Medical Transcriptionists
Biographies
Medical Transcriptionists
Biographies
CYNTHIA LEWIS, cynmail@aol.com
After 25 years of
working as Director
of MIS for a large chain of home centers, the constant stress (and my
rising blood pressure) urged me to consider a career change. Even though
my first love is writing, the reality of that profession means spending at
least 60% of one's time marketing, and the financial rewards are sporadic
at best. I had a minimum amount of regular income I had to produce (since
leaving my job had not been in our long-range plans), so I researched
various options for working at home, choosing medical transcription for
its challenges and the opportunity to use my language and computer
skills.
I enrolled in the At-Home Professions extended class, which took me a year to complete and cost $2250. For six of those 12 months I continued to work, finding study time by getting up at 3:00 a.m. every morning, then memorizing the terminology by listening to tapes while walking on my treadmill and during the extended traveling my job required. Learning anatomy, physiology, laboratory tests and values, terminology, report formatting and a new approach to grammar was not easy at my advanced age -- in fact, I think it was a little miracle!
Once I resigned my position, I was able to give more time and energy to finishing the course and to developing my business and marketing plans. By the time I completed the course, I had cajoled my husband into converting a wonderful sun room into my office, purchased a respectable-sized library of reference books, built a database of all local physicians' offices for direct mailing, produced my flyer, cover letter and other marketing materials, acquired a new laser printer and fax and invaluable add-ins for my word processor (Flash Forward, Stedman's Speller and Dictionary), and installed software to keep my business records (QuickBooks). I got two responses to my first mailing, and after transcribing a test tape for these potential clients, I was in business "for real."
Those first three months were exhilarating, challenging and scary -- but productive. Even though I spent an inordinate amount of time researching unfamiliar (to me) terms, I was able to satisfy those customers and land two more through referrals. One customer asked me to develop a workers' compensation form and process for them that has since become the backbone of my business and helped me surpass my initial financial goals for my first year in business. I have relaxed into a daily routine, become accustomed to the freedom and solitude of this particular home business, and enjoyed, for the first time in ten years, the look on my own physician's face when he took a normal blood pressure reading last month. If there is stress in this job, I haven't found it yet - it sometimes seems too good to be true. I even look forward to paying those quarterly tax estimates, since it is tangible proof that there is no "employer" in my world!
There are many differing opinions whether an "MT newbie" should try to work from home without first getting hands-on experience under an experienced MTs tutelage. I'm sure that a working apprenticeship is the best way to begin, but I also know that a successful business can be established without it, if one has sufficient business experience and firm goals.
I was fortunate to come in contact with Jennifer Martin, who publishes MT Monthly newsletter, and with Mary Morken (whose web site you are visiting now). Along with other friendly souls on the AOL MT Career Board, they gave me plenty of good advice, support, encouragement, and practical assistance. As my way of returning those favors, I am happy to help other newbies get their feet wet in this MT world. E- mail me at CYNROSES@AOL.COM, and I will do what I can.
We moved and I worked in a pediatrician's office. There the doctors wrote their own notes so there was no transcription to be done. We had two more children and I then stayed home with them. We moved to Georgia, and after a year I went back to work in the radiology department at a local hospital and later transferred to the cardiology department where I learned to do EKGs, place hHlter monitors, and typed EKG reports. I took a six-month course to become a medical assistant.
Then we moved to Texas where we live now. I worked for two family practice physicians as a back office medical assistant for 1-1/2 years, and then I took a temporary job in a nephrology office for three months. After that I did not have a job lined up so for four months I sent away for information on how to start a home business. I began to like computers a lot and wanted to be able to stay home for my family and make some money at the same time. All these programs required too much money up front, something I didn't have. This is when I really got the bug to do medical transcription.
I called a friend and asked her how she got started. She told me it kind of just dropped in her lap. The doctors she was working for needed someone to do their transcription and offered her the job and told her she could do it at home since she was going to soon have a baby. They began by dictating very slowly and spelling everything for her and from there she gained experience. I was encouraged.
I answered ads in the paper, called hospitals and offices, and everyone wanted experienced MTs. I finally asked how I could get experience if no one was willing to hire? They suggested some hospitals would, or an independent MT might take me under her wing. Finally, there was an ad in the paper for a part-time medical assistant. I went for the interview with the hopes of bringing up medical transcription. The person who interviewed me noticed on my resume that I could type. She said, "Would you be interested in medical transcription?" I nearly jumped out of the chair when I said "YES!" So I started working there on a p.r.n. basis and started to fill in for the MT when she was sick or on vacation. That was my real start.
Then a friend called me a couple months later looking for someone to cover for her when she had her second child and she wanted to know if I was still interested in doing MT. I told her "YES!" and so I started doing a tape or two a week to get used to the physicians' voices and terminology and then covered for her for a week after she had her baby. The physician then approached me and asked if I liked doing MT (this physician by the way was the one I worked for when we first moved to Texas) and I told him I did, so he arranged for me to type one day a week to be a back up for my friend, his regular MT. In the meantime, I was still typing at the other office and bringing work home. I counted this as my "getting experience" time and was grateful to do whatever I could get my hands on.
I finally started transcribing for the faculty physicians; this was a residents program. Two of the physicians started their own practice and they hired me to be their MT, my first real job that I got on my own. So I was still typing for the faculty, this other doctor one day a week, and now these two physicians. All I needed was one more account to be able to quit working outside the home. My friend called me and told me about a local service that needed several transcriptionists, so I called them and got the job. I was on my way to being independent.
I worked for them for about a year. In the meantime, my friend gave me one of her accounts that she did not want. In August 1995, she moved away and gave me two more accounts. I consider myself very fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time. I now type for two family practice, two gastroenterologists, one cardiologist, and one OB/GYN occasionally. I have now been an MT for three years (June 1996) and have loved every minute of it. My work load has been light sometimes and heavy others, but always seems to be the right amount at the time.
I am currently training an MT just recently out of school. She will be my backup when I go on vacation and if I get sick. I am glad to be able to give someone else an opportunity like the one that was given to me. All my schooling and jobs helped to prepare me for my MT work.