The Benefits of a Career in Medical Transcription
Medical transcription is a stable career field that offers flexibility and challenge to those who become medical transcriptionists. The medical transcription job allows you to work in the health care field—which is always looking for new hires across the country—without exposing yourself to the stress or discomfort of examining patients or handling laboratory samples.
Medical transcription takes place in all kinds of medical clinics, in hospitals, in medical universities, in the medical examiners’ office, in military hospitals, in dental clinics, in pharmacies and even at home. Because of the nature of medical transcription work, many working parents and people otherwise unable to work out of the house can have the audio recordings sent to them via the Internet and can perform medical transcription at home.
There’s more to medical transcription than simply typing out an audio recording. You must be familiar with basic medical terms so that you can make sense of what the medical professional is dictating or writing. It’s essential that you write the transcription report accurately.
Medical transcription entails transcribing the audio and sometimes written notes of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, medical researchers, medical educators, and medical examiners, to name a few. These medical transcription notes can include patient history, patient observations, the reason for a patient visit, the advice provided by the physician, prescription instructions, operative reports, autopsy reports, medical studies, diagnoses and more.
Medical transcription also involves some skill in writing, editing and clarifying dictations. You must be able to write following proper grammatical rules and you must be able to edit any written documentation accurately as necessary. If the person for whom you’re transcribing stumbles over his or her words, you need to be able to transcribe his or her message accurately, even if you need to clarify the dictation instead of typing the dictation literally. However, you need to be able to make a judgment when it comes to when you should clarify, as you should leave the dictation alone most of the time. Medical transcription also involves use of certain software programs and peripherals, such as a foot pedal for pausing dictations as necessary.
You may be able to get into the medical transcription field with no prior training and learn on-the-job; however, most places that have medical transcription openings prefer applicants who have completed a training program and/or have certification.