The records and communications of medical providers and facilities depends on the precise transcription of a medical transcriber. Advancement in technology has allowed transcriptionists to work at home, anywhere in the world where an internet connection can be found.
Function
Medical transcribers take oral recordings of physicians and other healthcare professionals and create text records of a patients medical information. They listen on a headset using a foot pedal or over the Internet to a digital recording. Diagnosis, billing, insurance information, medical history, autopsy reports, diagnostic-imaging studies and future treatment plans all needs to be transcribed.
Skills
Computer training and medical terminology are the two most important skills for this profession. Transcriptionists need exceptional grammar and an understanding of medical terminology, anatomy, and surgical procedures. They need to be able to type a minimum of 50 words per minute (wpm) and be able to use a word processor.
Types
Many transcriptionists work at home as independent contractors, subcontractors or home-based employees. Others are employed in doctors' offices, public and private hospitals, teaching hospitals, medical schools, clinics, labs, insurance companies, rehab centers, legal offices, and veterinarian medical facilities.
Salary
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a mean salary of $32,960 or $15.84 per hour in May 2008. Massachusetts and California pay the highest average wages ($42,180 and $41,300 respectively).
Considerations
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the field to grow by 11 percent from 2008 to 2018, however, medical transcriptionists have lost their jobs to work being sent overseas (mainly to India, Pakistan, Philippines, Barbados, and Canada) in order to cut costs. The Bureau of Labor maintains that this work will only supplement domestic transcribers who will need to edit and finalize reports created through speech recognition programs and by non-native English speakers.
Tags: Bureau Labor, Bureau Labor Statistics, Labor Statistics, medical terminology, transcriptionists work, transcriptionists work home
