If you’ve always wanted to work from home and have your own job then medical transcription is a profession that you can count on. But how do you get started?

First, you need to be trained. Your first step should be to enroll in a medical transcription course.

After you complete a medical transcription course, you’ll need to start distributing your resume. A reputable course will have a job assistance program and you should use it to help you find work. But don’t stop there.

You should also distribute your resume to job recruitment websites, particularly those that specialize in medical transcription.

Another step you can take is to visit or call a few hospitals and physicians offices in your area. Ask if they are hiring. If not, leave them your resume anyway. You never know when an opening might create an opportunity for you.

To make yourself more desirable and competitive, get a medical transcription credential. It’s not required, but if you are a certified or registered medical transcriptionist then it means you have the approval of industry organizations that set the standards for the profession. Employers will look more favorably upon you.

A hassle-free entry, good pay, and tremendous flexibility are what attract you to the medical transcription profession. But there are other not-so-pleasant things that lie ahead in the profession. Are you aware of them? Read on to find out.

• Do you know the profession has zero tolerance when it comes to critical errors in medical records? And it is quite obvious given that a critical error can impact the safety of a patient. And, of course, not all transcriptionists meet this quality goal. Do you think you can meet the quality requirement?
• Are you aware of the deadlines in the profession? You cannot relax with respect to medical transcription work. Every task comes with a tag of its required turnaround. You have to deal with deadlines every day, and some tasks need to be completed in a matter of just a few hours.
• Do you know that the profession requires you to keep learning even after you have got that job? Didn’t you just complete an in-depth training? Yes, but the medical transcriptionist has to keep updating his/her medical knowledge or his knowledge will become obsolete. However, not all people have that willingness to spend time and effort on learning, making many people stay away from the profession.
• Are you aware that you are required to work independently, without supervision? While this may sound enticing in the beginning, handling crisis situations on your own becomes a challenge not many professionals want to encounter.

Hope this post gave you an idea of what lies ahead in the profession. However, if you think you can meet these challenges, welcome aboard.

What is the single biggest thing that points to how good you are your work? Timing? Well, it is extremely important but it does not necessarily indicate how good or bad your work is. So, what am I referring to? I am talking about the quality of your work. It is your work’s quality that defines whether you are a good medical transcriptionist or not.

So, what is quality in medical transcription? The fewer the errors in the medical record you create, the higher the quality. The medical transcription industry expects a certain quality from you. And that is 98 percent accuracy. That’s a big figure, right? Well, let me surprise you a little more. The profession has zero tolerance with respect to something defined as critical errors.

The reason the quality standard is so high in the profession is because of the criticality of information in the medical records. Let’s look at the types of medical transcription errors as defined by the Association of Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI).

Critical Errors: They are called so because they can impact the safety of a patient. The industry has zero tolerance for these errors. Incorrect patient information, incorrect names and doses of medicines, incorrect values in test results, incorrect test names, and missing a part of the recorded information amount to critical errors.

Major Errors: These errors are the ones that impact the integrity of the medical document. One has to achieve 98 percent accuracy with respect to major errors. Incorrect spelling of English words and medical terms, incorrect inferences owing to incorrect verbiage, failure to comply with protocols and policies, failure to highlight any missing information, and intentional highlighting of information cause major errors.

Minor Errors: Minor errors are not factual errors, marked by the areas of improvement in the medical document. The industry requires that you achieve 98 percent accuracy with respect to minor errors. Minor errors include errors in punctuation and grammar, inconsistency of format, and typing errors not amounting to any change in the meaning of content.

So, do you think you are doing a good job?

How do you look for a medical transcription opportunity? Which way is the most effective way of finding a job? Well, when you combine all ways, you make them all effective. So, it is important you do not skip any source while looking for that medical transcription job.

