Medical Transcription Skills and Duties: Can you Measure Up to the Job?

So you wanted to embark on a medical transcription professional career? Do you think you’re equipped as a new medical transcriptionist?

Medical transcription has given a lot of stay-at-home moms and medical professionals the chance to seek a vibrant career from home. It is an in-demand career in the US due to the growing need for healthcare services from aging baby boomers as well as increased life expectancy. And this need is seen to rise in the next decade as forecasted by the US Department of Labor. Like other allied healthcare professions, the job outlook for medical transcription is only getting better moving forward.

That said, it is important to take advantage of the affordable career training for medical transcriptionists available online. With more healthcare services provider needing transcriptionists and medical coders, billers and office assistants in the near future, now’s the time for you to get up to speed with your medical transcriptionist training.

Before anything else though, it’s wise to do a bit of self-assessment to make sure that you’re entering the right field. Here is the set skills required of a good medical transcriptionist:

1.    Should have obtained a high school level of education or equivalent
2.    Have good communication skills
3.    Must be keen at spelling, grammar and punctuation
4.    Have good organization skills for record keeping
5.    Has a decent typing speed
6.    Basic background on operating PCs and using Microsoft Office programs
7.    Good motor skills or eye-hand-foot coordination
8.    Ability to observe rules and follow instructions

Most of all, medical transcriptionists should be knowledgeable about medical terminologies. Career training provider Meditec.com provides a compendium of surgical and medical terms for enrollees of its medical transcription training program.

As for the duties, be prepared to encounter the following tasks when you start your job:

1. Noting and transcribing patient diagnosis, health background, and other pertinent information like social security numbers and insurance provider

2. Making sure that medical terminology references are correct and accurate

3. Collecting recordings and logging them in a record book

4. Editing and revising poorly transcribed transcripts or reports from records

The said duties are bound to change if you get promoted to a supervisory position, which will have you coordinating with physicians and doing quality assurance checks. You would also have to check stocks, backups, and create reports on the progress of your team.