The medical transcription profession invites appreciation and criticism in equal amounts. Somehow, everybody seems to have a view on the profession. Thanks to such wide range of opinions, you will come across plenty of myths related to the profession. Let’s look at some of the common ones.

• Myth: The medical transcription training is not important.
  The truth is that it is the medical transcription training that prepares you for the medical transcription job. The transcriptionist needs to possess a sound medical knowledge to be able to do his/her job. If you have the right aptitude, you can take up a course and begin your career.
• Myth: There are not many medical transcription opportunities available.
  The medical transcription profession is one of the few that has come out unaffected from the recession that has dominated the economies the world over. And this tells a lot about the industry. The world will need transcriptionists as long as it needs medical records. And thanks to the ever-increasing and aging population, the demand for medical records keeps increasing.
• Myth: The profession does not pay well.
  Your income in medical transcription is completely dependent on your competence and experience. The US Department of Labor states that the mean hourly wage of a medical transcriptionist is $15.84 and the mean annual wage is $32,960. You earn more as you become more proficient.
• Myth: The speech-recognition software will replace the medical transcriptionist.
  Doctors are required to spend a considerable amount of time and effort in training and using the software. And yet, the results delivered by the software are not accurate. Thus, instead of becoming a threat, the software becomes a liability. The medical transcriptionist has now started using it as an aid.

If there are more things you would like to clarify, just drop in a line.

Irrespective of the challenges in the medical transcription profession, most medical transcriptionists don’t crib about their work. Is the profession a fulfilling one? What makes medical transcriptionist happy? Let’s find out.

The profession allows an easy entry. 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.

The medical transcriptionist is paid well. 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.

The profession allows the transcriptionist to choose. The profession 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. No other profession offers as much flexibility as medical transcription.

The profession makes one feel good. As a medical transcriptionist, 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.

Medical transcriptionists learn and develop new skills. The 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.

It is important you make sure if the profession suits you before you go about reaping its benefits.

Medical transcription work would have been easy had it been only about transcription. You know what else would have made it easy? It would have been easy if it had not been a responsible job. Creating medical records is no joke. The profession dealing with that cannot be easy. Let me explain why medical transcription is not easy.

A medical transcriptionist is required to work on his/her own, without any supervision. Yes, he/she works independently even when working in an office. Incomprehensible recordings, difficult reviewers, and strict reviewers can add to the trouble of dealing with it alone.

The deadlines in medical transcription are stringent. They don’t give you time to plan. Most of the work has a 24-hour turnaround time. There are some tasks that need to be delivered in as little as four hours.

The overall quality goal of the medical transcription work is 98 percent accuracy, but the profession does not allow even a single error when it comes to critical errors. A critical error can impact the safety of a patient. Keeping this in mind, the transcriptionist can never be casual with his/her work.

The medical transcriptionist is required to enhance his/her medical knowledge on a daily basis. Given the kind of deadlines they work with, not all medical transcriptionists can cope with challenge of learning everyday.

Now that you understand why medical transcription is not easy, it is important you figure out your strengths and weaknesses before getting into this field. We wish you all the luck!

Irrespective of the visible benefits of medical transcription, there are some things that bother many medical transcription aspirants. In today’s post, we’ll look at three of such concerns.

Future of medical transcription: According to the US Department of Labor, the rate of growth of medical transcription opportunities is more than the average growth rate of all other occupations. The increasing and aging population increases the demand for medical records, which in turn increases the work for medical transcriptionists. The fact that the industry remained untouched by the recent recession proves that the profession is secure and sturdy.

Easy entry: Many people will tell you that anyone can become a medical transcriptionist. Well, that’s far from the truth. It is true that the entry in the medical transcription profession is easy. One does not need a formal qualification or an experience to join the profession. However, the profession requires a certain aptitude that only a few possess. A person without the right aptitude cannot handle the profession.

