| One of the big topics of concern for medical | | | | technology have been slow. |
| transcriptionists is the future of their career. While | | | | That means humans will need to continue to be |
| voice recognition software isn't perfect, and many | | | | involved in the process. |
| doctors don't care to do the work involved in | | | | The likely change is that you will start doing more |
| training it, it's getting better. What does that mean | | | | editing, and less direct transcription. You may be |
| for medical transcription as a career? | | | | checking to see that the software got all the |
| Whether you're considering training as a medical | | | | dictation right, and ensure that the transcripts are |
| transcriptionist or working as one now, it's | | | | formatted correctly. |
| something to pay attention to. It may well be | | | | That will take skills much like medical |
| more important than concerns about outsourcing | | | | transcriptionists have now. You can't outdo the |
| medical transcription overseas. | | | | software if you don't understand the doctor |
| For now, there's still a good amount of regular | | | | yourself. |
| medical transcription work out there. As an | | | | The good part is that an individual medical |
| industry, it's still expected to grow at an average | | | | transcription editor can go through reports more |
| rate. The jobs aren't going to vanish overnight. | | | | quickly than someone transcribing from scratch. |
| That doesn't mean you can't start preparing for | | | | You're likely to spend more time listening to make |
| future possibilities. | | | | sure everything matches, and just a bit of time |
| Even as medical records go to electronic versions, | | | | fixing the mistakes. |
| people trained in medical transcription are going to | | | | Pay rates will likely change to reflect the |
| be needed. The difference comes in some of the | | | | difference. |
| additional skills you may want to be trained in. | | | | Increased productivity may well mean that fewer |
| You may want to be trained in checking the | | | | transcriptionists are needed. This can sound like a |
| transcripts that come from voice recognition | | | | problem, but remember that the field already has |
| software. This is going to be an important skill. | | | | good demand, and that the population overall is |
| Voice recognition software has been getting | | | | aging. The change may or may not be offset by |
| better, but it's not likely to be perfect anytime in | | | | the added demands for people working in the |
| the near future. Consider that medical | | | | medical field in general. |
| transcriptionists have been hearing about it for | | | | In other words, things are not too bleak for |
| more than a decade. Improvements to the | | | | medical transcriptionists, in my opinion. |