The choice of the medical transcription course can make or break your career as a transcriptionist. What is it that makes a course good? Let’s find out.

• Conformation to COMPRO: If your chosen course conforms to COMPRO, it is a good one. COMPRO is the competency profile for medical transcription education (COMPRO) guidelines as laid down by the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI).
• Experienced and qualified instructors: If the instructors are not good, the course is no good. You should find out from the alumni the quality of instructors.
• Hands-on experience: If a course does not contain enough dictation hours for practice, it is of no use. The higher the number of hours of dictation, the more prepared you are for the real job. However, make sure that the dictations are authentic, recorded by doctors and not actors.
• Job assistance: The completion of the course should be followed up by some kind of job assistance. Inquire from the alumni the kind and quality of placements provided by the training institute.

You can look up on the Internet for reviews of the course. Don’t go for the first course you come across even if it seems to fit the bill. Make sure you compare different courses before zeroing in on one.

Many people rule out online courses. If the online course has all the attributes of a good medical transcription course, don’t rule it out. If you are disciplined enough to learn on your own and would like to learn at your pace and convenience, an online course is the ideal choice.