Home Medical Transcription : A Decent Living or a Scam?
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Home Medical Transcription : A Decent Living or a Scam?
By Stephen Bucaro
No doubt you have seen many ads by medical transcription schools
claiming that you can make big money typing medical
transcription at home. Can you really make a good living doing
medical transcription at home, or is it just another scam? In
this article, you'll learn the honest facts about home medical
transcription.
Can you really make a decent living doing home medical
transcription? Yes and no.
Yes - Many people are earning $50,000 to $80,000 or more per
year typing medical transcription at home. They work where they
want, when they want, and as much as they want. The amount of
medical transcription work that needs to be done FAR exceeds the
available transcribers to do the work. When I say the demand
exceeds the supply, I mean the situation is desperate.
No - Reading a few booklets and listening to a few tapes will
not make you into an instant $50,000 per year medical
transcriptionist. If you're not ready to commit to between six
months and a year of hard study and practice, find another means
of earning a living.
Typing medical transcription is not like typing a letter to your
mother. It's far more challenging. Below are some of the
challenges you must be prepared to meet.
1. You must have a good understanding of medical terminology.
You need to know how to spell the names of the latest medical
conditions, drugs, medical tests, treatments, and procedures,
and just knowing how to spell them is not enough. Because of
challenge #2 decribed below, you need to have some familiarity
with medical conditions and what tests, drugs, and treatments
are related to that condition. It's difficult to learn this with
a mail order medical transcription course. This type of
knowledge comes from experience.
- You don't need to be familiar with ALL medical terminology.
Many transcriptionists specialize in specific areas such as
gastroenterology or opthalmology. However, when you want to go
on vacation, you'll need someone else to take over your work
while you're gone. In reciprocation, you'll need to cover for
someone else when they go on vacation, and they may be
transcribing to a different field than you're familiar with.
2. You need to be able to extract the transcription from a noisy
electronic recording. Unfortunately, many doctors mumble,
garble, don't enunciate, don't speak up, or talk too fast when
they dictate. Combine the above problems with a thick, foreign
accent and you can have real dificulty understanding what the
doctor is saying. In many instances, the only way you will be
able to decipher what the doctor is saying is if you are
familiar with medical conditions and what tests, drugs, and
treatments are related to that condition.
- Doctors dictate "on the fly". They don't have time to think
about proper sentence construction as the words emanate from
their mouth. Frequently the sentence they started doesn't make
any sense or has an error by the time they get to the end. Do
you edit what the doctor said, or just type the jiberish as
dictated? Usually a doctor appreciates when you clean up their
dictation. On the other hand, medical documents are often
presented as evidence in legal actions. You're taking on
liability if you change what the doctor actually said.
- Many transcriptionists have their own group of doctors that
they type for and eventually become familiar with the
idiosyncracies of each doctor. This makes understanding what
they are saying much easier; however, when a you go on vacation,
someone else will need to cover the doctors while you're gone.
In reciprocation, you'll need to cover for someone else when
they go on vacation. You won't be familiar with how the doctors
dictate.
3. To make the earnings cited above, you need to be able to sit
and type for long hours. You need to isolate yourself from the
noise and distraction of other human beings (and some pets) and
pound on that keyboard hour after hour. As I stated earlier, the
amount of medical transcription work available far exceeds the
available transcribers to do the work. Some transcriptionists
let greed take control of them and sit at the computer for 16
hours seven days per week. They get accustom to a $100,000 a
year lifestyle. But what does it do for their health?
- Medical transcription companies charge more for "fast turn
around". Some pass part of this money onto the transcriptionist,
others just demand the work get done immediately. In either
case, fast turn around work prevents you from controlling your
own working hours.
Now that I've discouraged you, the fact is that many medical
transcriptionists do work where they want, when they want, as
much as they want, and earn a respectable living. If you're up
to the challenge, how do you became a medial transcriptionist?
Training --------
You'll need to be proficient in the use of a computer. You'll
need to be a fast typist. If you can't type as fast as the
doctor dictates, you'll be working hard with the foot pedal to
move back and forth in the recording. You must be comfortable
using a Word Processing application such as Microsoft Word or
Workperfect. You'll need to know how to format documents and how
to use macros. If you don't use macros you'll be typing the same
phrases over and over.
If you decide to sign up for a medical transcription course,
make sure the course provides plenty of authentic dictations.
You cannot become a medical transcriptionist by just reading
medical terminology. You need to hear it spoken. Just listening
to terms being pronounced is of limited use. You need to hear
the terms used in a sentence. Simulated medical dictations are
fine, but you need some practice with actual medical dictations.
- Find a course that teaches basic anatomy and physiology along
with terminology.
The best way to learn ---------------------
The best way to learn is with on-the-job training. If you have a
doctor friend or family member who does dictations, ask them if
you can transcribe a low-priority dictaion for practice. If
you're working at a clinic or hospital as a secretary or
receptionist, investigate how the transcription gets done and
volunteer to help.
Start out with a specific type of transcription such as letters
or office notes in specficic specialities. As you get more
experience, your speed will improve and you can branch out into
other types of transcriptions for other specialties.
The amount of medical transcription work that needs to be done
far exceeds the available transcribers to do the work. Yes, you
can make a decent living doing home medical transcription. You
can work where you want, when you want, and as much as you want.
But, medical transcription is an occupation only for those who
are prepared to meet the challenge.
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