Medical Transcription Trends

A home-based medical transcriptionist ought to be disciplined. If he/she is not, working from home is not something he/she can handle. Yes, working from home has its benefits but the comfort, distractions, and other responsibilities at home make it difficult. In today’s post, we bring to you tips to help you discipline yourself.

• Make sure you work only in your ‘home-office’. This will keep you focused on your work, ensuring you meet your deadlines, thereby helping you prevent any unnecessary stress.
• Don’t work at just any time.  Fix up your work hours and stick to them religiously. This will ensure maximum productivity, helping you avoid stress.
• Plan your work well ahead in time. Planning your weeks, days, and hours in terms of work will keep you prepared. This will avoid any unnecessary tension just before deadlines.
• Take logical breaks during work. Yes, you have got to take your head off work. This will not only help you avoid wastage of time in random breaks but also make you feel fresh. Breaks are essential if you do not want work to get to you.
• Make your workspace comfortable. Get yourself a comfortable seat and ergonomical keyboard and mouse. These things will keep you fit. Uncomfortable posture causes pain which may trigger stress.
• Enjoy time beyond work. Plan a vacation every few months. Vacations will rejuvenate you, making you relaxed at work.
• Spend time with family and friends. You would wonder how this will discipline you. Well, making it a point to spend time with them will help you finish work on time and keep you motivated.

So, you are all set to become a home-based medical transcriptionist? I hope you have looked into all the pros and cons of your choice. Here are a few questions to help you understand if you are ready.

• Will I be able to find a noise-free, secluded space for my office at home?
• Can I get a phone dedicated to my home-based work?
• Do I have all the important items to set up an office at home?
• Can I provide for compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)?
• Will I be able to fix hours and timing for my work at home?
• Will I able to stick to a work routine?
• Will I be able to prioritize work over domestic responsibilities?
• Can I avoid various distractions while working at home?
• Will I be able to get my children taken care of while I work?
• Will I be able to work in an isolated environment without co-workers?
• Will I be able to work completely on my own, without any supervision?
• Will I be able to keep my focus when I have to work for long hours?
• Can I keep myself motivated?
• Will I be able to meet every deadline?
• Will I able to pay attention to my health while working from home?

If the answer to each of these questions is in the affirmative, you are ready. If your answer to a few questions has been a ‘no’, you are not completely ready.

We wish you all the luck as a medical transcriptionist.

You have been told that home-based medical transcription is great in terms of money, comfort and flexibility. Well, that’s right. But are you aware of the problems of home-based medical transcription? How can home-based work be bad? Yeah, there seems to be no scope for that, right? Wrong.

Home brings along a lot of problems that you don’t have to face at an office. Take, for example, the increased pressure of balancing work and life. Both your personal and professional life are at one place now. Striking a balance is really not that easy.

Home has just too many distractions lined up. Anything can distract when you are working from home. You may have to answer the phone or the door. An untidy kitchen or room may call out to you. The re-run  of your favorite program may be too tempting to resist. Or you may just want to finish that book you are reading. Just about anything can take your mind off your work. You have got to shut your mind off other things when you are working.

Initially, the thought of working without co-workers may be exciting, but the excitement may not last long. The isolation does not work for everyone. You may soon start missing the energy, the competition and the camaraderie that co-workers have to offer. Also, some people may not be able to motivate themselves without peers around.

The home-based medical transcriptionist has to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). It is not something everyone can handle.

Make sure you understand what the profession expects of a home-based medical transcriptionist. You can handle the work only if you are disciplined enough.

As a Medical Transcriptionist, particularly if you work from home and connect only through your computer, you should network just as in other career. Below is a list of organizations, their sites and information about each one.