Speech-recognition software: The speech-recognition software was touted to replace the medical transcriptionist. But it failed to establish itself as a worthy substitute for the medical transcriptionist. Doctors are required to spend a lot of time with the software, training and using it. The results delivered by the software are far from being accurate. A transcriptionist is needed to bring sense to the information transcribed by the software. Thus, the software has come to become the transcriptionist’s friend.

If you have more concerns about the profession, write in to us.

The medical transcriptionist has a responsible job. In fact, the profession is a specialized one. Though the profession does not have any prerequisites, it expects a certain aptitude in an aspirant. Do you have it in you? In today’s post, we will look at the aptitude and other things you should know about the profession.

First, let’s look at all that you need to join the field.

• You should have an above-average command over the English language.
• You should possess good hearing skills.
• You should be comfortable handling the computer.
• You should be able to work with stringent deadlines on a daily basis.
• You should be able to handle work on your own.
• You should be able to keep yourself motivated.
• You should be willing to learn everyday.
• You should be comfortable in doing extensive research for your work.

Now, let’s look at some other facts you should know about the medical transcription profession.

• You will need to undergo intensive training in medical transcription.
• You can choose to work from home as long as you can ensure compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
• The profession expects you to meet all deadlines and quality goals and ensure confidentiality and security of medical data.
• You can choose your work timings and the number of hours you want to work even if you work in a medical transcription company.
• You can work from any part of the world.

The profession has benefits as well as challenges. You should look at all its pros and cons before joining it.

Some of you may respond to the question in the title by saying that you need medical transcription training to become a medical transcriptionist. Well, you do need the training but you also need much more than that. Your first step is not the training but something else.

You need to start with analyzing if you have the aptitude for the profession, How do you find that out? Well, you need to possess the following:

• Good hearing skills
• Excellent command over the English language
• Ability to work independently
• Ability to meet deadlines everyday
• Willingness to learn new things everyday
• Willingness and ability to research extensively

Once you have made sure you are good for the job, find out if the job is worth taking up. Find out if the profession’s benefits and challenges suit you.

Once you have ensured that you and the profession suit each other, you should start looking for a good medical transcription course. Make sure you choose a good course. Compare different courses, seek feedback from former students before you decide on a course.

Next, create that perfect medical transcription resume. Perfect does not mean that you lie in the resume. Perfect means functional and exhaustive. Ask your instructors to review the resume.

Once your resume is ready, start applying to medical transcription jobs. Don’t depend only on the newspaper classifieds for jobs. Search on the internet. Browse through the yellow pages. Also, visit the local clinics and hospitals.

We wish you all the luck for stepping into the world of medical transcription.

For the ones who know, the title of the post would be more apt as ‘Who is a CMT?’ But this post is for people new to medical transcription who want to understand the credentials in the profession. CMT stands for Certified Medical Transcriptionist. It is a credential offered by the Association of Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI).

If you want to be a CMT, you cannot become so immediately after joining the profession. You have to establish yourself in the field in order to be certified. You need to possess two years of medical transcription experience in acute care for taking the CMT test. Wondering what acute care means? AHDI defines acute care as:

(Source)… incorporating medical center dictation to include many dictators including multiple ESL dictators, many formats and report types, and all the major specialties, including and especially surgery dictation of all types, and some minor specialties.

You have to pass a five-hour test to become a CMT. And, yes, you will know your results as soon as you complete the test. In fact, the test report will give you value-added feedback to help you understand your strengths and the areas of improvement.

Don’t be disheartened if you don’t pass the test in the first attempt. You can take the test again after six months of your previous attempt. The credential is valid for three years. On completion of three years, you are required to take another test for re-certification.

You have to pay a fee of $275 USD for the CMT test. However, if you are a member of AHDI, you need to pay only $195 USD.

Check the AHDI website for more information on medical transcription credentials.

