Out of 40 or 50 newbies last year, only about 3 made it to the end of the 90-day probation period. It was difficult, they worked long hours trying to perfect their work, learn new terms and not have blanks, some were even reduced to tears by their frustration. Coming right out of school and jumping into multiple accounts consisting of mainly ESL dictators...it was an eye-opening experience for them. In our office, if one account dried up for a while, you had to switch over to others if you wanted to keep working. Having knowledge of multiple specialities was a key element to producing lines. Here are a few things I advised:

For the most part, you are not going to produce an extraordinary amount of lines at the start if you are new to transcribing...it takes time. Do not stress out...this was common with the newbies and they tended to lose their focus over worrying about speed and producing. ACCURACY was preferred over speed. I remember one of the main worries of the newbies was where to put commas--that was so unimportant to us. Accuracy...I can't say it enough. Treat every report like it was going to end up in court.

Do not guess at words/drugs. Do not always "type what you hear." Just because spellcheck accepts it doesn't mean it's always right. Think while you type. If the dictator says he's prescribing a patch or a suppository to be used p.o. b.i.d.....think! Know what you're typing. I've even seen this trick multiple times...to make a report seem like it has fewer blanks, a word or two would be omitted and the sentence just linked together. That kind of thing catches up with you sooner or later and ruins your credibility.

Know basic English skills...transcribing is not all medical terminology. Dictators can throw you some real curves in the Social History section. Learning to research is a must. Many words are not always medical words...they often times can be found in the dictionary.

Reference books/reference material. Believe it or not, there were many who had virtually no books to work with. Some who did have them rarely opened them...they called us instead. Having a Dorland's and a good dictionary by your side is a good start; using them, even better! Some called us every few minutes on our eight-hour shifts to help them out with words; they needed a "quick fix" instead of learning to research on their own. A ZIP code book is also a great help when one has to type names of towns.

Try to have a quiet area when working. I can't tell you how many times when on the phone trying to decipher a word/phrase, there were children and/or pets near the caller making all kinds of noise.

I received so many calls asking for repeat help on unique words/phrases because they "forgot to write it down." Write it down and tape it to your monitor; hands off the keyboard aren't producing lines if you have to continously search for the same thing over and over.

Create a "hard word" type of notebook...I have a small binder that I can add pages to all the time. I use tabs on the side of the pages to keep them in alphabetic order. It's a wonderful word-finding tool. Using the terms found here on MTDesk is very helpful also if you can't afford a variety of books at the beginning.

Starting out working at home is not an option for everyone...most of the newbies I worked with had to work at home because of having small children and not able to afford daycare. I didn't work at home until I had seven years under my belt (and that was because I had to supervise my teenage son), so I know it can be very difficult.

It can be done, but it does take time and an ability to work/research independently. It can be hard to get the first job when employers want experienced MTs. I learned some specialites by doing overflow/maternity leave work from experienced MTs. I joined my local AAMT chapter and found a great source of employment/current information at the meetings. I read everything I could about transcription, learning macros, formats, multiple specialities, etc. One of the biggest things I learned wherever you work, give them what they want in terms of formatting/rules. I didn't always agree with it, but it made for a more pleasant work environment...

Good luck to all!

I realize it's important to start good habits now, rather than waiting until I've finished my training.

SueNJ