Home Medical Transcription : A Decent Living or a Scam?

Can you really make a decent living doing home medicaltranscription? Yes and no.

Yes - Many people are earning $50,000 to $80,000 or moreper year typing medical transcription at home. They workwhere they want, when they want, and as much as they want.The amount of medical transcription work that needs to bedone FAR exceeds the available transcribers to do the work.When I say the demand exceeds the supply, I mean thesituation is desperate.

No - Reading a few booklets and listening to a few tapeswill not make you into an instant $50,000 per year medicaltranscriptionist. If you're not ready to commit to betweensix months and a year of hard study and practice, findanother means of earning a living.

Typing medical transcription is not like typing a letterto your mother. It's far more challenging. Below are someof the challenges you must be prepared to meet.

1. You must have a good understanding of medicalterminology. You need to know how to spell the names ofthe latest medical conditions, drugs, medical tests,treatments, and procedures, and just knowing how to spellthem is not enough. Because of challenge #2 decribed below,you need to have some familiarity with medical conditionsand what tests, drugs, and treatments are related to thatcondition. It's difficult to learn this with a mail ordermedical transcription course. This type of knowledge comesfrom experience.

- You don't need to be familiar with ALL medicalterminology. Many transcriptionists specialize in specificareas such as gastroenterology or opthalmology. However,when you want to go on vacation, you'll need someone elseto take over your work while you're gone. In reciprocation,you'll need to cover for someone else when they go onvacation, and they may be transcribing to a different fieldthan you're familiar with.

2. You need to be able to extract the transcription from anoisy electronic recording. Unfortunately, many doctorsmumble, garble, don't enunciate, don't speak up, or talktoo fast when they dictate. Combine the above problems witha thick, foreign accent and you can have real dificultyunderstanding what the doctor is saying. In many instances,the only way you will be able to decipher what the doctoris saying is if you are familiar with medical conditionsand what tests, drugs, and treatments are related to thatcondition.

- Doctors dictate "on the fly". They don't have time tothink about proper sentence construction as the wordsemanate from their mouth. Frequently the sentence theystarted doesn't make any sense or has an error by the timethey get to the end. Do you edit what the doctor said, orjust type the jiberish as dictated? Usually a doctorappreciates when you clean up their dictation. On the otherhand, medical documents are often presented as evidence inlegal actions. You're taking on liability if you changewhat the doctor actually said.

- Many transcriptionists have their own group of doctorsthat they type for and eventually become familiar with theidiosyncracies of each doctor. This makes understandingwhat they are saying much easier; however, when a you go onvacation, someone else will need to cover the doctors whileyou're gone. In reciprocation, you'll need to cover forsomeone else when they go on vacation. You won't be familiarwith how the doctors dictate.

3. To make the earnings cited above, you need to be able tosit and type for long hours. You need to isolate yourselffrom the noise and distraction of other human beings (andsome pets) and pound on that keyboard hour after hour. AsI stated earlier, the amount of medical transcription workavailable far exceeds the available transcribers to do thework. Some transcriptionists let greed take control of themand sit at the computer for 16 hours seven days per week.They get accustom to a $100,000 a year lifestyle. But whatdoes it do for their health?

- Medical transcription companies charge more for "fastturn around". Some pass part of this money onto thetranscriptionist, others just demand the work get doneimmediately. In either case, fast turn around work preventsyou from controlling your own working hours.

Now that I've discouraged you, the fact is that manymedical transcriptionists do work where they want, whenthey want, as much as they want, and earn a respectableliving. If you're up to the challenge, how do you becamea 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 fastas the doctor dictates, you'll be working hard with thefoot pedal to move back and forth in the recording. Youmust be comfortable using a Word Processing applicationsuch as Microsoft Word or Workperfect. You'll need to knowhow to format documents and how to use macros. If you don'tuse 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 authenticdictations. You cannot become a medical transcriptionist byjust reading medical terminology. You need to hear itspoken. Just listening to terms being pronounced is oflimited use. You need to hear the terms used in a sentence.Simulated medical dictations are fine, but you need somepractice with actual medical dictations.

- Find a course that teaches basic anatomy and physiologyalong with terminology.

The best way to learn

The best way to learn is with on-the-job training. If youhave a doctor friend or family member who does dictations,ask them if you can transcribe a low-priority dictaion forpractice. If you're working at a clinic or hospital as asecretary or receptionist, investigate how the transcriptiongets done and volunteer to help.

Start out with a specific type of transcription such asletters or office notes in specficic specialities. As youget more experience, your speed will improve and you canbranch out into other types of transcriptions for otherspecialties.

The amount of medical transcription work that needs to bedone far exceeds the available transcribers to do the work.Yes, you can make a decent living doing home medicaltranscription. You can work where you want, when you want,and as much as you want. But, medical transcription is anoccupation only for those who are prepared to meet thechallenge.