• Register with all popular job websites. Check the websites of medical transcription companies if they are hiring. If they are, send your resume to the right people. And make sure you send it in the format requested by the company. You may even be asked to fill in application forms online. Make sure that you follow all the instructions given and provide accurate information.
• Make it a point to look up opportunities on search engines like Google. You should know the right keywords to use or you will get confused with the countless search results.
• Go through the classifieds of newspapers regularly. And don’t forget to go through the job supplements of more than one newspaper.
• The yellow pages may not be checked by many, but you should look at them once in a while. You never know, you may find the best opportunity in those pages.
• Visit the local hospitals and clinic. Inquire about any medical transcription work. You may get some very decent assignments from here.

Even before you begin your job hunt, make sure the medical transcription course you are taking up has some kind of job assistance. It will help make your entry into the industry easy.

Medical transcription is a great career option but it is definitely not for everyone. And unlike general belief, it is not a cakewalk. Medical transcription is a specialized profession and not everyone can become a medical transcriptionist. In fact, I warn many people against considering this career option. Let me explain why.

Medical transcription is not for you if…

…you cannot motivate yourself. As a medical transcriptionist, your job is to transcribe medical information and create medical records, day in and day out. Do you think you can keep yourself hooked to the job in the long run? You need self-motivational skills for that.

…you don’t want to learn while you work. The medical transcription profession requires that you keep updating your medical knowledge. For this, you have to invest some time almost everyday. If you cannot handle learning and earning at the same time, medical transcription is not for you.

…you cannot remain focused for long hours. The nature of medical transcription work is such that it requires you to remain focused for extended periods of time. If you are likely to be distracted often, you cannot handle medical transcription.

…you think medical transcription is just about transcription. Medical transcription does not require only your hearing skills; it needs your analytical skills as well. It also expects you to research extensively as and when required. You need to analyze information in order to make sense of it.

Now you know that medical transcription is more demanding than you thought. Are you sure you can commit to the profession? We wish you all the luck.

What is the biggest challenge in medical transcription? As an aspiring medical transcriptionist, you will ask this question many a times. And you are likely to get different responses from different people. Now, the biggest challenge depends on you. My one word response to the question has always been learning. However, it is up to you to decide what exactly is a challenge and what is not. And it will take a while. You will get the real picture only when you start working.

So, what could become a challenge in medical transcription. One of my very confident acquaintances took up freelance medical transcription to be his own boss. While that made sense given that the profession offers you that flexibility, it was later found out that the man took up some other profession soon after. Apparently, he did not realize the daunting task of keeping away from the distractions at home. Now, this could happen to any home-based professional. Some other people quit the medical transcription profession midway because they realize they cannot motivate themselves long enough.

As I mentioned earlier, I think learning is a big challenge in medical transcription. This is because, as adults, we do not want to learn after we start working. But in medical transcription, one is supposed to keep learning regularly in order to update one’s medical knowledge. Now, not everyone is interested in learning or even willing to make that effort.

Deadlines and quality goals in medical transcription are definitely challenging but they are more expectations than challenges. As a medical transcriptionist, you have got to meet deadlines, ensure high quality of medical records, and ensure the confidentiality of medical information. So, do you think you are ready?

What is the best way to look for a medical transcription job? Start sending your resume to medical transcription companies? Look up jobs on the Internet? What exactly is the right way to find a medical transcription job? Well, there is no right way. There are multiple ways. And you need to try every one of those.

Before I talk about how to land a medical transcription opportunity, let me ask you something. Did the institute where you enrolled for the medical transcription course offer you placement assistance? If your answer is ‘no’ I am going to bang my head on a wall.

If you have read this blog before, you know how we insist on you choosing your medical transcription course with care. You should not join a course that is not followed by some sort of job assistance. A good institute will have industry contacts, and if you start off with some help from the institute, you don’t have to lose time or worry about landing a good first opportunity.

Now, you don’t need to be satisfied with what the institute has to offer. Look for a job on your own. Here’s how.

