| It's not for everyone, but if you have what it | | | | happen. Others will just be fascinating as you hear |
| takes and the interest and the basic skills to start | | | | about the medical conditions people are dealing |
| with, medical transcription can be a wonderful | | | | with. |
| career choice. | | | | One of my favorite parts of being a |
| 1. Learning medical terminology can be a great | | | | transcriptionist was learning about the different |
| mental workout. | | | | conditions. Once in a while it would even come in |
| There's a lot of medical transcription terminology | | | | handy in my own life for a family member. Then |
| to pick up as you study. If you don't already have | | | | again, it was hugely frustrating when my son had |
| a pretty good everyday vocabulary, training to | | | | a condition I'd never heard of because I didn't |
| become a medical transcriptionist is going to be | | | | specialize in pediatric transcription. |
| pretty challenging. | | | | 4. You can decide where to work and whether |
| Remember learning about prefixes and suffixes in | | | | you want a job or a business. |
| school? You'll be doing more work in this area to | | | | Many medical transcriptionists work at home, but |
| get familiar with ones you haven't used before. | | | | others do work onsite. There are advantages to |
| And you'll need it for when the doctor comes up | | | | each, and you can decide which suits you best. |
| with an obscure term. | | | | Search for the jobs with the working conditions |
| 2. Despite rumors to the contrary, the industry | | | | you desire. |
| still looks healthy. | | | | But if you want to earn more, there are also |
| Yes, there are always rumors about voice | | | | great possibilities for running your own |
| recognition software and/or outsourcing ruining | | | | transcription business. You can be just a single |
| opportunities for medical transcriptionists. They | | | | person running a business with as many clients as |
| tend to be greatly exaggerated. | | | | you feel comfortable handling, or you can hire |
| Certainly there are doctors who are using voice | | | | your own employees. |
| recognition software. There are doctors | | | | The biggest challenge with running a transcription |
| outsourcing medical transcription to other | | | | business is getting time off. Even if you go the |
| countries. | | | | solo route, I strongly recommend getting to know |
| Quality matters tremendously, however, as does | | | | some subcontractors. You will want a vacation |
| privacy. Voice recognition still has trouble with | | | | someday, won't you? |
| medical terminology, and it is expected that the | | | | You can also set your own hours, within the limits |
| worst this will do will be to make it necessary for | | | | of the turnaround time you need to achieve. If |
| doctors to employ transcriptionists as editors, so | | | | you're running your own business, this will be vital |
| that mistakes do not persist in their records. | | | | to your success. If you're employed by someone |
| We're talking about people's health, after all. | | | | else but work at home, you can still probably set |
| Outsourcing similarly has problems with accuracy if | | | | your own hours, so long as you notify your |
| the foreign transcriptionists are not well enough | | | | employer. Probably the only time you have no |
| trained. It also suffers from privacy | | | | control over your schedule is when you work |
| considerations, as United States law does not | | | | onsite. |
| apply to people in other countries. | | | | Overall, medical transcription is an exciting and |
| 3. The work is interesting if you enjoy medical | | | | challenging field to study. If you have the |
| topics. | | | | determination and interest, you can earn a good |
| Some reports may make you glad that you're | | | | living while enjoying your work. |
| just typing them up, not seeing them as they | | | | |