Someone I know chose a certain cooking class because his high-school crush was the teacher. While it is OK to choose a cooking class like that, it is not OK to choose your medical transcription course that way. Don’t go for a course because your friends are opting for it or because you get to pass by your girlfriend’s/boyfriend’s place on the way to the institute.

Choosing the medical transcription course is one of the most important steps towards a career in medical transcription. And you have to be really careful about how you choose it. Here are four simple tips to help you select the right course.

• Get the curriculum of multiple courses and compare them. The course you choose must conform to the COMPRO (competency profile for medical transcription education) guidelines as stated by the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI).
• Ask the institute about the number of dictation hours included in the course. A good course contains a high number of hours of dictation and the dictation is authentic. Avoid the courses that contain dictations recorded by actors instead of doctors. The practice with dictations is what prepares you for your job.
• Find out if the course is followed by some kind of job assistance. A good institute will have industry connections to help your entry into it easy. Also, go through the placement figures of earlier batches to understand the effectiveness of an institute’s placement assistance.
• Talk to the alumni of the institute. Getting feedback on the course from people who have attended it earlier will give you a good insight into it. You can ask the institute for contact details of the alumni or you can find them on the Internet.