Career: Medical Transcriptionists
Have you ever listened to a song you love and tried to decipher the lyrics? What about when you compare them to the actual lyrics and learn just how far off you really are? Imagine what can happen when doctors dictate their research findings or a patient’s history, and someone has to type up what they've said.
In medicine, mistakes can have dire consequences. That’s why it’s so important that medical transcriptionists are trained in the language of medicine and “doctorspeak.”
Medical transcriptionists listen to recordings dictated by doctors and other health care professionals. They turn what they hear into written medical documents -- from patient histories and physical examination reports to autopsy reports.
“We deal with a lot of doctors who speak English as a second language, so your [knowledge of] grammar comes into play.”
Robin, Medical Transcriptionist
Are You Ready To...?
- Understand complex medical terms
- Respect patient privacy
- Catch possible errors in translation
- Consult physicians with questions or concerns
- Work with computers
It Helps to Be...
A good listener who is interested in language and attentive to detail. You’ll need to understand a range of people, including those who speak with an accent or speak very quickly. Sometimes you’ll need to edit disorganized information and turn it into a document that makes sense.
Make High School Count
- Take plenty of science courses.
- Work on your writing, grammar, and punctuation skills in English class.
- Study a foreign language to further develop your language skills and your familiarity with different accents and pronunciation.
- Build computer skills.
- Learn to type.
- Volunteer at a hospital or another health care setting to start soaking up medical lingo.
Did You Know?
- Despite advances in speech-recognition technology, medical transcriptionists remain in demand. They even correct the errors this software makes.
Outlook
Government economists predict that job growth for medical transcriptionists will be faster than average for all careers through 2014.
An aging population will need more medical care, and providers and insurance companies will continue to require more documentation by doctors, and thus transcriptionists. Job growth will be particularly fast in large group practices.
Though transcription is increasingly sent to contractors in other countries, overseas workers should only add to, not replace, the supply of well-trained U.S. transcriptionists.
Compensation
Compensation varies not only among regions of the country, but among types of employers as well. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, medical transcriptionists earned an average salary of $32,120 in 2007. The average hourly wage was $15.44.
