Be a Medical Transcriptionist: Career Overview

Your medical transcription training will prepare you to enter the workforce in as little as six months. Medical transcriptionists listen to dictated recordings made by physicians and other health care professionals and transcribe them into medical reports, correspondence and other materials. It is a career in high demand that offers work-from-home or self-employment opportunities for skilled workers who have completed their medical transcription training...and it pays well too.

Medical transcriptionists typically produce the following types of documents:

• Discharge summaries
• Health histories
• Physical examination reports
• Operative reports
• Consultation reports
• Diagnostic imaging studies
• Progress notes
• Referral letters and other correspondence

Although their transcribed documents are reviewed and corrected by the physicians or other health care professionals who dictated them, an experienced medical transcriptionist will create accurate drafts because they have an understanding of the following subjects:

• Medical terminology and abbreviations
• Anatomy and physiology
• Diagnostic procedures
• Pharmacology and treatment assessments

If they have questions, they'll consult their medical reference materials. They must make reports conform to style requirements for medical records and comply with legal and ethical requirements governing patient confidentiality.

Medical transcriptionists work in the following environments:

• Hospitals
• Physicians' offices
• Business-support services
• Laboratories
• Outpatient care centers
• Offices of physical, occupational and speech therapists, and audiologists
• Self-employed (telecommute from home)

Most enjoy comfortable, quiet surroundings that are usually far removed from the examining rooms and hospital floors where health care is provided. Most full-time transcriptionists work a 40-hour week.

Employers prefer to hire transcriptionists who have completed one to two years of postsecondary medical transcription training offered by many vocational schools, community colleges and distance-learning programs. Course work includes:

• Anatomy
• Medical terminology
• Legal issues
• Computer skills
• English grammar and punctuation

Many medical transcription training programs include on-the-job experience. Prospective transcriptionists familiar with medical terminology from previous experience as a nurse or medical secretary may become proficient through refresher courses.

The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) awards the voluntary designation Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT) to those who pass a certification examination. Because medicine is constantly evolving, medical transcriptionists are encouraged to update their skills regularly. Every three years, CMTs must earn continuing education credits to be recertified.