What does it take to be a Medical Transcriptionist?

It takes dedication and self-discipline. You will have to be able to get your work done within the time scheduled that is needed. The doctor you work for will expect you to get your transcription reports done by the deadline time they give you. In most cases you can create your own schedule and do the work during the day or at night as long as it gets done on time. However, there are some companies that may require you to login while you are transcribing your reports and then log out when you’re done. In those types of cases you would be required to be on schedule.

Medical transcription is not for everyone. Medical transcription can be a very rewarding career, however you do need to have an interest in the medical field to succeed as an MT. The MTs that are successful are usually very organized and very self-sufficient. They do not require someone looking over their shoulder telling them when to get the work done or how to do it. Successful MTs need to have the ability to do research on medical terms, drug names, and any other medical related information pertaining to the dictation that they are transcribing. A lot of this research can be done through the use of the Internet and other types of research can be done through having the correct reference books at hand.

Medical transcription can be a very interesting and rewarding career for those that have an interest in the medical field. Anyone considering becoming a medical transcriptionist should do their research to make sure that this is the right career option for them.

You want to know as much as you can about the Medical Transcription Career.
 

How does a Medical Transcriptionist get paid?

The Medical Transcriptionist is paid by the character line in most cases. It is important to have a high accuracy percentage on the medical reports that you transcribe. Most doctors do require that you have 98% accuracy or better on the completed medical report. This is because each of the transcribed reports will go into the patient’s permanent medical file. A patient’s medical file needs to have accurate information about their visit with the doctor, current medications, past medications, any medical test that they had done, as well as any medical diagnosis the doctors have given them. Inaccurate medical reports can lead to malpractice suits or confusion with future doctors when they refer back to past reports.

When you’re getting paid by the character line is important that you are able to type at a minimum of 65 wpm or better. However, your typing speed is not as important as your accuracy percentage. Your typing speed is what is going to help determine your average pay per hour; yet if you have a low accuracy percentage you will have a hard time keeping a job as an MT.

There are programs out there to help increase your typing speed. You can use a medical text expander that will help you get more work done in less time. The way medical expanders work is that you can create abbreviation shortcuts that will expand out complete medical phrases, terms, and even report templates. These programs can range anywhere between a hundred dollars to several hundred dollars or more. There is one program that we do recommend called Speed Type that is reasonably priced and works very well for MTs. You can also create macros, templates, and styles in Microsoft Word that will help increase your performance as a medical transcriptionist.

A well-trained medical transcriptionist can make up to $50,000 or more a year. This will depend on your medical transcription knowledge, how fast you type, your experience, and your medical transcription credentials. Overtime you can increase your credentials by taking exams through AHDI. Most new MTs will not start out at the high the pay rate per year. However, you can make a nice living working at home as a medical transcriptionist even during your first year. It is the same thing if you went to college and got a degree specializing in a certain career field; you would not expect for your first job to be at the highest pay range. That would come with time and experience. The same thing holds true for new MTS. It will take a little time to reach the higher pay rate scale. The average hourly pay is between $12 and $17 an hour for new MTS. This will depend on your typing speed, knowledge, and how much the doctor is paying you per character line. New MTs that are averaging on the higher pay scale are usually using tools to help them produce more work in less time such as medical text expanders.

What is a medical transcriptionist expected to know?

You will need to know the anatomy of the human body, medical abbreviations, medical terminology, pharmacology, and HIPAA laws. Knowledge of the current grammar, style and format for medical transcription is very important. Every medical transcriptionist should have AHDI’s Book of Style for the medical transcriptionist. You should also have a good medical dictionary and prescription drug reference CD or book. We recommend Stedman’s medical dictionary and Saunders pharmaceutical CD or book.

In our medical transcription training courses we require that each student have the AHDI books and a medical dictionary. These are very important items that every successful medical transcriptionist should have loaded in their computer or have on their desk.

It is important to know the medical transcription is like any other medical career field, successful MTs need to keep up with any changes in the medical field that pertain to their career. Physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals are always increasing their knowledge of any new prescription medications, medical conditions, HIPAA laws or other important information that pertains to their career. The same is true for the medical transcriptionist; it is important that you keep up with any medical information for your career in which you are required to know.

What are the different types of Medical Transcription Credentials?

MT - A person that completes a medical transcription course with proper training receives a certificate of completion and is working as a medical transcriptionist. Every RMT and CMT started out as an MT which stands for Medical Transcriptionist. Some MTs have worked for years without getting credentials as an RMT or CMT, however with the evolving changes in today’s world; we highly recommend after completing your medical transcription course that you take your career to the next level by becoming an RMT and then later a CMT.

RMT- A person that has taken a medical transcription course with proper training receives a certificate of completion and has taken the RMT (registered medical transcription) exam through AHDI and passed. Once they pass the RMT exam they can put the RMT after their name. For example: Katie Robertson, RMT

CMT - An MT or RMT that has worked in the medical transcription career field for at least two years and then has taken the CMT exam through AHDI and passed. Once they pass the CMT exam they can put the credentials of CMT after their name. For example: Katie Robinson, CMT

Many MTs will take their career further by becoming RMT or CMT. We recommend to our students that they work as an MT for at least 3 to 6 months before taking the RMT exam to gain more hands-on experience. To become a CMT you will need to have taken a medical transcription course as described above and have worked as an MT or an RMT for at least two years to meet the AHDI requirements for taking the CMT exam.

Increasing your credentials in the medical transcription career field is much like a nurse going from an LVN to an RN. Increasing your credentials not only shows that you are serious about your career is also shows your potential employers that you are up to date on the knowledge that medical transcriptionist should have.

What is the first step in becoming a medical transcriptionist?

Of course the first step in becoming a medical transcriptionist is to get proper medical transcription training and become an MT. MTatHome is rated one of the best medical transcription schools in giving proper training, hands on practice with authentic Dr. dictations, training in the proper style and format, anatomy, pharmacology, medical terminology, training in the different types of medical reports, medical abbreviations, HIPAA laws, and much more.

We do recommend doing research on the different medical transcription schools available to you. It is important to research different schools and information on the career field when making such an important decision for your future.

Even though we are rated one of the best medical transcription schools online, there are several reputable schools that train in medical transcription. Just be cautious when doing your research because there are also scams out there.

You want to make sure that the school you choose has been around for a while and is registered as an Accredited Business with the BBB. You also want to make sure that they offer you support throughout your medical transcription training, and offer proper training with job assistance support once you complete your medical transcription class.

The medical transcription school should follow the AHDI standards for medical transcription. This is very important! AHDI formally known as the American Association for medical transcription (AAMT) are the health documentation experts and all doctors will expect MTs to know AHDI’s standards. These standards are in the AHDI Book of Style that we mentioned above.

One of the most important factors in choosing a medical transcription school is to make sure they offer training with Authentic Dr. Dictations in the different medical fields. Some schools have been known to have dictations that are read from a script and not a real doctor. The reason why it is important to have Authentic Dr. Dictations is because doctors are known to speak fast, mumble and even eat food while they are dictating the patient report. Some of them may even have accents that are little hard to understand. Training with authentic dictation will give you hands on experience of learning how to understand what the doctor is saying so you can properly transcribe the reports. If you are listening to a dictation that is read from a script you will not get the hands-on experience of all the different types of situations you can run into when working as a medical transcriptionist.

To see the MTatHome medical transcription course syllabus about what you will learn when taking your medical transcription training through us click here.