• HIMSS, The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, http://www.himss.org, 230 East Ohio, Suite 500, Chicago, IL 60611-3269. This site offers virtual conferences, news and integral information for the Medical Transcriptionist who wants to keep informed on a deep level. According to the site: “HIMSS has set a goal to drive patient safety and quality of care so that by the year 2014, 75 percent of all healthcare information systems are deeply instilled with optimized safety and quality improvement tools.”
• AHDI, The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (formerly AAMT), http://www.ahdionline.org was founded in 1978. 4230 Kiernan Ave. Suite 130, Modesto, CA 95356. Professional members receive the bimonthly Health Data Matrix (formerly the Journal of the Association for American Medical Transcription) and Plexus, access to AHDI’s professional staff, discounts on products and services, educational conferences, information on local and state component associations, an examination to become either a Registered Medical Transcriptionist (RMT) or a Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT) and opportunities to serve at the local and national level and so much more.
• MTIA, Medical Transcription Industry Association, for MT Services: http://www.mtia.com. The MTIA office administration is handled by the AHDI professional staff at 4230 Kiernan Ave. Suite 130, Modesto, CA 95356.   MTIA is a non-profit organization that began as a forum sponsored by the Health Professions Institute in 1989 and can help MTs by providing a place to discuss business issues, technology and concerns unique to the medical transcription field.

MT Recruiters – Medical Transcriptionist Recruiters: http://www.mtrecruiters.com. A job recruitment website for medical transcriptionists. If you are looking for a job in the medical transcription field then you should spend some time here and submit your resume.

So, you want to establish a home-based medical transcription business? Are you sure you are ready for it? Yes, you must have looked into the benefits of this home-based work, but have you looked into its challenges too? It is important to understand the pros and cons of this decision before you commit to home-based medical transcription. Here are a few questions to help you figure if you are ready.

• Can you meet deadlines on a daily basis? While most tasks have a turnaround of 24 hours, some need to be delivered within as less as four hours. Can you commit to a profession where deadlines are so stringent?
• Are you willing to study everyday? The profession requires you to keep updating his/her knowledge on a regular basis.
• Can you work on your own? The medical transcription profession is one of the few that requires you to work without any supervision. This means that you have to handle crisis situations on your own.
• Can you remain focused for long hours? If you choose to work from home, you have to deal with several distractions. The work too tends to get a little boring over a period of time. If you lose focus even once, you can commit a critical error, impacting the safety of a patient somewhere.
• Can you motivate yourself? The medical transcription work tends to get boring and monotonous over a period of time, making you lose interest in the job. You should be able to keep yourself motivated in order to do well in the profession.

If you have answered all these questions in the affirmative, you are good to go.

Choosing to work as a medical transcriptionist from home adds a bundle of more responsibilities on you. You have got to be ready with all medical transcription aids, among other things. Let’s look at what all you need.

• Antivirus and firewall: You need to invest in a good antivirus and a firewall. And you have got to keep updating your antivirus and firewall. You are putting your data at a risk if you aren’t updating these regularly.
• Medical transcription style guide: The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) has come with a style guide lists the dos and don’ts of medical documentation. This will make sure that your documents are correct and meet the highest standards.
• Medical dictionary: This comes to your rescue when you are unsure about some medical terms. This will guide you through your everyday work.
• Medical spell-checker: While the default spell-checker of a word processor checks for errors in English words, a medical spell-checker checks for errors in medical terms. This ensures that you don’t make errors in terms of information in your medical records.
• Medical abbreviation expander: The medical abbreviation expander expands abbreviations of medical terms, thereby helping you save time and become more productive.
• Voice recognition software: Yes, this too is an aid. The voice recognition software may not have done so well to replace the medical transcriptionist but it can definitely make the transcriptionist’s work easier. You only need to edit and make corrections to the text transcribed by the software.

Make sure you have all these at your disposal when you work from home.

When you choose home-based medical transcription, you have comfort and flexibility in mind. But do you know there are responsibilities exclusively for the home-based medical transcriptionist? The transcriptionist working from home has to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), among other things. Now, HIPAA-compliance is not easy when you have to take care of everything, but you have got it to do it anyhow if you want credibility in your work. Here are simple ways to comply with HIPAA.

