Medical Transcription Trends

As a medical transcriptionist, you’re going to acquire a huge library of books. In this field, there are books for everything and learning never ends. As a matter of fact, you don’t want to stop trying to learn and acquiring new reading materials, or else you will grow stale and your business old. Like computer technology, so grows the Medical Transcription business. From Dictionaries to How-To Manuals, you will never be able to find enough reference material to learn from. Even “bad” books can be helpful.

The following is a list of Medical Transcription books and manuals you will want to have in your library. Some are vital to your career and others are just handy to have on hand.

• Stedman’s Electronic Medical Dictionary, v7.0 for Windows. Stedman’s actually has quite a lot of books and software to guide and aid you in your career.
• Stedman’s Neurology & Neurosurgery Words, 4th Edition, The Fourth Edition of Stedman’s Neurology & Neurosurgery Words contains a fully cross-referenced, A-Z listing with more than 3,000 NEW terms, including accurate and current terminology related to procedures, techniques, abbreviations, drugs, and tests, as well as jargon and variants [source]
• The AAMT Book of Style for Medical Transcription.
• Medical Transcriptionist’s Desk Reference. Desk reference books are invaluable resources.
• The Surgical Word Book by Claudia Tessler
• Medical Abbreviations & Acronyms Quick Reference Guide (Quick Study Academic) [Pamphlet]. These pamphlets (there are many of them for the MT) are perfect to keep around your work area. Author: Corinne B. Linton.
• Medical transcription & Terminology: an integrated approach.

Of course, you’ll want to keep your medical transcription course textbook and CD-ROM. And there are many, many more. Keep looking regularly for new books or even old books you missed. Unlimited resources are out there and the more you read, the more you learn.

You want to work from home as a Medical Transcriptionist, but you are not sure where to begin. That’s okay, because today, the MT field is so vast, resources are almost limitless. The first thing you need to do is find a place to get your MT education. Employers will almost exclusively hire transcriptionists who have completed some kind of formal training in the area, or who have experience.

Courses typically take several months to two years to complete, depending on the school chosen You could go to a University, Community College, Vocational School or Home Study). Many vocational schools include the cost of books and course materials in their tuition, which may be helpful after you have landed a job. If you already work in a medical field, and simply want to switch to working from home, you may only need to learn transcription, as you may already have the vocabulary you need, but think carefully, as a refresher course may not be an entirely bad thing either.

You can also take transcription courses at home. This option is more flexible but may be more challenging in other ways. Your selection of a course of study should depend on how you will best learn what you need to know.  You will need an assortment of reference books. Some you may receive with your training, but you may find you need others. You must also be capable of working on your own. On the other hand, if you want to work at home, that’s a skill you need.

Your home study course should offer you information on finding jobs when you have completed the course. You can also do research for yourself. The internet is your friend. Look up jobs on sites such as Girls Get Paid (if you’re a guy, there are plenty of sites for you too), where new Medical Transcription jobs for various skill levels are available and updated regularly.

You’ve recently completed your course and you’re stressing over the start of your new Medical Transcription career. What is most important and what isn’t? As with most businesses, in the beginning there will be areas where stress is placed on specific tasks more than on others. In Medical Transcription, these areas include such skills as typing, spelling, grammar, listening skills and many others. Though these are all equally important and necessary, some will not come to you as quickly as others.

Typing, for instance, might take time for you to command. However, in the beginning, typing fast is not always a big concern. Pay more attention to your spelling, grammar and punctuation. You will want to get the words correct. Having a good ear to pick up everything you hear is also extremely important. Some clients want all the ums, uhs, and false starts typed out. Others want you to clean up the file, taking out all the filler words.  Other verbatim files will want you to type every sigh, car horn, telephone ring, etc. that you hear.  You are literally typing everything into your transcript.

Any company or client that you work for will give you general guidelines. They will let you know how to set up the document, any special instructions, as in how to handle numbers and such, and sometimes, if you’re lucky, they will even give you information about the file – such as names – so you don’t have to spend all your time looking them up. Research is a big thing with transcription, too. If you don’t know how to spell a street name, city name, etc., you are expected to look it up to find the proper spelling. If the file is of a scientific nature, you need to look up every term to make sure it is spelled correctly.

A great place for beginners to start is Mturk.  You’ll be getting peanuts for your work, but it’s a great way to get an idea of what transcription is and if you have what it takes, as you are graded for your work. Search on Mturk for Castingwords and SpeechInk, as they both have tons of files available to type. Most of their files are under five minutes, so it shouldn’t take too long to do, and you’ll also get an idea of what you need to work on.

There are other companies out there that accept beginners with little to no experience. The best thing to do is Google for transcription companies, check out their job/career section and see if you are qualified to work with them. If so, send them your resume or fill out an application, whatever that company asks you to do.

Physicians and most medical facilities require medical transcription services to produce typed documents and reports dictated by medical professionals regarding patients in their care. These records produced by the professional medical transcription service are used by doctors to review patient records or to submit to insurance companies to show services provided to patients and facilitate payment. Most insurance companies will not compensate the medical professional unless they submit a complete report to show the services they provided to the patient.

