Write This Down: Medical Transcription

By Joe Pringle
Joe.pringle@medicalhealthcarecareerschools.com
Medical Health Care Career Schools Columnist

Laptop computer? Check. Digital or analog voice recorder? Check. Desire to make good money? Check. The freedom to be your own boss? Check. Working as a medical transcriptionist can provide all of these and more.

The Art and Science of Medical Transcription

Medical transcriptionists take what physicians, MDs, and various other healthcare professionals say, record it, and then put it into writing as a report, record, or maybe even a piece of correspondence. Medical transcriptionists must be able to effectively take what a doctor says and (if necessary) correctly paraphrase it into a professional looking document. Medical transcription jobs may also require the transcriptionist to correctly use various medical terms (which can done with the use of medical term reference tools) in their correct contexts. Medical transcription jobs require a fully alert and sharp mind.

Medical Transcription Schools

Clearly, most of us don't already know how to write perfect, professional medical documents. This is where getting medical transcription training from one of the many medical transcription schools across the nation comes in. Courses can be one-year certification courses, or two-year courses resulting in an associate's degree in medical transcription. Employers greatly prefer hiring medical transcriptionists with training in the field.

Medical Transcription Jobs

Medical transcription jobs abound in the U.S. The field is growing, and is expected to continue to do so at least through 2014. Most medical transcriptionists work a 40-hour week in a comfortable environment such as a doctor's office or hospital. Many medical transcriptionists are self-employed, taking doctors' dictation over the phone, working as independent contractors for a variety of doctors, hospitals, and clinics, from the comfort of their own home. Sounds like a career you'd like? Lots of medical transcription training is offered online. You may be only a click away from a new career as a medical transcriptionist.

Sources:

US Bureau of Labor Statistics

About the Author

Joe Pringle is a full-time student at Seattle Pacific University, where he is studying psychology. He has worked as a costing consultant for Luciano Engineering in Reno, Nevada and Graeagle, California, and he works summers at a bookstore in Reno, Nevada. He has written 10+ short stories and co-written scripts for seven made-for-radio comedic dramas.

Posted on: January 19, 2006