The
Backstory
Many years ago, when I was a stay-at-home mom who wasn’t
allowed to work outside the home, whose then 2-year-old daughter would be diagnosed
with type 1 diabetes (thus presenting yet another argument for staying home), I
began looking into ways to earn without having to leave home. I had already taken on the baking for the restaurant
and that was a help. But I wanted
something more. I discovered a medical
transcription program that was not only online, but reputable. I wanted to do this. The program, at that time, cost roughly
$1700. My ex told me we didn’t have the
money for this, and to either ask my family for the money, or forget it. I didn’t do either of those.
I revisited the idea once we filed for divorce, and by that
time the cost was $2500. I didn’t want
anyone’s help, so I spread the payments out and jumped in with both feet. It took me a long time to finish, but I
finally did – last October. I passed the
final with honors. Ultimately, it wasn’t
just a job to me, because I really, really enjoyed the medical field.
Present
The medical transcription industry apparently has a “slow” hiring period between October and March, which I didn’t know before I
graduated. Nevertheless, a
few were hiring entry-level grads and I tested with one of the best, passed the entry
exam and was invited to watch an orientation webinar to “decide if I wanted to
move forward” with them. I did. Then I was told there weren’t any positions
for me at this time. WTF?
Next, I tested with another company, which gave me some of the
worst dictation I’ve ever heard and guess what? I didn’t pass.
They did invite me to apply again in 6 months. It seems like what’s really out there are
companies looking to cover terrible dictators, or only ESL dictators, and 2nd
and 3rd shifts. The voice
files are mumbled or the docs talk so fast their words run together and unless
you know them, you will not be able
to decipher what they’re saying.
A handful of other companies I sent resumes to, although
they weren’t hiring. And then I got the email
from my school that LOL Transcription* was hiring. Ironically, this email came through while I was
in the ER. The next morning I sent my
resume and an introduction via email. My
cell phone started ringing about 10 minutes after I got home from my stress
test. The owner was calling, concerned
that I hadn’t yet responded to her email to me (after 3 hours) and wanted to “touch
base.” She wanted me to test for the doctor
she needed an MT for. So the next
morning I did. The irony here is that he
is an ENT doc and I’m hard of hearing.
But I did my best, and she emailed me back to let me know that I did
better than I thought I did, “lol.” She made
like she had one other girl she was testing and would let me know soon. She hired me the next day. Ur the lucky winner, lol!
She’s a small company – just herself and two other girls –
and crazy busy. We arranged for a “training session” via
phone on the following Sunday – which lasted approximately 2 hours. I was to start on a Tuesday, this doctor’s
busiest day. He’s on the west coast, so
his dictations don’t start coming in until about 11:20 and he dictates between
40 and 50 reports until up to about 8 p.m.
So I’m trying to decipher what he’s saying and nearly every patient he’s
seen on this morning is a followup and he refers to information from the
previous visit, which has to be cut and pasted into the new report. It was like this all morning, and I had to
keep asking Diane* for the old reports. It was slow going, and bumpy, but it
was my first day! She sent me 12 text
messages over the next 2 hours checking up on me: R u making any time Tara. Lol
… K, I just ck in on u lol.
By 6:30
there were 37 text messages from her.
All of which I responded to, which interrupted my work flow. And to make matters worse, Ava had woken up around
2 a.m. with a stomachache, we were both up nearly all night, and so I kept
her home for fear she’d gotten the
virus and would end up puking in school.
At 6:45 Diane texts me with a message ending with “lol,” and
then goes on to say Can u do more. Also
the numbers in the plan are messed up. What happened lol. Now I have no idea what she’s talking
about, because I am so fastidious (which is one reason it was taking so long)
that I know this couldn’t have happened.
I finished 10 reports in all those hours, which is certainly NOT typical
production for an experienced MT – but keep in mind it’s my first day, I’m
still getting familiar with the account and the doctor, nearly all those
reports referred back to older reports I had no access to, and (this is a very big AND) was taught that quality is more
important than quantity when you’re starting out.
Apparently though, LOL, Diane cared more about quantity from the get-go. Her text messages that followed asked me if
it was too much for me, if I can’t handle it, if I can’t finish more reports
today she’ll have to find someone else, blah blah blah… and so I apologized,
thought I had time to “train” (since I was receiving training pay), thanked her
for the opportunity, and suggested she’d be better off hiring someone with more
experience. U most certainly do but I need more than 10 reports lol. Not that you
need more exp, not at all. Train them fresh, Lol. Btr for me. Lol.
So, LOL, you can see where that job went. It was no big
loss, since the ratio of time spent to money earned wasn’t worth it. She even told me he won’t pay more and will
go somewhere else otherwise. And, not
that it matters, the doctor is a real asshole.
You can hear him snapping at his employees on the voice files. I googled him to see if I could find a
website describing the procedures he offers, and found none. I did find dozens of bad reviews on him,
however.
So, while I should be on the hunt again, I’m disappointed
and unmotivated. And then a friend
shared this post the other day.
It was timely and apropos (once you look past the spelling
error – ugh). So now I’m having a look
at why this door keeps closing. And wondering
if there’s something bigger I need to be doing.
*Names have been changed.
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