-
What kind of assistance can I expect from MT Advantage Career Center?
-
What type of transcription practice will I get with MT Advantage?
What is a day in the life of an MT like?
I wake up each morning, actually looking forward to going to work. What a difference loving the work you do can make in your life! I get up around 6 a.m., wash my face, brush my teeth, and then go downstairs for my morning coffee. I bring a cup of coffee upstairs to my home office and relax, reading the morning’s e-mail. About 6:45, it’s time to get ready for work!
I enter my bedroom to get dressed for the day. Let’s see here...the navy slacks and the dressy white blouse? No. That nice skirt and blouse peering at me from the corner of my closet? No, thank you! I grin and don my typical attire—a big t-shirt! I worked in the corporate world many years, so please make allowance for me as I chuckle about not having to get dressed in typical office attire. I always hated that, but that’s just me. :)
Decked out in my big t-shirt (oh, but I have many colors!), I sit down to begin my day as a medical transcriptionist. I close down my e-mail program (and any other possibly distracting programs) and head for my client’s FTP site. From there, I download (transfer) my work for the day (electronic files) to my personal computer. I open my word processing program, open the first medical report for the day, and put the pedal to the metal! Oh, in case you don’t know what the pedal is for, MTs use foot pedals to control the sound file of the dictated medical report that they are listening to and transcribing. My pedal has 3 foot buttons, play, rewind, and forward. Just like a tape player. Keeping our hands on the keyboard is the name of the game.
I am an independent contractor, which means I set my own hours. Of course, I have to meet my client’s TAT (turnaround time), but I can do my work anytime during the day or night, as long as it’s completed on time. My work is usually ready for me to pick up at around 7 a.m. It’s due back to my client by 6 a.m. the next morning. I stop for lunch at anywhere from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. It’s so nice not to be locked into a rigid timetable. Heck, I could never eat on demand anyway! *laugh* After lunch, I sit down and finish my work for the day, taking breaks when I need to or want to.
I always try to take time each day to stop and look out of my office window, to watch the birds and to cast an eye on my garden. I consider myself fortunate indeed to not have to commute to work in terrible weather and in that awful rush hour traffic. I live in a big city, and it can be a nightmare on the freeways!
I like to finish my work by about 6 p.m. Then it’s dinner, maybe a favorite TV program, and bed. That may sound boring to some people, but it works for me! I’m as “happy as a tick on a dog” as we say in my part of the country! I am thankful every day for a job that I love, one that allows me to use my skills, one that gives me so much flexibility, and one that I’m happy to wake up to the next morning!
(Comments from an actual working MT)
