The medical transcription profession is a demanding one. It expects you to meet extremely stringent deadlines and high quality goals. It also expects you to keep the medical data secure. The medical transcriptionist cannot be complacent or he/she risks ruining his/her career. Today, I’ll talk about four mistakes that you should not commit if you want to do well in the profession.

Taking random, unplanned breaks: When you have to take a break, take logical breaks, not random ones. Avoid getting up in the middle of a task. In fact, you should take logical breaks compulsorily.

Attending to domestic chores during the planned working hours: You cannot let domestic worries trouble you when you are working. Attend to them only once your work is done. You have to learn to treat your home-office as an actual office from where you cannot attend to your household responsibilities.

Watching TV during your working hours: TV and medical transcription don’t go together. You cannot let other sounds distract you while you are transcribing. Don’t watch the TV even during your breaks as you run the risk of prolonging your breaks and lose focus.

Social networking while working: When working, close all e-mail clients and networking websites. I agree you need a minute’s break from time to time, but you cannot be online the whole time you are working. You can chose to access the social networking sites for a few minutes as a reward after you have completed a certain number of tasks.

These mistakes can cost you dearly. It is important you make an effort to keep yourself focused and motivated.