How to Transcribe Medical Information
Transcribing medical information can be a very lucrative career. Here is what you need to get started.
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Things You'll Need
- Transcription tapes
- Foot pedal
- Tape recorder or voice file
- Ear phones
- Word processing program
Instructions
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Transcribe Medical Information
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Take a medical transcription course. Many companies will not hire a person who has not taken a medical transcription course. The courses will teach you how to become an accurate medical transcriber along with information on where to find jobs.
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2
Purchase a foot pedal, a tape recorder for transcription and head phones. A foot pedal gives you the ability to stop and start when listening to tapes that a doctor or other medical professional has recorded her notes on. Simply hook the foot pedal up to a compatible tape recorder, place the tape in the recorder, put ear phones on and begin typing what you hear on the tape.
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3
Look into getting some sort of medical spellchecker on your computer. A medical spellchecker will help you when spelling difficult technical words. It will also save you time when typing. You may also want to purchase an abbreviation system software for your computer. An abbreviation typing program will automatically complete words and expand abbreviations as you type. This saves you a ton of time.
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Purchase a medical dictionary as well. There are tons of medical dictionaries out there. If you choose a medical dictionary software program, Stedman's Medical Dictionaries are reasonably priced and informative. If you are looking for an actual book, there are many out there. Find out which ones your clients prefer.
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Have a template ready for each physician or company you transcribe for. Each place will have different steps in the transcription process. It saves you time to have a template readily available when doing transcription. Some medical software will have templates you can use, or you can make and save your own.
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Tips & Warnings
Foot pedals are typically universal and can be used by anyone doing any type of transcription.
A manual that is considered the standard in medical transcription and will tell you everything important in the field is "The Book of Style for Medical Transcription" by AHDI (Association of Healthcare Documentation Industry). if you are considering a career in medical transcription, this book is an important asset.
