When it comes to medical transcription services, you’ve got to stay competitive and to do that you’ve got to practice your skills. Medical transcriptionists who demonstrate a proficiency in the core skills of the profession will excel and succeed above and beyond the rest of the job pool. Here are 5 skills you’ll need to master to be a high-demand medical transcriptionist:

1. Dictation – In the old days, dictation was taken in person with the dictator sitting behind a desk talking and the transcriber holding a pen and paper. These days it can be done without ever meeting each other. The dictator speaks into an audio recording device and the transcriber, once the audio file has been delivered, types directly from listening to the audio.
2. Grammar – Since much of your time as a medical transcriptionist will be spent correcting spelling and grammar, you’ve got to be proficient in the English language.
3. Research – You’ll frequently need to verify information for clarity. Good research skills will be very helpful.
4. Time Management – Since you’ll spend every day of your working life working toward deadlines, you’ll need to be an expert in time management.
5. Organization – A professional medical transcriptionist must have excellent organizational skills. Your employers will appreciate your ability to keep them organized and improve their medical documentation.

In addition to these 5 essential skills, you should have strong analytical skills.

If you think you have what it takes to be a medical transcriptionist, seek out the proper professional MT training and begin your medical transcription job search.

Is there an ideal relationship among doctors/dictators and medical transcriptionists? Well, there are some definite ways to keep the lines of communication open and to foster a better relationship with the doctors and medical professionals you’ll be working with. Here are some tips to help you make the most of your medical transcription job.

• Honesty – Always be honest. If you can’t meet a certain deadline, tell them. You may not get this job but you’ll gain the respect of the doctors and their staffs and they will eventually send work your way.
• Efficiency – Always meet your deadlines.
• Competency – Always meet the standards of the industry and go above them.
• Courtesy – You will inevitably need to call a dictator to clarify information. Before you take a job, find out the best way to contact your dictator and when they are most available. By setting this up in advance you increase the expectation of good communication.
• Professionalism – Always be professional, no matter how close and personal you become with your clients. You are still working for them.

If you do your best work on every task then you’ll build a solid reputation as a medical transcriptionist who cares and who can get the job done. Don’t squander your opportunities. Create them.

Medical transcription is a profession everybody has an opinion on. This leads to contradicting views. A medical transcription aspirant may find herself lost with so much information around, and some of the information is nothing but misinformation. In today’s post, we will respond to and address a few questions and concerns respectively.

I have a good typing speed. Can I become a medical transcriptionist?
You can become a medical transcriptionist if you have the right aptitude. An above-average typing speed will suffice. Moreover, your typing speed alone cannot make you a good medical transcriptionist. Typing is definitely not one of the primary skills of a medical transcriptionist. However, the transcriptionist’s job is to decipher the voice recordings and turn them into relevant medical records. This requires sound medical knowledge and the skill to analyze and interpret information.

Do I need to undergo the medical transcription training?
Anyone with the right aptitude can become a medical transcriptionist provided he/she undergoes proper training in medical transcription. The training equips one with medical knowledge and transcription skills.

How much money can I make as a medical transcriptionist?
According to the US Department of Labor, the mean hourly wage of a medical transcriptionist is $15.84 and the mean annual wage is $32,960. Your income depends on your proficiency and experience in the field.

What is the future of the medical transcription industry?
The medical transcription industry is one of the rarest to have emerged unscathed from the recent recession. The US Department of Labor projects that the number of medical transcription opportunities 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. With the increasing and aging population, the industry is likely to see a tremendous growth in opportunities.

Hope this post helps address your concerns. Write in to you if you have more questions about medical transcription.

Weren’t you told that medical transcription has no prerequisites? Then how can there be any eligibility conditions? Well, there are no eligibility conditions levied by the profession, but if you want to make the profession your career, you should know if you fit the bill. We have come up with a list of skills you should possess in order to make it as a medical transcriptionist.

• Proficiency in handling a word processor: You have to be extremely comfortable working with a word processor.
• Above-average command over the English language: A transcriptionist should be able to put sense into a medical record. If your English grammar is poor, you may end up changing the meaning of some information.
• Above-average typing-speed: This is not critical but important in order to maintain high level of productivity.
• Ability to work independently: A medical transcriptionist should be able to work on his/her own, without supervision. This requires extreme maturity and discipline.
• Willingness to learn: As a medical transcriptionist, you have to keep updating your medical knowledge almost on a daily basis.
• Willingness to research independently: You have to refer to external materials and research in case of a difficult medical record.
• Analytical skills: In the medical transcription profession, you are required to analyze information logically to render meaning to medical records.

These skills form the aptitude the profession expects of you. If you don’t have the aptitude for the profession, you will start cribbing about work soon. Make sure you are absolutely ready for the work before you commit to it.

Medical transcription training will prepare you for the job ahead. Does that mean anyone can become a medical transcriptionist after the training? No. An aspiring medical transcriptionist needs a certain aptitude. Let’s have a look at what this aptitude consists of.

• Above-average command over the English language: A good medical transcriptionist should be able to put sense into a medical record. If your English grammar is poor, you may end up changing the meaning of some information.
• Proficiency in handling a word processor: You have to be extremely comfortable working with a word processor.
• Above-average typing speed: This is not critical but important in order to maintain high level of productivity.
• Ability to work independently: A medical transcriptionist should be able to work on his/her own, without supervision. This requires extreme maturity and discipline.
• Willingness to learn: As a medical transcriptionist, you have to keep updating your medical knowledge almost on a daily basis.
• Willingness to research independently: You have to refer to external materials and research in case of a difficult medical record.
• Analytical skills: In the medical transcription profession, you are required to analyze information logically to render meaning to medical records.

It is important to find out if you have the aptitude for medical transcription even if the profession does not specifically ask you for it. Once you have made sure you are fit for the profession, look at the challenges you will face in it. Only after you have looked at every aspect of the profession should you start looking for the medical transcription course.

If you are in the marketplace looking to secure medical transcription jobs then one of the weapons in your arsenal has to be a high quality resume. Creating a resume is not as easy as is sounds – in fact, I have seen many resumes that look good but, in reality, say very little about the applicant.

Ultimately, there is one simple message that your resume has to deliver – why someone should hire you instead of someone else. I see many resumes where the writer has gone to great lengths to tell what sort of qualifications or training they have, yet they forget to tell me what they can actually do.

I will give you an extreme example. Would you rather be operated on by a doctor who can tell you what is going to be done or by one who can demonstrate the skills to do the job? I know where my preference lies, and for many employers, that is what they want to see in your resume.

To say you have completed a touch typing course tells me nothing. Tell me you can type at 80 wpm with 99% accuracy – that is a different story. Telling me you have completed two years of medical college means nothing. Tell me you successfully completed anatomy and pharmacology and that you have an understanding of medial terms, and you are winning me over.

If I had vacant medical transcription jobs, I would be looking for someone whom I thought could get the job done competently. Your resume is that first introduction and it needs to win my attention out of all the other resumes I read.

To win those medical transcription jobs, craft your resume so that I know what you can actually do, not what you have been trained for. I know a lot of people who have trained in a particular field with high distinction – yet they are barely competent at doing the job. How do I know that’s not you if you don’t tell me?