How to Be a Medical Transcriber at Home
Becoming a medical transcriber at home requires a certain amount of skill and preparation for the career itself, in addition to the unique challenges that come with working at home. But, if you are determined and willing to invest the money and take the steps necessary to set yourself up, becoming a medical transcriptionist may be the perfect career choice for you.
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Instructions
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Go to school. Some basic knowledge is required to succeed as a medical transcriptionist. Take a medical transcription course online or attend a local community college or trade school. Outstanding English grammar and spelling skills are a must, as well as a knowledge of medical terminology and anatomy and physiology. You also need excellent keyboarding skills and must be able to find your way around a computer.
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Gather references. Try to begin this during your school work. You will need the Book of Style for Medical Transcription, published by the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI). Though much information can be found on the Internet, you may benefit from having medical "word" books and a medical dictionary, either electronic or the big, old-fashioned kind.
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Equip yourself with hardware. The necessary items are: a computer, headphones, and a foot pedal to control the dictation. Many doctors' offices and hospitals process their dictation digitally these days, though some might still dictate into a mini-cassette recorder. In that case you will need a transcriber, which is a tape player that plays the correct-sized tape and has controls for speeding up or slowing down dictation.
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Equip yourself with software. Make sure you have a good word-processing program, such as Word or WordPerfect. You will also need a medical spell checker because most of the medical language will not be found in a regular spell checker. Consider installing a word expander program, also known as an abbreviation expander or text expander. Though not strictly necessary, you will find it increases your productivity immensely.
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Develop a system that works for you. Whether you make a computerized spreadsheet or just write in a notebook, you need to keep track of the medical transcription you will be doing---the date, the name of the doctor, the job number, hours worked, and number of lines typed. While many medical transcription companies you work for will also keep this information, it's important to have your own record to check against theirs. If you're transcribing on your own for a doctor's office, and not with a company, you will definitely need to have a system to keep track of this information, especially your lines typed. Your lines are your livelihood.
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Be prepared. While being a medical transcriber at home can be a wonderful experience, sometimes it's not all it's cracked up to be. You must be willing to sit and type for long periods of time. You must be resourceful in finding answers to your questions because you'll be doing it on your own. Realize that it is a solitary job, without the social aspect of co-workers to confer with and the camaraderie that comes from that. Joining a local chapter of AHDI, though, can meet some of those needs.
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