Talking with Working Graduates
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VLC graduate Meg Parish, 40, of Anchorage, Alaska. Meg currently works for Healthscribe. |
VLC: What did you do before you became an MT?
Meg: I hadn't worked the previous year, because I took the time off to stay home with my daughter. Prior to that, I worked as an administrator for a school district.
VLC: Why did you choose to study medical transcription?
Meg: A friend of mine mentioned to me that her office always has a terrible time finding good transcriptionists. It was a constant battle and every doctor she knew had the same problem, and she thought it would be a great field to get into because I wanted to stay home and work.
VLC: Which of our courses did you take?
Meg: I took the Professional [now Advanced] course.
VLC: How long did it take you to complete it?
Meg: I completed the course fairly rapidly. I signed up in July, and finished in November, but I wasn't working, so I was able to work on it pretty much full time.
VLC: What impressed you most about the course and instructor?
Meg: I thought it was very thorough. It has great materials. The feedback was immediate from [my instructor] Carole. I know she had a ton of students, but I never felt lost in the crowd.
VLC: What did you enjoy most about the course?
Meg: I really enjoyed studying everything. The body systems, the terminology. I had never even considered anything in the field of medicine ever in my life. It turned out it was really interesting, and I enjoyed it a lot.
VLC: How long did it take you to find a job?
Meg: I started working as an MT in November of 2002. I started working for Healthscribe immediately upon completion of my VLC course.
VLC: Are you paid by the line or by the hour?
Meg: I'm paid by the line.
VLC: Do you have any advice for anyone thinking of training to be an MT?
Meg: You have to be prepared not to make a lot of money at first. There is great money to be made in MT, that's true, but it isn't to be made immediately. You'll always make more money working on your own than you will if you work for a national. I would think it would it be tremendously hard to go out and start working as an independent contractor immediately. That's my goal eventually - or maybe not. It's great working for Healthscribe. It's wonderful to have paid vacations and that backup, that you don't have an independent. I'm making quite a good income right now, and I'm quite happy, but it does take a while to get there. So, if it's your only source of income, you'd better have a good stockpile of savings.
VLC: Where do you see yourself five years from now?
Meg: Five years from now? Gosh. It's so hard to say. If I go the independent route I'd like to have my own small MT business, with maybe two or three other MTs working for me. On the other hand, if I stayed with the national, I'd like to be a proofer, maybe a quality control person by then.
