Posted: May 19th, 2004

The VLC talks with working grads

VLC: Where do you work as a medical transcriptionist and how long have you been there?
Rhoda: I work from home, which is rural Illinois, in the middle of a corn field, and about 30 miles from Peoria or Bloomington, the closest "big" towns. I work for a lady from California who has her own business and has recently acquired a large account and she is hiring more staff to keep up with her work.

VLC: Do you find the practice tapes are helping you in a real-work situation?
Rhoda: Yes indeed! I am so glad for all the difficult accents, the static-filled tapes, and noisy backgrounds that we were required to transcribe from. Although I have yet to actually do some work that compares with the worst of these reports, none of my work is ideal when it comes to sound quality and clarity of speech by the doctors. They still have babies screaming in the background, or vacuum cleaners running, and they still mumble or run words together. Of course, the blessing with my job is that I have the same one or two docs and I am able to learn what some of their mumbled and run-together phrases actually mean, and can transcribe them without too much difficulty.

VLC: What did you do before becoming an MT?
Rhoda: I have been a stay-at-home mom for 12 years, after leaving an elementary school teaching job.

VLC: Why did you decide to become an MT?
Rhoda: We needed the income, and I wanted a job I could do from home, since this is where my priority lies. Also, I had taken about one year of nursing school before I was married and felt like this would be somewhat helpful in this line of work.

VLC: Which of VLC medical transcription courses did you take?
Rhoda: I took what was at the time considered the Professional Edition.

VLC: How long did it take you to complete it?
Rhoda: It took me about two years, but I slacked off over the summer, and our then 7-year-old son was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, so I spent a lot of time at doctors' offices and therapy for about four months or more. This took up a lot of study time. I would have been able to finish up at least three months sooner, I think.

VLC: Who was your instructor?
Rhoda: Carole was my first one, but I had Susan Wilhelm and Bev Henderson as my two main ones after I began actual transcription practice.

VLC: What impressed you the most about your instructor?
Rhoda: Susan was incredibly thorough, for which I am very thankful-now that I have finally landed a job. Bev was especially encouraging and helpful when it came to getting a resume and cover letter set up and giving advice about what to expect, and not to expect, with work as newbie.

VLC: What impressed you most about the course?
Rhoda: The thoroughness of the different types of dictation, from the different types of reports, to the different medical specialties that we worked in.

VLC: What did you enjoy most about the course?
Rhoda: The support and encouragement of other students, as well as from the instructors.

VLC: Is there anything about the course or the training system you would recommend changing?
Rhoda: Maybe to be more involved in helping to get new jobs. It is incredibly hard to convince these people that you are good, even though you are a newbie.

VLC: How did you go about applying for jobs?
Rhoda: By sending a resume to every company on the list on VLC's webpage of companies that take newbies. Also, if they offered tests, I took them. My mistake was that I thought I was to take these tests without using references, and this hurt my grades somewhat. Once I was told to use references, I did extremely well, since that was what we had been trained to do. My job actually came from sending out my resume on the MT daily boards. This is where my employer found my resume and offered me a position. I did also receive offers from a couple of companies by passing their tests.

VLC: How long did it take you to find a job?
Rhoda: About two to three weeks.

VLC: Are you paid by the line or by the hour?
Rhoda: I am paid by the 65 character line, getting .065 per line. This is good starting pay, I am told, for beginners.

VLC: Do you have any advice for anyone thinking of training to be an MT?
Rhoda: Try to do as much of your own research as possible, even when there are helpful hints on the discussion boards for difficult-to-understand words or phrases. Use the boards only as a very last resort, rather than as your first resort. I still use my word books, and often have half-a-dozen stacked beside my computer by the end of the day. They (the books) are invaluable! Also, I am so glad I waited to apply for jobs until I finished schooling. I needed every bit of practice I could get. I would encourage all students to do the same.

VLC: What do you expect to be doing five years from now?
Rhoda: I hope to be doing more of the same, only earning more money than I am for now. I really enjoy what I am doing, and maybe someday will look into a bigger company if the benefits are worth it. However, I really love the boss I work for, she is incredibly patient and encouraging, and that is something you can't find just anywhere. Also, our relationship maintains a fairly personal level, talking on the phone, and instant messaging on a daily basis, whenever I have a question about something, or we just want to chat a bit. I am glad I chose the route of going with her, rather than with the larger company at this time, and five years from now, I may still be with her…who knows!?