If you're thinking about getting into medical transcription, It's important to know these facts.
Medical transcription is transcription that is related to healthcare. Transcribing is typing what is said on a recording and turning it into a document.
The person who transcribes the dictation is called a medical transcriptionist or MT. Medical transcriptionists work with medical professionals and transcribe medical information.
A transcriptionist listens to audio recordings and transcribes or types the content of the dictation using a word-processing program
What kind of work will you do as a medical transcriptionist?
Medical transcription jobs include transcribing for individual doctors at physician's offices, hospitals, a variety of healthcare facilities, insurance companies, legal offices, research centers, laboratories, government medical facilities, and other organizations.
For example, doctors may dictate information about the patient’s history, physical examination, diseases, procedures, laboratory tests, and diagnoses.
The health professional dictates the patient information into a recorder or through a phone dictation system.
Medical transcriptionists type the dictated information into a word processing program and turn it into a typed document. The transcribed documents are sent back to the dictator (usually as a digital file) for verification and approval. The transcribed documents become part of a patient's permanent medical record. They also provide documentation of patient care that is needed for insurance reimbursement, litigation, and scientific research.
MTs use transcription software, a foot pedal, and a word processing program to transcribe dictation into a typed document. Most medical transcription today is from digital recordings.
7 facts you need to know when looking into medical transcription
Because of the aging population, the need for healthcare services has increased and there continues to be a need for medical transcription. But here are some things you should be aware of:
- Yes, there is an increased need for healthcare services but medical transcription jobs have decreased.
- Medical transcription jobs have changed and decreased because of technological advancements such as electronic medical records, voice recognition, and speech recognition.
- Offshore outsourcing is also affecting the work of medical transcriptionists and is taking jobs away from US MTs.
- There is still work for experienced MTs and they are now often working as medical transcription editors.
You can read more about how to become a medical transcription editor here. - The pay for medical transcription work is much lower than it used to be and is lower than the pay for legal and general transcription.
- It’s also difficult to get started today as an inexperienced medical transcriptionist as most employers require a couple of years of experience and there are plenty of experienced MTs.
- MTs are not restricted to working in an office and many medical transcriptionists provide medical transcription work from home. But typically, you’ll have to work in a medical setting for a couple of years before you can work from home. Your best chance to work from home is by working for a transcription company.
If you are interested in transcription jobs from home, I recommend checking out this detailed general transcription course that will teach you how to transcribe and how to find high-paying transcription jobs. This course includes typing drills, transcription skills, transcription formats, grammar skills, lots of practice files, and much more.
Or sign up for my FREE General Transcription Mini-Course
so you can find out if transcription is right for you!
TRANSCRIPTION RESOURCES
- FREE General Transcription Mini-Course.
- Detailed, multi-media General Transcription Course.
- General Transcription Practice Files.
- FREE Legal Transcription Mini-Course.
- Medical Transcription Course.
- Check out this complete transcription starter kit at Amazon.
- Grammarly is the best online spelling and grammar checker to help you edit your transcripts. Grammarly has a free version and a premium version. Check it out here.