• Register yourself with job websites.
• Check out medical transcription company websites and apply to them.
• Get yourself listed in the yellow pages and on Craigslist.
• Approach local hospitals and clinics to find out if they have an opportunity.

I hope this post helped. Do share your experiences of medical transcription job search with our readers.

Joining the medical transcription profession requires you to possess a certain aptitude. Discover the aptitude, complete a good medical transcription course, and you are ready for the profession. However, if you are thinking of making a career of it, you have to enhance your existing skills and develop new ones. Let me tell you how you can make this profession your career.

Discipline is the work when it comes to medical transcription work. All professions need you to be disciplined, but medical transcription more so. You have to set up a routine, and stick to it. You have to become your own boss and start monitoring your progress. All this requires tremendous amount of discipline.

You need to possess organizational skills. When you start work, do you have everything necessary within your reach? Or do you have to get up several times in the midst of work, spoiling your flow? You should have all transcription aids ready when you begin work. You should be proficient in planning and tracking your work and keeping accounts. If you are looking at making medical transcription your career, you need to be highly organized.

You should be able to motivate yourself all throughout your stint in the profession. The work in medical transcription tends to become monotonous and boring in the long run. You will have to keep it from becoming uninteresting. You have to keep motivating yourself in order to perform well consistently.

Can you be a student throughout your career? For the medical transcriptionist, the learning does not end with the training. He/she has to keep updating his/her knowledge on a regular basis. Now, one has to possess the willingness to learn for doing that. Without this attribute, one cannot rise in this profession.

So, do you think you can make medical transcription your career?

If you are interested in getting into the medical transcription profession, here’s what you should learn about:

• The expectations the profession has of the medical transcriptionist
• The challenges the profession throws at the medical transcriptionist
• The benefits and perks of the profession
• The medical transcription process
• The required aptitude for the profession

Once you have understood the benefits and challenges of the profession, you need to find out if you are suitable for the job. You should look for a medical transcription course only after you have ensured that you are fit to handle the profession. Let’s have a look at what the job is like in this profession.

The medical transcriptionist filters relevant medical information out and discards the irrelevant information and noise from voice recordings. He/she analyzes the voice recordings so that he/she can transcribe meaningful text. If the recordings are incomprehensible or there are gaps in the recordings, he/she follows up with doctors for additional information.

The medical transcriptionist is required to analyze the transcribed text and give a logical flow and meaning to it. He/she ensures that the transcribed text is correct grammatically. He/she ensures that there are absolutely no inconsistencies in the medical record. He/she checks the medical record for spelling errors and make necessary changes. Before the delivery of the record, the medical transcriptionist proofreads the record thoroughly. He/she incorporates the changes suggested by doctors and reviewers after the review rounds.

Now that you have a fair understanding of medical transcription work, you will be able to make an informed decision as to whether you want to join the profession or not.

The medical transcription profession is unique in many ways. There are many factors that make it different from other professions. Let’s dig out those factors.

The first and the most obvious factor is the fact that the profession, though specialized, does not have any prerequisites. The profession boosts your morale by allowing an easy entry. What it asks for is just the right aptitude. You don’t need to produce degrees or experience certificates to make your way into the industry.

Now, given that the profession doesn’t ask for any academic or professional qualifications, or any experience, medical transcription pays really well. Your income increases as you become proficient in the job.

Unlike other professions, medical transcription lets you choose your work timings. It even allows you to work from home. You can even fix up the number of hours you want to work. Know any other profession that offers as much flexibility as medical transcription?

Since you are responsible for creating medical records that are integral to the functioning of the healthcare and the insurance industries. You derive a sense of satisfaction and pride from this. Now, this is also something not all professions can offer.

The medical transcription profession teaches you to be patient, focused, disciplined, and goal-oriented. You also learn to work independently and motivate yourself. All these skills help you develop not only as a professional but also as an individual.

Now that you have an idea of why the profession is different, don’t go by what any lay person tells you about the profession. And if you are interested in the job, learn about its pros and cons before making up your mind.