• Your computer should have anti-virus and firewall. And you have got to update them regularly. Failing to do so will put your computer at risk. This may lead to a situation where your data is corrupted or compromised.
• Install the service packs of your operating system as and when they are released. This will help you avoid unnecessary problems.
• Make a habit of encrypting all e-mails that contain work-related information. This will help you keep the information confidential.
• Get a secure FTP connection to transfer medical transcription files. Most of your interactions will be through the Net, and you would not want a non-secure connection to transfer your work files.
• Don’t use your work computer for anything else other than medical transcription work. And make sure it is not used by anyone else. This computer should be completely dedicated to your work.
• If you have hard copies of medical documents, keep them under lock and key. If the papers are no longer needed, shred them.

All the best for your home-based career!

In spite of the benefits of home-based medical transcription, not everyone can handle it. One has got to make an effort to work as a medical transcriptionist from home. Are you ready?

Have you set up that office space? Your home-office is the backbone of your home-based work. You have got to find a noise-free, comfortable, and secluded space for it.

Do you have a business phone? You will need a phone that is dedicated to your home-based business. This is because you cannot afford to have your clients waiting while a family member is on the phone.

Are you all set to comply with HIPAA? Yeah, you have to take measures to be compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) or you cannot get work in the field.

Do you have a work routine in mind? You have to fix up a routine and the number of hours you want to put into your work daily. And you have to stick to the plan, no matter what.

Have you made sure that your children will be taken care of while you work? You have to get your children taken care of while you are at work. Make sure you have made an arrangement before you start work.

Can you prioritize work over domestic and social responsibilities? You cannot let your domestic responsibilities or social life interfere with your work. Make a plan that has room for other things as well.

Irrespective of a disciplined work life at home, you have got to make sure that work does not take over your life.

Any kind of work, irrespective of the environment you work in, has the potential to become dull and monotonous after some time. When you choose to work as a medical transcriptionist from home, you are likely to find the isolation and comfort getting to you. You have got to keep doing things to keep your mind interested in work. Here’s what you can do.

Get in the habit of rewarding yourself on completion of a task. Your reward can be anything from checking your e-mails, visiting a social networking site, making yourself a sundae, watching your favorite program on TV or calling up a friend or your spouse. These rewards will be something to look forward to and will keep you motivated.

Take breaks often. Sitting in one position for long may cause pain in your neck and back. Get up every twenty minutes or so to break away from the sitting posture. Take a five-minute break every hour to have a glass of water or to walk around the house.

Plan vacations. Being at home all the time can be killing. Plan a small trip every couple of months and a big vacation once or twice a year.

Make sure you get to talk to your family and friends everyday, even if it is over the phone. Talking to near and dear ones will help you relax and beat the work stress.

Give time to yourself. Keep some time to do what you like to. Books, movies, games – do just about anything that helps you relax.

Anyone seeking work, and even most people who work in offices 9-5, have a desire to work from home. It seems very romantic and simple. Get up whenever you want, work in your pajamas, drink coffee all day, take a break whenever you want, etc.  But, working from home is not always the most ideal work situation.

Is it right for you? Or would a 9-5 setting be more appropriate for your personality? And how do you know?

The first thing you need to do is evaluate yourself. I know that sounds strange, but you have to think hard and know what you want. Ask yourself a few questions, and answer honestly:

• Look around your house. Are there a lot of distractions?
• Do you prefer to be alone as opposed to an office setting?
• Do you have children or pets that might make working from home difficult?
• Do you have the self motivation to get yourself to “work” each day?

Working from home can be difficult for someone who is accustomed to having a boss guide them through their every move each day. It’s easy to answer the questions about whether or not you have too many distractions to work from home.  You know what distracts you and what does not. However, self motivation may be a difficult  question to answer honestly, even to yourself.

You might look at the two scenarios and absolutely dread the idea of getting up to an alarm at the same time every morning, finding what to wear that won’t get you fired, getting the kids ready, then having to get yourself ready. Then there’s rush hour traffic, gridlock and dealing with spicy co-workers. If this is the case and your distractions at home are minimal then try getting a certificate from an MT course that can help you learn how to manage your business from home. Otherwise, you might want to think about finding a doctor’s office to work out of.

Whichever way is best for you, be sure you know before you start out.