Aug 06
So you’ve heard of this career and thought that it would be good. You though doctors had money and therefore you could make a lot of money. Well the reality is actually something quite different.
Yes there is money to be made as an MT but the work is also very hard and demanding. You really need to have a passion for medicine and all things medical. You also need to be confident with searching the web and researching news drugs and procedures. Remember medical science is a advancing on a daily basis.
Firstly lets talk about what an MT is/does. An MT is a skilled typist, who is excellent at interpreting what they read or hear and have a good knowledge of grammar. They also need to be very familiar with medical language and terms. They must also be able to take what they hear and make it into a logical and well edited document without changing the relevant details or medical information.
The medical transcriptionist primary job is to transcribe dictated or written material into clear and understandable document charting the Patient/Doctor interaction. To do this well, the medical transcriptionist must be able to interpret what they hear or read, since not all doctors create clear transcriptions. Doctors have different accents, get interrupted while dictating, forget where they are in the dictation, have alarms or sirens going off in the background, eat etc. while dictating. The MT’s job is to that this and turn into a legible understandable document often without the ability to contact the doctor who dictated the document in the first place.
There are some key points to remember if you want to be an MT
You are not going to make a fortune from day 1. Like all other jobs there is a learning curve involved. The number of medical terms and drugs are beyond your wildest dreams. You will need to know how to search for them and make sure that you have the correct spellings
What you are typing is a legal document, in that if the patient were ever to sue the doctor, your letter or report could be used in the court case. Therefore accuracy is imperative.
Apart from the above incorrect transcription of what the doctor said could result in incorrect surgery being undertaken.
Doctors by the shear nature of their business often dictate reports when they have a moment. You need to understand that this may be the same moment that they are eating lunch, driving the car or a variety of other such things that make the dictation harder.
That said the opportunity for work is still vast. Despite the advances being made by Voice Recognition software it still requires extensive training which takes time. A commodity that for doctors is often scarce.
All said and done if you like to learn something new on a virtual daily basis then being an MT could be just the career you’ve been looking for. You have the advantage often of working from home with the flexibility that naturally follows from that. However, there are still positions available in an office capacity, whether it be directly in the doctor’s office or in a transcription business’ office.
If you love to learn and are interested in a change in career why not look into becoming a Medical Transcriptionist. The one thing I can promise you is that you will never be bored again.
By: Trish Donmall
About the Author:
Yes there is money to be made as an MT but the work is also very hard and demanding. You really need to have a passion for medicine and all things medical. You also need to be confident with searching the web and researching news drugs and procedures. Remember medical science is a advancing on a daily basis.
Firstly lets talk about what an MT is/does. An MT is a skilled typist, who is excellent at interpreting what they read or hear and have a good knowledge of grammar. They also need to be very familiar with medical language and terms. They must also be able to take what they hear and make it into a logical and well edited document without changing the relevant details or medical information.
The medical transcriptionist primary job is to transcribe dictated or written material into clear and understandable document charting the Patient/Doctor interaction. To do this well, the medical transcriptionist must be able to interpret what they hear or read, since not all doctors create clear transcriptions. Doctors have different accents, get interrupted while dictating, forget where they are in the dictation, have alarms or sirens going off in the background, eat etc. while dictating. The MT’s job is to that this and turn into a legible understandable document often without the ability to contact the doctor who dictated the document in the first place.
There are some key points to remember if you want to be an MT
You are not going to make a fortune from day 1. Like all other jobs there is a learning curve involved. The number of medical terms and drugs are beyond your wildest dreams. You will need to know how to search for them and make sure that you have the correct spellings
What you are typing is a legal document, in that if the patient were ever to sue the doctor, your letter or report could be used in the court case. Therefore accuracy is imperative.
Apart from the above incorrect transcription of what the doctor said could result in incorrect surgery being undertaken.
Doctors by the shear nature of their business often dictate reports when they have a moment. You need to understand that this may be the same moment that they are eating lunch, driving the car or a variety of other such things that make the dictation harder.
That said the opportunity for work is still vast. Despite the advances being made by Voice Recognition software it still requires extensive training which takes time. A commodity that for doctors is often scarce.
All said and done if you like to learn something new on a virtual daily basis then being an MT could be just the career you’ve been looking for. You have the advantage often of working from home with the flexibility that naturally follows from that. However, there are still positions available in an office capacity, whether it be directly in the doctor’s office or in a transcription business’ office.
If you love to learn and are interested in a change in career why not look into becoming a Medical Transcriptionist. The one thing I can promise you is that you will never be bored again.
By: Trish Donmall
About the Author:
Trish Donmall, trish@cohara.co.za
htto://conorsadmin.weebly.com