What is medical transcription?
Medical transcription is the process of converting into written form the dictated reports, procedures and notes of physicians and other healthcare professionals to document patient care and facilitate healthcare services. These files represent the patient's treatment history, including assessment, workup, therapeutic procedures, clinical course, diagnosis, prognosis, etc.
What does a medical transcriptionist do?
Medical Transcriptionists (MTs) are specialists in medical language and healthcare documentation who transcribe patients' healthcare reports, including histories and physical examinations, discharge summaries, operative reports, etc. Using transcription equipment and a computer, they edit dictated material for grammar and clarity.
What are the qualities of a good medical transcriptionist?
Medical transcriptionists need to have an extensive knowledge of medical terminology to be able to produce documents that are accurate and complete. They need to have excellent English writing skills including grammar, structure, style and spelling. They should have in-depth knowledge of medical transcription practices, and skills in word processing, spelling, and proofreading. They should possess good hearing acuity and listening ability, with the patience of a saint. They should have strong research and analytical skills, and working knowledge of the internet is a plus.
Where do Medical Transcriptionists work?
Medical transcriptionists work primarily in medical centers, hospitals, doctor's offices, and clinics. They work for private transcription companies called Medical Transcription Service Organizations (MTSOs). Other institutions include insurance companies, healthcare companies and even government facilities.
Medical Transcriptionists can also work as independent contractors with their own doctor clients. They can work as subcontractors for Medical Transcription Service Organizations, opting for part-time and flexible work schedules without affiliating themselves with one company. Independents can work out of their homes, transmitting their work electronically.
Why is Medical Transcription an attractive career choice?
Medical transcriptionists nationwide are more in demand than ever before - especially those who are well-qualified, professional and conscientious. Aside from the growing demand and limited supply, here are other reasons why this is a lucrative career:
Medical transcription is flexible. You can choose to work in a doctor's office, join a Medical Transcription Service Organization (MTSO) or opt to work out of your own home as an entrepreneur. Even if you're based at home, you can have your own client base of doctors or do subcontractual work for a Medical Transcription Service Organization. The power of the internet and a variety of other technological advances enable you to work from virtually anywhere!
Medical transcription is also time-flexible. If you choose to work on your own, your working hours are up to you!
The country will never run out of dictation to be transcribed anywhere in the near future. Voice recognition systems are seen as a threat to the Medical Transcriptionist's vocation, but realistically it will take years before they can take over - if at all! Even if they do develop technology sophisticated enough to do the transcribing, Medical Transcriptionists will still be needed as editors and recordkeepers.
What is the future of the medical transcription industry? How will speech recognition technology affect it?
The American Association for Medical Transcription provides the following information:
"In spite of the advances in this technology, it has been difficult for the software to grasp and analyze the human voice and the English language with all its diversity. There will continue to be a need for skilled medical language specialists who expand their education and have the knowledge to identify and appropriately edit the inevitable errors created by speech recognition systems and who have enough understanding of the health record to create a final document. Medical transcriptionists continue to be the best qualified to discern the nuances of human speech - indeed, the ultimate speech processors."
In short, the demand for Medical Transcriptionists will continue into the foreseeable future. There are things that humans can do which machines cannot. Only human beings can exercise their judgment in separating actual dictation from the mumbo-jumbo. Only human beings can adjust to changes in accent (particularly for ESL doctors), pronunciation and syntax. As new medical procedures develop and new terminologies are introduced, human beings can make the adjustments much faster than machines can.
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