Medical Transcription Training

Doctors and physicians are busy healthcare professionals who seldom have the time to write down notes and prepare reports. To optimize their workflow, many doctors these days dictate their thoughts, opinions, and diagnosis to a recorder. Medical transcriptionists play an important role as support staff to these busy professionals. They listen to dictated recordings, transcribe them, and create correspondence documents and medical reports that eventually become part of a patient's medical records. Medical transcriptionists are employed in different settings, e.g. hospitals, outpatient clinics, doctor's offices, or transcription service agencies. In order to perform their duties competently, transcriptionists should possess the following skills: word processing, keyboarding, creating documents, as well as editing and proofreading. They also need to be familiar with basic medical terminology, basic human anatomy, as well as formats of typical clinical documents, e.g. pathology reports, discharge summaries, medical history forms, and doctor-patient correspondence.

It goes without saying that transcriptionists need to have exceptionally good listening skills, an excellent command of the English language and talent in understanding regional accents. According to the US Bureau of Labor, job prospects for medical transcriptionists are very good and are expected to grow. Compensation schemes for transcriptionists vary. They are paid either by the hour or by the number of lines transcribed, or they receive a basic salary. Those who work in hospitals tend to earn more that those who work in primary care clinics. Many medical transcriptionists can work from home-based offices as self-employed independent contractors, making this occupation ideal for stay-at-home mothers.

It goes without saying that transcriptionists need to have exceptionally good listening skills, an excellent command of the English language and talent in understanding regional accents. According to the US Bureau of Labor, job prospects for medical transcriptionists are very good and are expected to grow. Compensation schemes for transcriptionists vary. They are paid either by the hour or by the number of lines transcribed, or they receive a basic salary. Those who work in hospitals tend to earn more that those who work in primary care clinics. Many medical transcriptionists can work from home-based offices as self-employed independent contractors, making this occupation ideal for stay-at-home mothers.

Employers favour medical transcriptionists who have completed a transcription training program at a vocational school or college. Training programs can be a 2-year associate degree or 1-year certificate program which can be done on campus as well as online.

To be Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT), transcriptionists must pass a certification exam. The designation is voluntary and is awarded by the American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT). Every 3 years, CMTs must earn continuing education credits and apply for recertification. With experience, medical transcriptionists can advance to higher positions in editing, consulting, or be self-employed. They can also move on to become health information technicians, medical coders, or health information administrators through continuing education.

Explore all of the potential education resources available for medical transcription training. Many institutions are now offering accredited degree programs and certification course.

You can request more FREE information directly from the education center of your choice!

Kaplan University is one of the only accredited colleges offering an online degree program in medical transcription. A.A.S. in Medical Transcription A.A.S. in Medical Office Management Request more FREE Information from Kaplan!