Even if you are not into medical transcription, you must have heard about the threat of the voice-recognition software to the transcriptionist’s job. The software is capable of converting voice commands into input understandable by the computer. Isn’t that transcription? Well, yes. So, isn’t the software good enough to transcribe medical information? No. Let me explain.

The software can transcribe but it cannot transcribe the way the medical transcriptionist does. Let me take you through the differences.

First, the software requires a lot of time. A doctor is required to spend a considerable amount of time ‘training’ the software to make it recognize his/her voice. The need for medical transcription came because doctors do not have time at their hands to do their own transcription work. Now, the medical transcriptionist is perfect for the job because he/she is not wasting the valuable time of doctors.

Second, the voice recognition software needs a certain environment in order to deliver proper results. The doctor needs to speak slowly and clearly in a noise-free environment so as to make the software understand his/her words. Now, the medical transcriptionist has no such expectations.

Third, the software cannot think. It cannot analyze or make conclusions of its own. On the other hand, the medical transcriptionist makes logical deductions to arrive at a conclusion to deliver a complete medical record.

Fourth, the results of the voice recognition software are not accurate, requiring a human being to edit and make changes in order to deliver a complete medical record. And you know, this human being is none other than the medical transcriptionist.

The reason the software does not succeed is because medical transcription is not just about transcription but about creating complete and accurate medical records. The software, however, is not useless in medical transcription. Medical transcriptionists have started using it as an aid to their work.

I have always asked you to find out if you and the medical transcription profession suit each other even before you start looking for the medical transcription course. I have insisted on this because medical transcription is tough. What makes it tough? Let’s find out.

The deadlines in the medical transcription profession are extremely stringent. The best way to handle such deadlines is to plan ahead. However, the deadlines in medical transcription don’t give you much time to plan. Most of the work has a 24-hour turnaround time. In fact, there are some tasks that need to be delivered in as little as four hours.

The medical transcriptionist cannot be casual when it comes to the quality goals in the profession. The medical records created by the transcriptionist are extremely crucial to the smooth functioning of the healthcare industry. A careless error can impact the safety of a patient. The overall quality goal of the medical transcription work is 98 percent accuracy and you are not allowed even a single error when it comes to critical errors. Meeting quality goals along with meeting deadlines is no small task.

This profession requires one to work independently, without any supervision. Tough deadlines and high quality goals when accompanied with incomprehensible dictations and difficult reviewers can wreak some havoc in the transcriptionist’s life. Add to this the pressure of working on your own. Medical transcription is made for the tough.

Education for the medical transcriptionist does not end with the medical transcription training. The transcriptionist has to keep updating his/her medical knowledge on a daily basis. And then there is the requirement of extensive research in order to create accurate and complete records. Learning and research does not only need time and effort but also need one to be willing.

Medical transcription is tough work, but not for the disciplined. If you are disciplined enough, you can do well in the profession.

Many times in this blog we have said that the medical transcription profession is a specialized one. How can it be specialized when it doesn’t even have prerequisites in order to join it? It doesn’t ask for any specific qualifications or experience and yet we call it specialized. Let me explain why it is so.

The medical transcriptionist cannot do with bad knowledge of English grammar. He/she should be able to make sense of all the information that comes to him/her.

One has to undergo an in-depth training in order to become a medical transcriptionist. Medical transcription is not just about transcription; it is about creating complete and accurate medical records.

The medical transcriptionist is responsible not only for transcribing information but also for making sense of it. The medical transcriptionist has to analyze transcribed information logically. That is not everyone’s cup of tea.

The medical transcriptionist has to research extensively in order to deliver records. That is definitely not something that any Tom, Dick or Harry can handle.

One is expected to learn continuously during the job, much after the training. The transcriptionist cannot allow his medical knowledge to become obsolete.

The medical transcription job is a tough one. And it is not everyone’s cup of tea. One has to be extremely dedicated to it in order to make a career of it. People who think the transcriptionist’s job is similar to the typist’s don’t have a clue about the nature of the job. The responsibilities of the job makes it a highly specialized one.