What does it take to be a Medical Transcriptionist?

Working as a medical transcriptionist takes dedication and self-discipline. The doctor you work for will expect you to get your work done by the deadline they give you.

In most cases, you can create your own schedule and do the work during the day or at night from your home 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.

MTs need to have the ability to do research on medical terms, drug names, and any other 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.

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 Field as possible when making a decision to invest both time and money into learning a new 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 reports 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 record. A patient’s record will need to have accurate information about current and past medications, medical tests, as well diagnosis. 

Inaccurate reports could 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 you really need to be able to type at a minimum of 65 wpm or better. However, 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 expanders work is that you can create abbreviation shortcuts that will expand out complete 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, it is reasonably priced and is well-liked by MTs. You can also create macros, templates, and styles in Microsoft Word to help increase your performance as a medical transcriptionist.

A well-trained medical transcriptionist can make up to $50,000 or more a year. Of course, this will depend on your knowledge, how fast you type, your experience, and credentials. Overtime you can increase your credentials by taking exams through AHDI to become an RMT (Registered Medical Transcriptionist) and then a CMT (Certified Medical Transcriptionist).

You may not start at the highest pay. However, you can make a nice living working as a medical transcriptionist during your first year. It is the same thing if you went to college and got a degree for 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. 

What is a medical transcriptionist expected to know?

You will need to know anatomy of the human body, medical abbreviations, medical terminology, pharmacology, proper medical transcription style & format, and HIPAA laws.

Every MT should have AHDI’s Book of Style. You should also have a good medical dictionary and prescription-drug reference book. We recommend Stedman’s or Dorland's dictionary and Saunders Pharmaceutical Drug Word 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 MT should have it on their desk or loaded on their computer. Both of our complete medical transcription course options will come with the mandatory books which include the AHDI Book of Style and Student Workbook.

It is important to know that medical transcription is like any other medical career field, MTs must 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 medications, medical conditions, HIPAA laws or other important information that pertains to their career. The same is true for the medical transcriptionist.

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 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 that has worked in the medical transcription career field for at least two years has passed both the RMT exam and the CMT exam through AHDI. 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 an RMT and then later a CMT.

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. AHDI also requires that you have taken and passed the RMT exam before you can take the CMT exam. You can do this separately or choose to take both the RMT and CMT exam at the same time. Keep in mind that they do still require you to have worked for at least two years before taking the CMT exam.  For this reason, we recommend that you take the RMT exam after working as a new MT for about six months to gain more hands-on experience and then take the CMT exam after working for two years.

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 you are serious about your career it also shows your potential employers 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. MTatHome is rated one of the top medical transcription schools and gives training such as, hands-on practice with authentic doctor dictations, training in the proper style and format, anatomy, pharmacology, medical terminology, training multiple medical report types, medical abbreviations, HIPAA laws, and much more.

We do recommend doing researching 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.

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 the training, and offer proper training with job assistance support once you complete your medical transcription class.

The school should follow the AHDI standards for medical transcription. This is very important!

AHDI formerly 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 train with authentic doctor dictations in multiple 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 doctor dictations is because doctors are known to speak fast, mumble and 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 dictations will give you the 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.