typed across the ocean, but all the foreign doctors have come here to work. Some of them have been here for years, but still have very heavy accents. This can make it very difficult to type. Especially when they are tired and their accents are heaviest. I had one the other night that actually did slip into his native language for a couple of sentences then realized and had to repeat what he said, in English.
I started on Triond because I wanted to write. I took a break to go back to transcription to earn a little more money so I can support my kids (they like to eat and stuff like that). I discovered that even though the companies are screaming “We need help!”, apparently not that much, since most nights I sit here for hours with just a few reports. When you make 0.08 cents a line, it doesn’t really add up to much. So, instead of watching movies for free and waiting for reports for all hours of the night, I am coming back with a renewed purpose. I like writing, I like the people on here and I figure I can watch movies for free, like I’m doing during my shift, and do something I actually want to do!
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Daffy
On August 18, 2009 at 8:53 am
Daffy says: I agree. I like the people at my company fairly well, but since no one is actually assigned a doctor, sometimes there is tons of work and sometimes none. It is whoever gets there first and can type the fastest. (And you wonder if some of the typists aren’t using some kind of VR when they type 10 to your 1 and you type over 90 wpm.) Then if QA takes their time getting to your reports, they will skip to the next payday, which, fine you get paid for them, but it is aggravating to type 1, 000 or more lines the last day of the pay period and not have them QA’d until the next day. Makes you wonder why they begged you to type that day. Also the nitpicking and boredom eventually gets to you; whether it is the doctors themselves constantly changing the way they want their reports done, or having different QA’s who each think a thing should be done the way they say and not the way the BOS or the client requests. I mean, what did I train for? Why say use the BOS and then throw it out the window because QA doesn’t agree with it? I know QA is a time consuming job and I appreciate my QAs for the most part, but I am wondering if what I am paid is actually compensation enough for all the BS I have to put up with. 0.08 cpl is not worth it a lot of days. The great love I had for the work is going out the window and it has gradually become a “job”. Thanks.
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