Transcription Schools

For years before telecommuting became a buzz word, medical transcription was taking place in homes all across the country. It remains an excellent option for the primarily female workforce. Women who want to be able to contribute to family finances or support their family while having the flexibility of working at home will find medical transcription challenging but rewarding, but choosing the right transcription school is absolutely essential.

What is medical transcription?

Medical transcriptionists listen to recorded dictation from healthcare providers who are documenting patient records. It is very similar to taking dictation for any other profession, but requires a highly specialized knowledge of medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, laboratory values, and pharmacology. There are special style requirements for medical documents; some requirements are set by the clinic or hospital, other requirements are specified by the Joint Commission on Healthcare Organizations. The style guide for medical transcription also based on the American Medical Associations’ Manual of Style, with some exceptions. However, the most important aspect of the job is that the records are used to make decisions regarding patient care; accuracy is imperative.

Getting an education

Twenty years ago, most medical transcriptionists were trained on the job. Now, however, a good education is absolutely essential. It’s very difficult to get your first job, and nearly impossible if you haven’t gone to the “right” school. Entrants find themselves in a classic “catch-22,” needing experience to get a job and unable to get it. It’s very expensive to train new transcriptionists and very few employers have the resources for it.

A thorough education through the right transcription schools can help immensely in launching a successful medical transcription career. Many schools maintain agreements with employers and/or have job placement services for graduates.

The transcription school you choose should have:

• A curriculum developed by credentialed and experienced instructors.
• Instructors who are credentialed, experienced or both.
• At least 30 hours of real practice dictation tapes, not tapes recorded in a studio.
• A basic curriculum that includes English language, grammar and usage; medical terminology, anatomy, physiology, pharmacology; elements of style; privacy and security; technology.
• A commitment to participating in the transcription education community, visibility at meetings, supporting ongoing education, education standards, transparency and relationships with industry leaders.

The last thing you want is to spend money to get an education, only to find you can’t get a job. Careful attention to what makes a good medical transcription course will lead you to the best transcription schools and a successful start to your at-home career.

What to look for

The school you select will ultimately depend on what style of learning benefits you the most. All schools should cover a basic curriculum in order to prepare students for employment.

Prerequisites

Some transcription schools have a screening test. If they don’t, you should review your skills yourself to see if you meet the basic prerequisite requirements for a successful career as a medical transcriptionist.

• English comprehension, spelling, and usage competency (spoken and written) equivalent to that of a high school graduate.
• Minimum keyboarding speed of 60 words per minute.
• Intermediate word processing skills, including ability to create, save, format, and copy and paste documents.
• Intermediate computer skills including ability to troubleshoot basic computer problems, install software, manage files, send and receive emails with attachments, and utilize the Internet for research purposes.
• Normal hearing acuity.

A note about hearing acuity: If you have a hearing disability, however slight, you will experience difficulty in this career and it is not recommended for you. It is absolutely essential in medical transcription that you be able to hear and understand the spoken word as it is recorded on electronic media, sometimes not under the best of conditions and/or by the best of dictators.

You will be required to not only know medical terminology, physiology and anatomy, you will need to be able to understand physicians who may speak accented English (English as a second language, or ESL); voices covering a wide range of types, volumes and ranges; recordings on substandard equipment; and recordings that include background noise.

Instructor Qualifications

Request a curriculum vitae of the course content developer as well as the instructors. Course content developers should have a current and valid credential, either Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT) or Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT).

The CMT credential is administered by the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI). The RHIT credential is administered by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). You should contact the appropriate organization to verify that the credential is valid and current.

Content developers and instructors should have a minimum of three years’ experience in acute care or multispecialty settings.

Textbooks and Teaching Material

Obtain a list of required textbooks and teaching material prior to signing up for a medical transcription course and evaluate whether they will adequate cover the course content and prepare you for the job skills required.

Dictation products should come from genuine dictation from a healthcare provider source, not professionally recorded readings and should be a minimum of 30 hours of dictation. A key should not be provided to the student; practical experience should be graded by an instructor, with feedback provided to the student for corrections.

Course Content

According to AHDI curriculum guidelines, course content should include the following:

• English language, including grammar, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure and medical style.
• Medical knowledge, including core aspects of medicine, medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, clinical medicine, laboratory tests, pharmacology, surgery, imaging techniques, and pathology.
• Technology, including computer skills and transcription equipment proficiency, internet navigation and search, file transfer, word processing, as well as security and confidentiality issues.
• Medical-legal aspects of the healthcare record, including format, content, purpose, and legal aspects; general knowledge of standards and regulations for healthcare documents, including HIPAA and risk management.
• Medical transcription practice, emphasizing direct practice using genuine dictation. Practice dictation should include beginning, intermediate and advanced levels.

In order to discourage individuals who may wish to obtain textbooks and other materials to teach themselves medical transcription, TranscriptionSchools.com will not provide a detailed list of textbooks and teaching material. If you have questions, please submit them by using the Contact form and they will be answered in the FAQ.

The school you select will ultimately depend on what style of learning benefits you the most. All schools should cover a basic curriculum in order to prepare students for employment.

Job Placement

A school that has an ongoing relationship with employers in the medical transcription industry is essential. Some transcription schools have agreements with various employers to offer graduates a position, others have actual placement services. This is an important aspect of successfully entering a career as a medical transcriptionist. Finding your first job and getting at least 1 year (preferably 2) of experience is one of the most difficult aspects of entering into this career.

Advertising Claims

Certification or Credentialing: Some advertisers refer to certification, certification courses and certificate of completion. These should not be confused with the Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT) credential. This credential is only offered through AHDI and is currently the only recognized credential for medical transcriptionists. The CMT exam requires that the applicant have 2 years of acute care experience prior to sitting for the exam. Obtaining a certificate on graduation from a medical transcription school or education program does not authorize you to present yourself as a certified medical transcriptionist or CMT. New graduates are eligible to sit for the Registered Medical Transcriptionist exam offered through AHDI, however.

Also, we have found at least one company offering to certify transcriptionists. This is not a recognized credential and paying to obtain this certification would be a waste of your money.

Work-at-home opportunity: While medical transcription is a legitimate work-at-home opportunity, the desire to work at home is not the only qualification required. You should consider schools that emphasize excellence and learning, rather than focusing on the work-at-home aspects.

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.