Inside Medical Transcription

An understanding of the medical profession is helpful, but not required. This is because you will need to be able to spell medical terms accurately. This type of employment can be done online through a business or you can work for yourself as a freelancer. You will also need to be a good listener to do medical transcription effectively. People all talk with different accents and at different speeds, which can make the transcribing difficult at times.

This type of employment is great for anyone wanting to earn extra cash or who enjoys having a career from home. Medical transcriptionists are in high demand. You will make a good amount of money doing it, as well as have no problems securing work. The amount of money you make depends on how much time you want to spend working. Obviously, the more time you put into it, the more revenue you will generate. Some places pay by the hour of information to be transcribed, in the range of $12 to $20 per hour. Other places pay by the quantity and quality of work you perform. For those who want to make a career out of medical transcription, it is wise to invest in a medical dictionary and a medical spellchecker. This will improve the quality and speed of your work.

Medical transcription involves typing the words that medical professionals have recorded on a tape that is mailed to you or on an audio that you download to your computer. The information you type may include medical history, physical reports, clinic notes, office notes, discharge summaries, letters, psychiatric evaluations, lab reports, and pathology reports. Some people transcribe just by hearing and typing. Others choose to invest in transcription equipment. This equipment generally consists of headphones and a foot pedal. While listening to the audio, you control the speed by pressing on the foot pedal.

To earn money easy and fast, look into the profession of medical transcription. It is a great way to make money. With so many opportunities in this field, you can control the amount of work you are willing to do. The pay is good and the work is simple. In some cases, self employed medical transcriptionists can earn up to $40 per hour once they have established a clientele. The cost of the equipment you purchase to do your job is tax deductible as well as a portion of your home office and your internet expenses. You will need to keep a very detailed log of your income and expenses for reporting purposes on your income tax returns.

The National Board of Medical Transcriptionists provides this field with a great resource for networking via email, newsletters, chat rooms, message boards, forums, and websites. This information is to provide medical transcriptionists with the latest technology and information in the field, regardless of whether they work in an office or at home.

The Journal of the American Association for Medical Transcription (JAAMT) keeps medical transcriptionists up-to-date on the trends and challenges affecting medical transcription. The journal has a frequency of 6 issues per year. The information in JAAMT is vital to all who pursue excellence in medical transcription and is useful to both students and the working professionals. The journal has been dedicated to the advancement of medical transcription through the education and development of medical transcriptionists for over 20 years. The JAAMT site is at www.jaamtonline.com

Members of the American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT) can access content published in JAAMT by completing their login through the association’s website at www.AAMT.org. Non members and non subscribers can choose to set up a one time guest account for purchase of online articles.

What are the benefits to the health information management professionals? The magazine promotes a new clinical medicine theme for each issue. JAAMT also offers a fresh, relevant look at the hottest and latest issues facing the industry today. Some of the industry topics discussed includes,

Health Matrix (formerly JAAMT) is a bimonthly business and technology journal that is packed with content that addresses the evolving trends and emerging technologies of today’s healthcare documentation marketplace as well as legislative advocacy, cutting-edge clinical medicine, and professional practice issues. It also targets all sectors of the transcription market, including service owners, quality assurance professionals, Health IT experts, medical transcriptionists, editors, and others with an interest in health data capture and documentation. Subscriptions are at http://www.lww.com/product/?1936-2994

Looking for a genuine work-at-home job without the usual scams?

Look no further than medical transcription.

The medical transcription industry has employed people at home for years.

While local clinics and hospitals often allow their employees to work from their home office, by far the biggest employers of home-based medical transcriptionists are medical transcription outsource companies.

These companies employee thousands of transcriptionists, based in their homes. The companies obtain the client hospitals and assign their transcriptionist employees to complete the transcription.

However, if you are just starting out in the profession, it may be difficult to get started with the large outsource companies. They typically require two years of experience.

One exception to that rule is that several of the companies are members of “Partners in Education” where students are assisted with education expenses and jobs following completion of course work. Some these companies include:

• Medquist
• Spheris

You can also go the traditional route of completing a medical transcription course. They are available in trade schools and also on-line. Be sure the course you take is reputable. One such company is Career Step.

Benefits to work-at-home transcriptionists include the usual benefits provided to in-house employees, plus often computer equipment is provided.

Are you suited for medical transcription? Some qualities you should have include:

• Good English language skills
• Computer skills
• Listening skills
• Attention to detail
• Ability to work unsupervised
• Ability to stay on task

Just like any other field, medical transcription has its annoyances and difficulties that can trip up aspiring transcriptionists. Among them are:

• Difficult-to-understand dictators, including foreign doctors
• Prolonged sitting
• Tedious clerical work

Be sure to take these things into consideration! The dream of working at home can quickly turn into a nightmare otherwise.