Medical Transcription Career

Find out the benefits of a medical transcription career, and the type of training required to become a medical transcriptionist.

Your Guide to a Medical Transcription Career

Medical transcriptionists play a vital role on any health care team and enjoy an in-demand medical career offering work environments ranging from a busy hospital to their own home computers.

Physicians and other health care professionals dictate their reports, correspondence, and other documents, then forward it to a reliable and efficient medical transcriptionist.

What Training and Skills Do You Need?

While this career may sound simple – typing up medical records – you cannot take the required training lightly. A mistake made by a medical transcriptionist could lead to the patient receiving harmful or ineffective treatment.

You will need an associate degree from a vocational school, community college, or online program. You do not need to become a Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT), however many employers prefer it.

Required skills for a medical transcription career include:

• Fast and accurate audio typing
• Knowledge of grammar and punctuation
• Understanding of medical terminology, anatomy, diagnostic procedures, pharmacology,
treatment assessments, and the legal and ethical issues surrounding medical reports
• Good listening skills
• Ability to edit for clarity, mistakes, and inconsistencies

Experience and additional training can lead to supervisory positions or a career in medical records, medical coding, or as a health information technician or administrator.

Benefits of Being a Medical Transcriptionist

• Higher pay than traditional typing jobs, with starting hourly earnings of $13.75 and
those at the higher end earning up to $19.87 or more
• Ability to work from home as an independent contractor and set your own hours
• Faster than average job growth, meaning more job opportunities and increased demand for
skilled transcriptionists
• Comfortable work environments

These benefits attract many to a medical transcription career. Your education and training can take as little as one year, and you can be on your way to decent earnings and a range of job prospects.

Sources
Salary.com, Medical Transcriptionist