Currently, the medical transcription work force in the United States is composed primarily of women. New mothers who want to be able to work at home to be more available to their families, or to women who live in rural areas and wish to contribute to the family income often consider medical transcription because it meets their needs.
Searching for information about medical transcription can be confusing. It is true that medical transcription is an excellent at-home (telecommuting) job. However, it is not something to be undertaken without a realistic view of the requirements and schooling. Many web sites promote medical transcription as a career because they are selling a product. TranscriptionSchools.com offers realistic information from experts with extensive experience in the industry.
What is medical transcription?
Medical transcription is the process of listening to what a healthcare provider dictates in a recorder and typing it into a text editor or word processing application, such as Word. The completed transcript is then included in the medical record for a patient. Healthcare providers reference medical records to obtain medical and social history, medication list, allergies, drug reactions, laboratory data, treatment plans and other information necessary to provide continuity of care.
What do I need to know to become a medical transcriptionist?
A good command of the English language is essential, as well as excellent spelling skills.
Competent computer skills are also necessary. Almost all transcription is now done on computers, using the internet to transfer dictation and completed reports.
Excellent typing (keyboarding) skills are also required. Transcription is almost always paid on a production basis. In other words, you get paid for what you type, either by the word, line or character or some variation. (Please visit VerifiableBilling for an explanation of the various methods used). Fast, accurate typists will make more per hour. If you are not currently keyboarding accurately at a rate of 60 wpm (words per minute) or more, consider brushing up on your keyboarding skills.
How much will I be paid?
How much you will be paid depends on what company you go to work for. Typically, transcriptionists are paid on a production basis with production measured as 65 characters (line). Pay rates range from 6 cpl (cents per line) to 14 cpl. The lower range is what is paid when you work as an employee for an outsource transcription service; the higher end is when you are working as an outsource contractor yourself, directly with the clinic or hospital.
How much can I make?
That depends on many things:
- The difficulty of the dictation
- The speaking style and diction of the dictator
- Your typing speed
- How often you have to look up words and phrases in reference sources
There are many things that impact on productivity and therefore on pay. However, the average pay for a full-time medical transcriptionist is approximately $27,000 a year.
Most important, you will need a good education! TranscriptionSchools.com is the place to start if you”re looking for information on becoming a medical transcriptionist. We provide information on what to look for in a transcription school and what you should expect from a career in medical transcription. Our network of medical transcription web sites has been developed to assist in entry into medical transcription, maintaining a career in medical transcription, finding appropriate references and connecting with the online community as a whole.
