Information on Medical Transcription
Medical transcription involves typing the contents of recordings made by a physician or other health care professional. Recordings are made on tape or, increasingly, on digital voice processing systems. Virtually every type of medical specialty has a need for transcription, and the contents can be highly technical. Medical transcriptionists learn the skill at a vocational or community college, or in online coursework.
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Function
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Medical transcriptionists transcribe recordings into reports, chart reviews, clinic notes, diagnostic procedure notes, follow-up notes and correspondence with other physicians and insurance companies. Reports include medical history, physicals, radiology, psychiatric evaluations, laboratory and pathology, surgeries and discharge summaries. Medical transcription requires putting documents into the proper formats and inserting appropriate punctuation and capitalization. When finished, transcriptionists return the documents in either printed or electronic form to the person who dictated them.
Features
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Health care professionals prefer someone who has completed medical transcription education, anything from a six-month certificate to a two-year associate's degree. Coursework in addition to the medical transcription skills typically includes English composition and grammar, medical terminology, word processing, pathology, and anatomy and physiology. In addition, transcriptionists can obtain certification by successfully completing the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity examination, which gives them more marketability.
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Considerations
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Transcriptionists must understand medical terms and have excellent spelling, punctuation and grammar skills. They must have thorough knowledge of anatomy and physiology, symptoms of diseases, medications, diagnostic values and medical terminology. If working for any specialties, such as orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, cardiology, hematology or myriad others, they must have in-depth knowledge of these areas as well.
Geography
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Transcriptionists work in hospitals, clinics, doctor's offices, medical research facilities and government health departments. They also work for medical transcription companies or on their own as an independent contractor. Increasingly, the work is done remotely, either independently or through transcription services. Electronic recordings are submitted by e-mail and the finished work can be returned by e-mail, fax or through a health care provider's web site. Many transcription services work 24 hours a day, every day of the year, a big advantage for professionals dealing with emergency situations.
Benefits
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Medical transcriptionists have a median hourly rate of $14.40 as of 2006, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. About 80 percent earn between $10 and $20 an hour. Some are paid based on the hours they work and others by the amount of transcription they produce. Transcriptionists working for services or as independent contractors almost always are paid based on production.
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