AHDPG Success Story Winner!
Congrats to Nicole S. for winning our contest. It was wonderful to read each and every one of the entries. Love the diversities which bring each of us to the medical transcription field. One commonality amongst most of the testimonies is the importance of family. It warms our heart to see what a caring and dedicated group we have here. That same sense of caring and dedication shows in our MTs’ work ethic too. At AHDPGTM, we hold the highest of expectations because we know you all can and do consistently rise to that level of expectation.
Below is Nicole’s letter. Thank you for sharing.
My journey to become a medical transcriptionist, although I did not know it at the time, started when I was younger. Growing up, I had always had a fascination with the medical field. A part of me always wanted to work in that field, but I just did not know in which one. I went on to work various other jobs, never completely happy in what I was doing. It was not until years later that, thanks to a family friend, I Ianded a job as a radiology clerk in a hospital, as well as the hospital’s outside clinics. I really enjoyed my job and my likeness of the medical field grew. I did that for awhile but had to leave my job and move away. I decided that I was going to go back to school and become a radiology technician. Unfortunately, that did not work out as I had hoped. Time went by and we started a family. Well, if you have kids, you know how that goes. Going to school was no longer a priority as our kids became the center of our lives. During that time, I came across some information about medical transcription and thought that would be a great thing to do. The more I looked into it, the more I felt it would be perfect for me to do. Not only was this a job in the medical field, but it would allow me to be home with my kids. Being a military family, we move about every 3 years and finding a job everywhere you go is not easy. Being a medical transcriptionist would allow me to keep my job every time we move. So, my research began once again and I narrowed my choice down to 2 schools, AHDPGTM being one of those schools. I decided to go with AHDPGTM because their curriculum seemed more in depth than the other school, the fact that they have an externship program, and they have a military spouse program that worked with our CAA here on base.
Once I started the school, I became completely overwhelmed with trying to learn a new career while still taking care of my family and other things. I had been out of school for so long and was so undisciplined to do school work. It took me some time to get used to being back in school and to learn a new career. To be honest, I wanted to quit, but I am not a quitter! My husband will also be retiring from the Marine Corps in a few years and I needed to go back to work. So, I buckled down, got on a schedule, and put everything I had into making this work. It was not easy, but I stuck it out. No matter how hard I thought learning all the different fields were, this is still fascinated me and I knew this is what I was supposed to be doing. The webinars were a great thing and our student post page was a big help too as it was a great way to get in touch with other students who too felt the same way. The instructors, of course, were also helpful.
Well, graduation day finally came and I was so proud of myself. So much, in fact, that I rewarded myself by enrolling in the RMT Prep Course, and as if that was not enough, I continued on to the Speech Recognition program, which I thought was pretty neat. I then made it into the externship program, which has helped me grow so much. I was nervous at first because it was so new to me. I did not want to mess up. My QA was there to help me every step of the way, and when I came off of 100% QA it was very liberating. I had come so far and was proud of myself. When the opportunity presented for me to become an employee, I jumped on it. I had grown so much during my externship. I like my job. It is never boring. I am constantly learning something new. I feel I have the perfect job. I get to be home with my little one and am done with work by the time my older kids get home from school. Also, when my husband comes home and says we’re PCSing, I won’t be worried about finding a new job because I can take my job with me.
– Nicole S.- MLS, California
