Transcriptionists: Helping Improve Patient Care

In today’s fast-paced world, institutions try everything to keep things running fast. In the medical field, for example, everything depends on accuracy and speed because a life may be at stake. To maximize time, a group of staff are assigned to do certain tasks. Transcriptionists are one of them.

What does it mean to be a transcriptionist? This refers to someone who converts a verbal order or other materials into documents that are typeset.  Most people in the medical field require the services of these professionals to help them convert verbal orders, patient history, and prescriptions into formal and easy-to-read documents. Also, most of these transcribed documents are part of the patient’s permanent records.

They are considered an indispensable part of the hospital staff. Because of them, the workflow of patient care becomes more focused. It is because medical practitioners are able to skip the act transcribing the information themselves.  What makes transcribing profession more interesting is that they are also required to understand most of the medical terminologies, anatomy, physiology, procedures, medical abbreviations and assessments, thus, allowing a holistic academic and professional work environment for them. They also make use of medical reference materials to help them look up jargons; all are available in print and over the internet. Moreover, they have specific standards and styles to follow. Also, they are expected to practice confidentiality in their work to protect the patients’ privacy.

When they are already tenured they are able to spot mistakes and inconsistencies. This can help them gather the correct information, thus making the content even more credible. Because of this, they are able to reduce the occurrences of wrong treatment and maintain high-quality patient care.

However, not all of them stay in the hospital or clinics. Some are transcribing over the phone. By doing this, many are able to cater to different institutions and there is the opportunity to learn different styles. Also, this job is considered as a very good source of income as there is always a high demand for their skills.  Another big fad for this type of career today is working online. Either in call centers or at home, this opens the way for transcriptionists to experience different techniques that are unique to certain countries and hospitals.

Whether the transcriptionist stays at home and just uses time tracking to monitor work hours or work in hospitals or call centers, they remain to be a staple in keeping the workflow running because more often than not, life depends on it.