Many medical transcriptionists are claiming that the transition to voice recognition has changed the way they work forever. While the use of voice recognition software has undoubtedly made the lives of transcriptionists easier on the job, it did pose some employment challenges for some of them. And one would only need to visit answer sites and MT forums to believe this assumption. There, you’ll find out that most medical transcriptionists are being paid less because of a lighter workload, because the voice recognition software is robbing them of their work load.
Basically, what’s happening is that the voice recognition software now transcribes the recorded data for the medical transcriptionist; all the MT would have to do is review the file for errors. Some software has the option to autocorrect errors saved in its history, which in turn, rids the MT of the job to edit errors. In some cases though, MTs still transcribe the entire voice recording especially if the voice of the dictator hasn’t been recorded in the system yet. Otherwise, MTs would only have to edit the transcript for errors, and are only paid for the number of lines they edit and lines they actually have to encode.
Bureau of Labor Statistics data don’t lie either. In 2008, the growth forecast for the career was at 11 percent. Two years later, however, the rate has gone down to a mere six percent, which is considered slower than the average for all occupations. There has been little movement in employment rates as well, with 5600 new medical transcriptionists to be employed between the period of 2010 and 2020. Overall, there are 95,100 medical transcriptionists working in the United States—a number dwarfed by that of medical records technicians (there are currently 179,500 medical records technicians in the US).
Despite these unwelcome changes, many people are still pursuing medical transcription as a career. And it isn’t entirely a bad idea. Medical transcription doesn’t require one to have a degree or certification and should certifications be required, training to become a medical transcriptionist takes only a few months. Training with Meditec, for example, takes six months tops, including the practicum (on-the-job training). The compensation isn’t bad either—at $15.82 an hour or $32900 yearly, an MT salary is enough to put food on the table. The salary is also enough to sustain one’s lifestyle, especially if you still don’t have a family.
Current MTs don’t have to worry because the demand for MTs worldwide is still strong, and you only have to go online to find gainful employment. Meditec’s seasoned subject-matter experts advise newbie MTs though to aspire to become a medical transcription editor, since it is a more stable job. Editors are more in demand and can readily shift to other fields, like web content, technical writing and medical writing and editing. Editors, also, make around $20 or so hourly. And if you want to shift to another healthcare profession, you can always turn to elearning companies like Meditec for assistance.
If the future still seems hazy for you, consult with Meditec. Download our free career guide to help you create a blueprint for your career future. Our career guide can help you match your personality profile to the job descriptions we’ve created.
Are you facing the same struggles as medical transcriptionists worldwide? Do you know some income-generating tips for medical transcriptionists who want to earn more? Share your ideas in the comments section below this post.
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