Today, most medical transcription services are run by people working from home. Basic duties for home-based MT’s include:

• Listen to dictated messages by physicians and medical workers and transcribe properly.
• Use a computer to prepare and type patient reports.
• Use a computer to prepare patient records for evaluation by doctors.
• Prepare specialized documents to submit to insurance companies for review.
• Prepare specialized documents to process insurance claims.

Basic office skills are essential. Here is a list of the minimum skills to enter into this field.

• Computer skills
• Word processing skills
• Know general medical terminology
• Familiar with specialized medical terminology
• Courses in medical transcription procedures
• Advanced training in vocational or community college
• Understand basic physiology and anatomy
• Know how to transcribe dictated patient reports

Medical Transcription Equipment Includes:

• Complete computer setup
• Word processing software
• Medical spelling software
• Medical dictionaries
• Medical transcriber unit

Startup cost is lower than many other home-based professions in this industry. Of course, this varies widely and depends on the equipment already owned. Plus the advertising methods used to attract clients.

Income potential varies according to the region and local competition. Income also varies according to the business owner’s experience. And one must factor in their billing method. Many medical transcription services charge per hour while others charge per line transcribed. This has a great impact on potential income. For example, a fast typist will certainly make more money per hour if they charge per transcribed line than one who types at a slower pace and also charges per transcribed line. Keep this in mind when seeking clients.

So, you want to be a Medical Transcriptionist (or as often referred to today, an MT). To be an MT, you will need more than just a training course (though of course that is very helpful). Below are ten of the most common skills required of a medical transcriptionist.

1. Excellent, grammar, spelling and punctuation! Too many people today graduate high school with barely the basic knowledge of spelling, have poor grammar and bad punctuation skills. But, as an MT, these are areas where you want to excel. A dictionary is a must; however, if you have to stop frequently to look up words then you won’t make much money since chances are you will only be getting paid for the amount you type.
2. You have to be able to sit still and concentrate for long periods of time. A medical transcriptionist must sit in front of a computer for long periods of time. Good focus is imperative, as making mistakes on a patient’s medical report could very well endanger the patient’s life.
3. Pay close attention to detail. It is not only the job of a medical transcriptionist to type reports, but you must also pay very close attention to what the doctor is saying. In the event the doctor makes a mistake in a medication dosage or says “right arm” instead of “left arm” or mistakenly says the patient does have cancer instead of saying she does not have cancer, you need to catch that and transcribe it correctly.
4. Understanding accents and speech. With today’s internet technology, chances are a medical transcriptionist will be typing for doctors in different regions and with different accents. The more familiar you are with a range of accents, the more employable you will be as a medical transcriptionist.
5. Good typing skills. Typos are not acceptable for a medical transcriptionist. You must be able to accurately type at a fast speed because a slow medical transcriptionist will be a hungry medical transcriptionist.
6. Understand new technology quickly. There are many different software options in the MT field, and it seems that each hospital uses a different one, so you must be familiar with a number of them.
7. Good memorization skills. A good memory is a must for a medical transcriptionist. You simply cannot stop every few minutes to look something up, yet it must be accurate; therefore, you must depend on your good memory.
8. Work unsupervised, keep up motivation. If you work from home, you absolutely cannot let distractions such as kids, pets, doorbell or phone get in your way. You must stay motivated.

The faster you can type, the more Medical Transcription work you can get done. For an at-home business like medical transcription, typing well and accurately could mean the difference between an average business and ever-increasing profits. Have you lived with the “hunt and peck” method most of your life? Or perhaps you want to increase your speed and accuracy.  For those of you who have grown frustrated with how long it takes you to type a document, now is the time to learn the proper technique. It will be a challenge. Your brain and your hands have grown accustomed to typing the wrong way. The one problem with learning a bad habit is that you have to unlearn it.

To improve your typing speed, invest in typing tutor software. These programs teach keyboard and number pad memorization. Learning proper finger placement on the “home row” is essential to typing success. With the proper foundation your typing speed will increase.

Two good programs on the market are MacMillan Typing Tutor 9 for the PC and Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing 17 for PC and MAC.  The latter program takes you through the basic principles of typing, using fun games and timed tests at every level to increase speed and accuracy. Once a particular level is mastered, the program allows you to move on to the next.

For those who need a refresher course to increase typing speed, online services are available to assist you. The key to your success is practice, practice, and more practice. Typing speed tests to increase your speed are available free on the Web. You are given a sample paragraph to type. Once you are done and hit “submit”, the speed and accuracy of your work are translated into WPM (words per minute). You can practice with as many paragraph samples as you want.

Good quality transcriptions require good input from the Medical Transcriptionist as well as good outcomes through the management of various aspects.  It is essential to get the better quality in order to get the best results as per the client’s needs.

Once you get the record you are to work on, check the quality of all the files needed to be transcribed. If you identify a file that has been corrupted, you need to inform your clients to replace the file, if possible. If you are working online with the client, your voice transfer quality must be good and understandable. Be sure to check all your instruments properly. You also need to make separate data sheets for the records.

