Work schedules and Vacations

[Guest guest]

This has been an interesting string....let me add my 2 cents.

I am an independent contractor (home based) servicing a radiation oncology

unit at a major hospital here in Chicagoland, one vascular surgeon (private

practice) and a medical center with 2 gynes, 1 urologist, 3 orthopedics, 1 GI

guy, 1 pulmonologist and 2 general surgeons. I have to keep to a tight

schedule to keep everyone happy. So, I work most weekends...as little as

possible. I rise at 5 a.m. every morning...as most of you early birds

know...that is when I am most active on the board. Between 5-7 a.m. is when

I get my best work done. I usually do my logging, billing and invoicing, and

whatever record keeping on Saturday morning and try to at least get set up

for the next business week. Some weekends, I do not type a single word until

Sunday evening. My family and household duties keep me distracted on the

weekends....what a surprise. I find that if I walk out of my office anytime

before 10 a.m. on a Saturday, I do not usually get back in there.

As for vacations, as an independent, it is really up to me to find coverage

for my clients. Some of the medical clinic stuff will go inhouse to their 1

transcriptionist, but the rest is outsourced to some subcontractors who I

have worked with in the past. My vascular surgeon prefers to hold his stuff

until I return and playing catch up with him is no problem. I prefer to have

coverage when I am away. When I vacation...a couple times a year, they are

usually extended vacations 1 week to 10 days. Otherwise, I do not consider

it a vacation....although I do love long weekend trips. In that case, I

usually get as current as I can with my docs and catch them when I return.

I guess this is more than 2 cents...more like 75 cents......I hope this helps

some new MTs put it into perspective...from an independent contractor's point

of view.

Cheryl, CMT