Overview of a Career in Medical Transcription
Medical record keeping is an important component in patient management and the key to assuring quality, timely health care. Physicians rely on professional medical transcription services to assure proper documentation of patient records which is crucial to planning strategies for future medical care. What do Medical Transcriptionists Do? Physicians dictate their patient notes into a Dictaphone or digital tape recorder after each patient visit. Medical transcription companies also offer the option of dictation to a toll-free phone number. The medical transcriptionist has to listen to these recordings and produce accurate typed reports and documents. These reports range from history and physical reports, clinic notes, consultation reports, procedures, and ER reports to follow-up notes and health reports. They also have to deliver these reports within the specified turnaround time which is different for different specialties and types of reports. These accurately transcribed reports become a permanent record in the patient’s file. Professional medical transcription services help physicians save time and avoid documentation errors caused by illegible handwriting. Nature of Work for Medical Transcriptionists Medical transcriptionists either work in an office or from a work-from-home setting. They may be directly employed in hospitals or physician’s offices or hired by third party medical transcription companies that provide services to health care providers for a fee. There are also transcriptionists who freelance basis by contracting out their work. Flexibility is one of the key factors which encourage many people to choose this field of employment. Payment for transcription work is either by the line or by the hour. So if you choose to work more, you get paid more. Usually, transcriptionists work 40 hours a week. Deadlines are quite important in this profession. For instance, if you agree to deliver transcription work within 2-3 days, you would have to make sure you deliver the completed files within this time. How to Become a Medical Transcriptionist To become a transcriptionist, you would have to complete a one year diploma program in medical transcription after high school or complete a two-year associate’s degree. Vocational schools, community colleges and distance learning programs offer this training in the form of an associate degree or a one-year certificate program. You can also take tests
to become a Registered Medical Transcriptionist (RMT) or Certified Medical Transcriptionist, but they are not a necessary requirement to work as a medical transcriptionist. Key Skills Required for Medical Transcription You need to have an in-depth knowledge of medical terminology as well as the abbreviations and jargon that physicians use. Good typing skills are crucial – the greater the number of words you type accurately, the more you can earn.
Additionally, medical
transcriptionists must also possess:
Good listening skills
Ability to understand accents
Excellent word processing software and computer skills
Normal hearing acuity
Proficiency in the English language
Job Outlook for Medical Transcription According to a recent report from Transparency Market Research, the value of the global market for medical transcription services is expected to touch a value of USD 60.6 million by 2019 from the level of USD 41.4 million in 2012. The Bureau of Labor Standards (BLS) also projects a 14% growth in medical transcription for the 10 year period ending 2016. This means the job outlook is promising. Even with the advent of speech recognition software, physicians need the services of transcriptionists to edit their documents.