In medical transcription, the office environment should be kept temperate and quiet as a main priority. If your office environment is comfortable then your performance may increase in quality and speed. It is essential to keep up according to your clients’ and the HIPPA compliance guidelines.

Listen carefully to the voice on the recorder and try to get the best transcription possible. However, do not type the wrong word as this can get you into trouble. Understanding the pronunciation of the physician is very important, and often working with the same clients repeatedly will offer you experience in this area. If you are not able to identify certain medical terms, try using a medical dictionary or search medical words online. Call whomever did the dictation if you have to and, as a last resort, leave the item blank and flag the document. Don’t ever guess.

With some careful consideration, getting good quality transcripts is not all that difficult and can get you more money in the long run.

Everything today has gone digital, and Medical Transcription is no different. This fact has changed the scenario and the work environment quite a lot through the years. At one time, Medical Transcriptionists (MT) had to take trips every week to the client offices for audio tape pickups and delivery of work.

TASP stands for Transcription Application Service Providers. Today there are many web based application service provider platforms that cater to different types of large, medium, small and also individual home based MTSOs (Medical Transcription Service Organizations).

The TASP type of files routing system is very efficient. It manages the entire process or life cycle of the document, right from the time of dictation at the hospital / physician’s location to sending it for transcription/editing to the MT and back to the medical professional. This type of system does save a lot of time and money when compared to the earlier transcription methods. There are dial-in systems that take dictations. Playback happens when the residing codec (analog to digital converter) creates a digital sound file that the medical transcriptionist can play back and transcribe.

It has been known that there are visually impaired transcriptionists who can quite effectively use TASP software during medical transcription. There are many companies that have come out with TASP software that are available online.

Online transmission of files in a TASP is always done by encryption of all files using 128 bit encryption, making it totally safe and secure. One of the biggest advantages of TASP is the fact that clients do not have to invest in any kind of infrastructure at all because all that is required is an online connection and a computer for operation.

Each year, approximately 600 million clinical documents are dictated in the United States, and 60 percent of those are transcribed. When you see your doctor, or another medical professional, they document your visit by dictating notes that will be transcribed by a medical transcriptionist. Following are some of the reports common in the field of Medical Transcription.

• The Basic Four. At hospitals, the attending physician is responsible for dictating a history and physical. This report describes why you came to the facility and provides a brief personal, family and social history. It gives a detailed report of the findings on physical examination. If an evaluation by a specialist is necessary, the consulting specialist is responsible for dictating a consultation report, which describes his findings. If an operation is done, the surgeon is responsible for dictating an operative report, which describes in detail what is done during surgery. The attending physician must do a discharge summary when a patient is discharged from the hospital. This report summarizes the entire patient visit, all the findings and the plan for treatment after discharge. These four reports are known as the “basic four.”
• Hospital Reports.  Other reports that may be transcribed in a hospital are radiology reports, pathology reports and laboratory reports. Radiology reports will include basic radiographs, CT scans, PET scans, MRI scans and ultrasound reports.
• Office Reports. These are reports created in a physician’s office, though some private practices still use handwritten notes. Larger physician practices utilize medical transcriptionists, and the notes routinely transcribed include initial evaluations, letters to referring physicians, patient introduction letters to specialists and chart notes for each visit. If a physician orders tests, a note will be made, but the report transcribed by the health-care facility performing the test will be included in the patient’s office record.

Obtaining a certificate from a medical transcription training program does not entitle a Medical Transcriptionist to use the title of Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT). The CMT credential is earned by passing a certification examination conducted solely by the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI), formerly the American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT), as the credentialing designation they created. AHDI also offers the credential of Registered Medical Transcriptionist (RMT). According to AHDI, the RMT is an entry-level credential while the CMT is an advanced level. AHDI maintains a list of approved medical transcription schools.

AHDI offers a voluntary credentialing exam to individuals who wish to become Registered Medical Transcriptionists (RMTs). The RMT exam was developed to assure consumers and employers that successful candidates are qualified to practice medical transcription. It is based on the skills and knowledge described in the AHDI Model Job Description Level 1 MT and the competencies outlined in the AHDI Model Curriculum. Many practitioners and AHDI members are recent graduates of MT education programs or work in doctors’ offices and clinic settings. They do not qualify for the Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT) exam, designed to test for the skills and knowledge of a level 2 MT practitioner and requiring a minimum of two years of acute care experience. For successful RMTs who acquire two years of acute care experience, taking the CMT exam would, of course, be further assurance of their advanced skills and knowledge and a logical career path to follow.  [source]

Deciding whether or not you should take the certification exam is a matter of personal choice. In most cases you don’t need to be certified or registered to obtain work as a medical transcriptionist. Taking and passing a formal exam will be necessary if you want to become either a registered medical transcriptionist (RMT), someone with less than 2 years of acute-care transcription experience, or a certified medical transcriptionist (CMT), someone with at least 2 years of acute care transcription experience. Certification must be renewed every 3 years.