Medical Transcription is a conversion of medical notes about a patient dictated by a doctor, a nurse or any health care person into electronic medium i.e. These medical notes are keyed in and saved for retaining the patient details permanently and can be retrieved whenever required.
The audio file may contain details of the patients on any of these including physical reports, lab reports, x-ray reports, psychiatric evaluations, consultation records, clinic records, discharge summaries etc. The length of the audio medical notes varies depending on the number of the patients and the type of the reports.
The person who converts such audio medical reports into permanent records by means of keying is medical transcriptionist. He is a medical language specialist.
Transcription Process
The medical transcription process actually involves receiving of the dictation by tape, digital system or audio file. The medical transcriptionists use ear/head phones to hear the audio file and a foot pedal for start-stop control and keys the files as some word processing documents to swiftly convert them into permanent records. After this information is transcribed, the documents are sent to the doctor for review. Once they are corrected and verified, the documents are saved as patient’s permanent records.
In short, Medical transcription is a legitimate online job and not an advertising scam. The more the accurate keyboarding about patient’s reports, the more the payment.
MT Job Requirements
Having a PC at home with good keyboarding skill is just not enough to become a Medical Transcriptionist.
In medical transcription, there are some pre-requisites and good qualities expected from the Medical Transcriptionists. They should possess good listening, English grammar, and high typing speed with very good accuracy. The foremost criterion is Medical Transcrptionists are expected to have lot of foundation knowledge in medical jargons. Since the job deals with only medical reports, Medical Transcriptionists should possess knowledge on Medical Terminology, Pharmacology, Anatomy, Laboratory Test and Values, Physiology, Medical Equipment and Procedures.
Getting Equipped
In order to obtain the knowledge in the above areas, one should join a medical transcription course and get awarded with a certification. There are lots of courses available for this both online and offline. Quality training is the success key for a medical transcriptionist. You must join the course, which equips a career competency with the precise skill required at least on these areas like medical jargons, human anatomy, diseases, grammar and style needs, perfecting the text, proof reading, pronunciation (accent), keyboard speed, test series etc.
Also, there is certain investment required for reference books. Medical transcriptionists should have an English dictionary, grammar book, a complete medical dictionary, a drug index, laboratory book, and a medical word book by specialty, a surgery word book, a medical abbreviation word book, other specialty word books and a physician directory and other journals. Always Medical Transcriptionists can refer these books, which will guide them in providing quality output.
Getting Started
Once a person is trained as Medical Transcriptionist, he can decide on how to work. There are three ways.
- Practice inside a hospital/clinic
- Work as an independent MT from home
- Have contract with reputed companies who hire as statutory employee
Certified Medical Transcriptionists are welcome everywhere for medical transcription. There are plenty of openings available for Medical Transcriptionists who wish to do online. They have to just fill the application form along with resume and mail to the online employers. You will be provided with the Medical Transcription work based on your potentials.
Income/ Earnings
The income varies depending on the company for whom you work but mostly it is production based pay i.e. for the number of hours worked or for the number of lines transcribed.
MT Job Offering Resources
- MTJobs.com - A largest resource of medical transcription jobs and companies. Hundreds of job vacancies are posted every couple of days. Fastest job search engine to find suitable job vacancy for you.
- MTBot.com - Excellent all-in-one directory for medical transcriptionists. It contains a free list of medial transcription companies, discussion forums, medical words abbreviations, physical exam guides and more. Free Word prediction software available here for professional typists and disabled pc users.
- MTDaily - Busiest online community of hundreds of online medical transcriptionists and students. Medical terminology, medical transcription references, words, sample reports, new terms, drugs and more.
- Thomas Transcription - You should be a qualified medical transcriptionist with 3+ years experience to apply. Editor with 8+ years experience of using AAMT BOS and Cardiology transcriptionists can easily get job from this firm. They accept only independent contractors.
- OSI Transcription - OSI offers full-time and part-time medical transcription positions in the areas - Acute care, Multispecialty Clinic, Emergency Room and Radiology. Attractive remuneration, Perks and referral bonuses are available.
- TransHealth Medical Transcriptionists - A growing medical transcription company is looking for high skilled MT's with great accuracy, completeness and timeliness. It provides flexible schedules and productively based compensation. Application form and instant test are available on their website.
- Focus Infomatics - An internet-based medical transcription company is offering MT jobs for people with at least 2 years experience. Online training will be given if you are new one to this field. Otherwise you can straightly take the online exam at MtTest.
- Applied Medical Services - It offers home based positions for medical transcription, medical coding and medical billing. In order to become an independent contractor, you need to take an online pre-qualification exam followed by a medical terminology /language test and typing speed test. Your test result will be sent within next 3 business days.
More Resources
- Recent Blog Posts about Medical Transcription Jobs
- Recent Job Listing Section - MT Job Vacancies
- Related resource - Transcription Jobs
- Search for Medical Transcription Guides
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