Advancing as a Medical Transcriptionist means keeping up with training and the times. Employers prefer to hire Medical Transcriptionists who have completed post-secondary training in medical transcription, which is offered by many vocational schools, community colleges and distance-learning programs.

Completion of a 2-year associate degree or 1-year certificate program — including course work in anatomy, medical terminology, legal issues relating to health care documentation, and English grammar and punctuation — is highly recommended, but not always required. Many of these programs include supervised on-the-job experience. Some Medical Transcriptionists, especially those already familiar with medical terminology from previous experience as a nurse or medical secretary, become proficient through refresher courses and training.

The American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT) awards the voluntary designation Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT) to those who earn a passing score on a certification exam. As in many other fields, certification is recognized as a sign of competence. Because medicine is constantly evolving, Medical Transcriptionists are encouraged to update their skills regularly. Every 3 years, CMTs must earn continuing education credits to be recertified.

In addition to understanding medical terminology, transcriptionists must have above average English grammar, spelling and punctuation skills, as well as proficiency with personal computers and word processing software. Normal hearing acuity and good listening skills also are necessary. Employers require applicants to take pre-employment tests and usually prefer individuals with experience.

With experience, Medical Transcriptionists can advance to supervisory positions, home-based work, editing, consulting, or teaching. With additional education or training, some become medical records and health information technicians, medical coders, or medical records and health information administrators.

Career advice comes in three tiers, or levels. If you want to become a medical transcriptionist then listen to these three levels of advice:

1. How do you compare? – Compared to other medical transcriptionists seeking the same opportunities, how do you stack up? Do you have similar educational credentials? How about certification? Skills and experience? Take a marketability analysis and see where you stand.
2. Don’t procrastinate – Now is the time to take control of your medical transcription career.
3. Get trained – Find a reputable medical transcription training company that is accredited and offers great technical and customer service.

After you’ve followed these three steps, post your resume on a job board for medical transcriptionists in a place where employers looking for your skills can find you.

What is the most obvious reason for choosing home-based medical transcription? The flexibility it promises to offer. But this flexibility has the potential to make us procrastinate and lose track of our careers. Yes, you can spoil your career if you do not handle the flexibility of working from home responsibly. Here’s a list of things you should do and not do if you want to earn credibility as a home-based medical transcriptionist.

• Make a work routine and stick to it. Inform everyone at home about your working hours and ask them not to disturb you.
• Try not to attend to domestic chores when you are working. Let the kitchen sink sulk with a heap of utensils in it. Don’t prioritize anything else over your work.
• Don’t prolong your breaks for a sneak peak into the latest issue of your favorite magazine. Prolonging breaks can disturb the flow of work.
• Put your phone on answering mode. You can check your messages when you take a logical break. Make sure your business phone is active though.
• Don’t turn on the television during your working hours. If you have your favorite show coming during your working hours, either record it to watch later or adjust your work hours so that you are done with your work when your show starts.
• Inform your family, friends, and neighbors about your work timings and tell them that you will be unavailable during that time.
• Don’t get online unless your work demands. When you are online, stay away from networking sites.

Get the idea? All the best for your home-based medical transcription career!

Being a good medical transcriptionist involves doing the following:

• Gauging your potential before committing to medical transcription
• Finding a good medical transcription course that lets you practice extensively
• Meeting deadlines and quality goals
• Ensuring security and confidentiality of medical data

Now, these are the most obvious ways you can ensure you have a good career in medical transcription. Here are a few simple ways to ensure that you outperform your peers always.

• Be organized. If you have organizational skills, you will be better placed than your peers. If you start work without any preparation and get up many times to gather your work tools, you will waste a lot of time. You will also end up spoiling your work flow. If you are organized, you will save on time and be more productive.
• Keep yourself motivated. Not everyone can motivate himself/herself. And in the medical transcription profession, thanks to the nature of the job, one cannot survive for long without motivation. If you can keep yourself motivated, you will do well as a transcriptionist.
• Be disciplined. Since the medical transcription profession expects you to work independently, without any supervision, you have to be extremely disciplined to finish your work properly.
• Be willing to learn. The willingness to learn is a prerequisite of becoming a medical transcriptionist, but more often than not aspirants don’t understand its significance. If your learning skills are good, you have an edge over your peers.

Sincerity is the key to a good medical transcription career. If you don’t think you can be committed for long, don’t become a medical transcriptionist.

We come across a lot of things about the medical transcription profession. Some are true, others absolutely misleading. Is too much information leaving you confused? Here are the answers to some of the questions you may have in your mind.

Will I get work if I become a medical transcriptionist?
The US Department of Labor projects that the number of opportunities in the medical transcription field will grow at a rate of 14 percent to 2016 from what it was in 2006. This rate is more than the average rate of growth of other occupations. The demand for medical transcriptionists will continue to be on the rise for as long as the world needs medical records.

Will I make enough money as a medical transcriptionist?
Your earnings as a medical transcriptionist depend completely on your experience in the field and your proficiency. 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.

Is the medical transcription training mandatory?
A medical transcriptionist needs to possess a sound medical knowledge to be able to do his/her job. Anyone with the right aptitude can become a medical transcriptionist provided he/she undergoes proper training in medical transcription.

Is the speech-recognition software a threat to the profession?
The speech recognition software beats the whole purpose of saving the valuable time of doctors. It requires doctors to spend a considerable amount of time in training and using it. Moreover, the results delivered by the software are not accurate, requiring human intervention to edit them. So, you understand, it is not a threat to the medical transcriptionist’s job.