Medical Transcription - The Time Factor

In the US it is mandatory for medicalyears associate's program is usually required to
professionals to keep an accurate medical recordwork as a medical transcriptionist. It is increasingly
of all aspects of a patient. The medicalbecoming a highly-paid career, though not without
professionals gather the data related to theits share of difficulties. Long sitting hours often
patient in audio format by using a dictaphone orlead to back pain, eye strain and headaches in
voice recorder. The details of the patient are thenaddition to the stress of concentration needed to
transcribed in text form. This process ofprovide accurate transcription. The accuracy in
transforming dictation of physicians and othermedical transcription is of paramount importance
healthcare professionals from audio format toas the future treatment strategy of the patient is
written text is known as Medical Transcriptiondecided based upon this data in text form. The
(MT). This written text may be stored as printedpoor quality of some of the audio files further
and/or electronic data. The preferred means ofadds to the woes of the transcriptionist.
data storage are electronic medical records, whichHowever, people are still flocking to this career
allows medical professionals the ability to accessdue to the high levels of salary.
information, regardless of the geographical location.The process of transcription is usually outsourced
Medical transcription is an ancient process. In oldenoverseas. South-East Asian countries are the main
times, Vaidyas (medical practitioners) in India usedbeneficiaries of these outsourcing jobs. The
the services of their disciples to record theprimary reason for outsourcing to these countries
process of treatment in text form. It was a fullyis the low cost and availability of educated
manual process. It has evolved now to digitalpersonnel. One other aspect is the time factor.
form and speech recognition technology. TheAnd the winner in this aspect is India. There is
person who undertakes the process ofapproximately a 12 hour time gap between the
transforming (transcribing) medical data fromUS and India (more than one time zone is
audio to text is known as Medical Transcriptionistfollowed in the US). A medical professional can
and to a lesser extent, a Medical Transcriber.gather data from his patients all day long. He can
Medical Transcriptionists are essential in allthen upload data at the end of the day to India
hospitals. They document patients' healthcarewhere it is early morning.
information for their permanent medical records.The data can then be transcribed during the day
Physicians or other healthcare providers dictatein India. The transcribed files in text format can
this information to them through the use ofthen be uploaded back to US at the end of the
hi-tech tape recorders. Medical transcriptionists areday, where it is early morning. Thus the gathering
highly sought after and when they becomeof data being done in US, while night time in India,
certified, they have invaluable knowledge thatcan be transcribed in India, while night time in the
provides a lifetime of job options. Its possible nowUS, which creates an ideal cycle, beneficial to
for the medical transcriptionists to work frompersonnel both in the US as well as in India. It is a
home using the internet. The digital recordings ofwin-win for both. The medicos don't lose a single
a doctor's notes are downloaded from a centralday and the transcription firms in India can work
source and transcriptionists transcribe them onduring the day. All this can be easily achieved due
computers in their own homes. They can then beto the time factor. In this way the time factor
uploaded back after completion of theplays the role of a catalyst in furthering of trade
transcription.relations the two countries and both the countries
Completion of a 1 year certificate course or a 2are mutually benefited.