If you are a medical transcriptionist who takes pride in delivering quality work, you should definitely be proud of that. But is your quality compromising on the deadlines? Quality loses its meaning if your medical records are not delivered in time. High productivity and high quality need to go hand-in-hand in the medical transcriptionist’s life.

Discipline is the key to timely delivery of records. In today’s post, we bring to you three practical tips that will help you improve your productivity.

Start using shortcuts. The computer and the word processor offer several shortcuts for you to play with. You may not realize this but using shortcuts help make your work complete faster than when you are not using them. Remember, every minute is valuable when you are chasing the stringent deadline.

Make use of the abbreviation-expander. You will save a few seconds for each medical abbreviation, thus saving you a considerable amount of time at the end of day. Moreover, the application saves you from losing focus every time you come across an abbreviation. Without the expander, you would have to search for the expansion of acronyms, spoiling the flow of your work.

Customize the word processor. Microsoft Word has a feature called Autocorrect which corrects/expands an input automatically when it is typed with a slight change of spelling or when its short form is typed. This helps you type faster. If you don’t use MS Word, you may find a similar feature in your word processor and if you don’t, create some macros.

If you have any other such practical tip, do share it with us.

When your work is about stringent deadlines and high quality goals, you have got to be extremely productive. A home-based job, however, tends to make you a little complacent. You not only get a lot of comfort of flexibility but also find several reasons to distract you from work. Home-based medical transcription is difficult. How do you ensure high productivity in such a job? Here are a few tips:

• Work with a plan. Make sure the plan is feasible. It is important that you make room for breaks, meals etc in your work plan. Don’t attend to domestic chores unless you have finished all your work.
• Use the abbreviation-expander. The application not only helps you save time but also helps to remain focused on the task at hand.
• Make it a habit of using shortcuts when using the computer. Shortcuts help make your work complete faster. Remember, every minute is valuable when you are chasing the stringent deadline.
• Keep away from the television during your working hours. Don’t watch the TV even during your logical breaks as that can prolong your breaks.
• During your working hours, don’t access social networking sites and other sites not related to work. Instead, reward yourself with some time for surfing once you have finished your work for the day.
• Avoid taking random breaks during work. Take logical breaks on completion of a set of tasks. This will keep you motivated. Don’t prolong your breaks by engaging in activities that take a long time.

You can increase your productivity by planning ahead. Never start working without a plan.

There are several important requirements to being an effective medical transcriptionist and one of these is the ability to meet deadlines – every time. There are several things you can do to that will at least improve your chances of meeting those deadlines.

The first is preparation, followed by more preparation and finally, yes you guessed it – more preparation. What do I mean – read on:

1. Prepare your equipment
   The equipment you use as a medical transcriptionist should always be at the ready. If you use a laptop computer for example, make sure the battery is on full charge.  If you use headphones (and you should), make sure they are always clean and ready to use.
2. Prepare your work area
   Your work area is your office. Make sure it is clean and ready for work. Stray letters, notes, magazines are amongst many items that can catch the eye and interfere with your work. So too can children, a television or a non-stop ringing phone. Prepare your medical transcription work area like you were in an office – free of distractions.
3. Prepare your self
   Yes – you need to be prepared. Plenty of sleep, good food and the right exercise will see you physically prepared to do the task. Believe it or not, it will also prepare you mentally.

They may all sound easy to achieve, and they should be.  You would be surprised how many people miss one or two and suddenly find themselves distracted away from the task at hand – and missing critical deadlines.

Be prepared – set yourself a reasonable time to do the job then head down and do – distraction free.

Competition often helps increase our productivity. The absence of it, however, does not give us the big picture and we fail to see how our peers are doing. Working as a home-based medical transcriptionist makes us unaware of other people’s productivity. Now, how would you know how you are doing? It may sound bookish but you can keep on improving your performance by competing with yourself. Keep making an effort towards beating yourself in terms of your earlier turnarounds and you will keep growing.

Let me share with you some simple steps for increasing your productivity.

Learn to avoid distractions. Yeah, this is difficult. Distractions wouldn’t be called so if they didn’t distract. So what I essentially mean is, avoid making everything a distraction. Close your e-mail clients once you have started your work. Don’t access social networking sites while working, and keep the television off. Easier said than done, right? But if you want to deliver good work and rise in the medical transcription industry, you have to do all this. And I am not asking you to ban the Internet and the television from your life. Just don’t access them during your work hours.

Start saying ‘no’. You cannot keep heaping your plate with work in the hope that your income will increase. You need to draw the line, or else the quality of your work will suffer. You have to learn to say ‘no’ when you have your hands full.

Productivity is not just about delivering work on or before time but also about delivering quality work. Strive for excellence in your work and keep everything else on side during your working hours, and soon you’ll realize you have become your clients’ favorite medical transcriptionist.

Two of the things that a home-based medical transcriptionist misses out on are company and competition. And both of these help increase productivity. At home, with no competition in sight, a transcriptionist may procrastinate or become complacent. Meeting deadlines is not the only indicator of being productive. There may be other medical transcriptionists out there who meet their deadlines much faster. The transcriptionist has to take steps to ensure that he/she is highly productive.

I came across a very interesting post titled ‘10 Productivity Tips That Work Surprisingly Well’ in the Freelance Folder. The writer warns on taking too much work and talks about motivating yourself, avoiding distractions, and taking breaks among other things.

Productivity is not just about delivering work on or before time but also about delivering work that is of the highest quality. Keeping in mind quality standards and deadlines at the same time requires you to be focused. And being focused means forgetting the rest of the work and the world while you are at one task.

Having too much on the plate can make a home-based transcriptionist happy but it will definitely interfere with the quality of work. You have to learn to say ‘no’ when you have your hands full.

Let the completion of your tasks be followed by a reward. This will keep you motivated. Stick to a daily work routine so that once you have completed your work, you have the rest of the day at your disposal.

Always remember that being organized and disciplined are key to being productive.