About Medical Transcription Training Courses

Medical transcription is a hot career choice and will be for many years to come. The reason? As baby boomers age, they visit their physicians more frequently, and the treatments, tests and lab work all have to be transcribed for the patient's file. The training needed to learn these skills is available to you if you're up for the challenge and hard work it takes to be a good medical transcriptionist.

Considerations

Not only do doctor's offices need medical transcriptionists, but lawyers, hospitals and some elder-care facilities need them as well. Medical transcription is considered a recession-proof career because medical care is a fact of life that doesn't change with the economy.

You can work from your home or in an office, and you can choose whether you work full-time or part-time.

How Do I Learn Medical Transcription?

Medical transcription courses are available online as well as at colleges, universities and community colleges. There is no national accreditation, but you should choose a course that offers reference manuals and materials that you will use in your career after the course.

Virtually all of the education will consist of medical terminology, anatomy and pharmaceutical words and phrases.

Online courses usually are done at your own pace so that you can fit your studying around your work schedule.

What Materials Do I Need?

You will need a computer with word processing software (such as Word), a printer and a transcription machine. You may need both an analog transcriber and a digital one, depending on where you work and what equipment they have. An analog machine uses a small cassette-style tape, which is becoming increasingly rare as technology has brought the price of digital equipment down.

What Would a Typical Workday Look Like?

A beginning medical transcriptionist would most likely work in the office of a doctor, hospital or care facility for a couple of years when starting out. Once experience has been gained and you've proven yourself to be reliable and accurate, you may work out of your home.

A medical transcriber usually does not have the luxury of simply keyboarding the doctor's words. The transcriber listens and filters out what doesn't belong. For instance, a doctor may be recording notes from a patient visit and a staff member drops off a file for the doctor. He may say something as simple as "thanks" or "did Mr. Jones call?" and the transcriber would recognize that as a phrase to not include in the notes.

How Much Money Will I Make as a Medical Transcriptionist?

In the beginning, a medical transcriptionist will make approximately $8-$10 per hour. After a year or so of satisfactory performance, that rate should go to $12-$15 per hour. With five years experience and a good performance record, you should be able to make $15-$20 per hour.

Resources

• Excellent Source on Medical Transcription as a Career