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Angela, we all need to rant at one time or other.  Your "rant" is expressing some obvious concern that many of us in the transcription field face.  I am just going to share my thoughts in response.  I am a student here at Andrews and from notes on the forum I have the impression that many of my fellow students are transcriptionists, so you have come to the right place to express your "rant."  I'm sure we all understand your frustration and disappointment in your transcription job.  We all have experienced mush-mouth dictators and spend more time (loss to ourselves) in reversing and trying to understand what they are saying, and still have to leave blanks.  Fortunately, though, in my case most of the many, many dictators sent my way via the company are either good or very good.  

To answer your question, here are many transcriptionists moving over to coding.  For my own case, as I age I fear my hearing may begin to slip or I might develop arthritis so I need to train for a career that doesn't depend on those two factors.  The pay scale is also a factor; I believe generally coding pay is better.  Especially so for the company where I work.  The pay is the only thing bad here.  It used to be good, but with so many hospitals, clinics and physicians farming their work out to foreign countries where they can get the work done for less cost, it has made a financial hardship on the companies who refuse to leave the continent and this hardship bleeds down to the transcriptionist.  

As to your comment about different formats.  Oh, too true.  Really keeps us on our toes.  I finally used index cards to make notes, one card for each site, and when a job is assigned from a clinic that is not on my usual, I just flip to the card and within second am back with fingers pounding.  

Fortunately, I love the company I work for, fair play, have been working for them for many years.  If you are thinking about looking for a new company to work for let me know and I'll pass along their contact information.

If you are looking for a place to study coding, you are in the right place.  Right here at Andrews.  The study is very hard at times, at least for me it is.  The rules are very tight and scheduled deadlines are expected to be met (but some exceptions are allowed).  The study is done on line with clarification questions sent to instructors who have a way of answering or explaining in such a way that I can understand. Graduates from Andrews go out into the work field ready to do a good job.  Graduates from some other schools cannot brag about that. If you are looking for a school for training and looking somewhere other than Andrews, I don't know what "advice" to give you - not that you are asking.  But I have heard that there are training programs out there that when you graduate you are not prepared for the job.  On this forum I read about a training where the "school" taught the student how to pass the CPC test but when they got into the work field they didn't know how to code.  Just saying, so much to beware of.  I chose Andrews because of advice from one of my supervisors and from our recruiter, that they like to hire graduates from Andrews Transcription School because they knew what they were doing as opposed to graduates from many other schools.  Just saying, Andrews has a very good reputation, so if their transcription training is that good, just falls to reason the coding training would also be reputable.

Lastly, talk to Linda Andrews.  You will find her to be a valuable source of information.  You can get her phone # from Andrews website.

I'm sure you will hear from others on this forum whose information will be helpful.  Whatever you decide, I wish you the best.

Donna G

Thanks Donna G. I am in module III and struggling to understand and some days think maybe I should quit but like you I do have concerns of hearing loss and possible hand issues in the future and so I am trying to transition hopefully into something less stressful on my body. I really enjoyed the transcription field 10-20 years ago but it sure has changed in the industry. 

I like your idea of the index cards. Never thought of that. I have papers with tabs on the side for individual ones but that can be overwhelming since I am in a pool of many, many doctors. 

I would be very interested in the contact information for the company you are working for if you can share that with me.  wuertz93@hotmail.com 

Thanks for your encouragement!

Angela

Hi, Donna, your concerns are very valid.  They are some of the reasons many MTs turn to coding.

I can shed some light on this. On the issue of things being done differently in different accounts, different facilities, different everything, coding is much more structured than that. Doctors, facilities, employers do not have the option of doing their coding differently to suit themselves the way they have the option of changing transcription styles to suit themselves. Coding follows nationally standardized rules and official guidelines.  Everyone follows those, because deviation can result in nonpayment, sanctions, and even federal criminal charges.  In fact, there are even jobs auditing facilities -- even at their own request -- to ensure that they are following the rules.

 Part of your frustration with difficult dictation may be due to the impossibility of doing anything to improve it. Coders use written documentation, which is increasingly electronic, and they do have the opportunity to improve it. In fact, they have the obligation to ensure that it meets coding requirements. If the documentation you are working from is inadequate, you are able and even expected to approach the physician and request amendment.  Some coders even have jobs reviewing clinical documentation for improvement purposes. There are even certifications in this. 

 I hope this helped to reassure you on those two issues. 

Thanks for helping me see coding from a new perspective, Instructor Peggy.  I am transitioning from transcription to coding starting school next month.  I know it's going to be a bear to learn to be a good coder, but I had never thought about some of the things I won't have to deal with that we do in MT.  I think I'm going to copy that to a Word document and read over it again when I feel discouraged in my studies!