What is medical transcription?
The process of transcribing doctor-dictated dictations for the purposes of documentation as a medical record is simply termed as medical transcription. The person who transcribes the dictations into a document is a medical transcriptionist or a medical transcription professional.
The process originated in the West. The person who did this job used to be called as a medical assistant who used to be with the doctor at the hospital writing down notes instructed by him. Advancement of this process is electronic conversion of the dictations.
Why and who?
For insurance purposes and maintenance of medical records. The major player outsourcing medical transcription work is USA. Canada, UK, and Australia have some. The outsourced countries include India, Philippines, Indonesia to name a few among others.
The medical transcription professional needs a wide knowledge of medical terminology, American English, and critical thinking skills that may help him/her to interpret what is dictated to produce accurate documents. The dictator speaks over a hand-held device called a Dictaphone or a electronic recorder or a device which has a 1-button solution to upload his voice into the server. The transcriber downloads them at his location through a server that is provided to him by the organization he works for. He then transcribes the dictations into medico legal document.
Why outsourcing?
Medical transcription happens to be one of the earliest BPO jobs outsourced to India. Indians have strong English communicating skills due to the curriculum followed from the days pre-independence. The time difference of 12 hours between India and USA makes it easier for the doctors/clinics to have their reports on their table at their next visit to the clinic. Furthermore, cost of labor is much cheaper for the outsourcer.
Potential?
Medical transcription has a strong employment in both India and the United States. One can work for a company that serves for the Healthcare Industry. The model also involves working at home as independent contractors. In India, the independent home transcriptionist model is growing to gain much popularity.
It is said, still a larger portion of the work is still to be outsourced from US. Both NASSCOM in India and the US Department of Labor have identified this career as having a higher growth potential year by year.
Earnings potential?
As far as the money making is concerned, the fresher in medical transcription earns a starting salary approximately around Rs. 5000 and after 2 years of experience, his money making capability goes to around Rs. 15,000. Careers advancement can lead him to become an Editor or a Leader of a team in a company which could fetch him around Rs.20,000 or more. In these days of growing population and a means to earn money, this is quite decent for an Indian standard.
Allied careers?
Medical coding and billing are showing up as allied careers related to medical transcription.
Read more..
Showing posts with label medical transcriptionist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label medical transcriptionist. Show all posts
Monday, September 13, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Medical Transcription - A Profession Whose Time Has Come
Medical Transcription is the process of interpreting and transcribing the dictation made by healthcare professionals, such as doctors, regarding patient status, treatment procedures, prognoses, diagnoses etc.
The Medical Transcriptionist may also edit the text that is produced by voice recognition software, and requires extensive knowledge of medical pharmacological and anatomical terms.
Medical Transcriptionists in the past would listen to dictations and type it themselves, but with voice recognition software this has become mostly unnecessary. Today the medical transcriptionist usually just edits the output of the software which can range from a few corrections to major changes, because voice recognition software still has not been perfected.
The purpose of medical transcription and the medical transcriptionist remains the same as it was in earlier times, to keep a record of a patient's medical status and treatment. Ancient medical transcription has been noted as writing on ancient cave walls and in documents of lost civilizations.
Not until the late 20th century was Medical Transcription recognized as a profession. Prior to that those that did Medical Transcription were given menial labels such as typists, medical secretaries, dictating machine operators, or word processors.
For those who practice medical transcription, this was and is a highly unjustified job title since the profession requires a wide knowledge of highly technical medical terms. Thus, in 1999, MedicalTranscription was assigned its own job classification and those practicing it were officially called Medical Transcriptionists.
The profession of Medical Transcription has basically been underground, and most people have not heard about it. Nonetheless, Medical Transcription is essential in the ever growing health care industry.
Health care staff do not have the time to write every single bit of information they gather from patients. As a result, the demand for qualified Medical Transcriptionist professionals is rapidly growing, in addition to the fact of the increasing numbers of new medical procedures coming into the mainstream, doctors simply don't have the time to personally transcribe all their findings.
The profession of Medical Transcription is very versatile as well. After a few years of education, Medical Transcriptionists can acquire work from medical transcription firms who receive dictations made by doctors and turn these orders over to medical transcriptionists to be transcribed.
As part of that versatility, a Medical Transcriptionist may be able to work full or part-time from home. The American Association for Medical Transcription is the governing body in the United States that certifies Medical Transcriptionists.
Although you may not need certification to work as one, a certification from the AAMT will certainly increase you're "market value" and credibility.
Medical Transcription has grown out of its infancy of merely listening and transcribing the words dictated by a doctor. Medical Transcription has matured and now requires specific education and knowledge regarding medical language, Greek and Latin prefixes and suffixes, physical anatomy, physiology, disease processes, medical science and procedures, medical instruments, pharmacology, laboratory instruments, laboratory test results, medical reference material techniques and many, many more.
Read more..
The Medical Transcriptionist may also edit the text that is produced by voice recognition software, and requires extensive knowledge of medical pharmacological and anatomical terms.
Medical Transcriptionists in the past would listen to dictations and type it themselves, but with voice recognition software this has become mostly unnecessary. Today the medical transcriptionist usually just edits the output of the software which can range from a few corrections to major changes, because voice recognition software still has not been perfected.
The purpose of medical transcription and the medical transcriptionist remains the same as it was in earlier times, to keep a record of a patient's medical status and treatment. Ancient medical transcription has been noted as writing on ancient cave walls and in documents of lost civilizations.
Not until the late 20th century was Medical Transcription recognized as a profession. Prior to that those that did Medical Transcription were given menial labels such as typists, medical secretaries, dictating machine operators, or word processors.
For those who practice medical transcription, this was and is a highly unjustified job title since the profession requires a wide knowledge of highly technical medical terms. Thus, in 1999, MedicalTranscription was assigned its own job classification and those practicing it were officially called Medical Transcriptionists.
The profession of Medical Transcription has basically been underground, and most people have not heard about it. Nonetheless, Medical Transcription is essential in the ever growing health care industry.
Health care staff do not have the time to write every single bit of information they gather from patients. As a result, the demand for qualified Medical Transcriptionist professionals is rapidly growing, in addition to the fact of the increasing numbers of new medical procedures coming into the mainstream, doctors simply don't have the time to personally transcribe all their findings.
The profession of Medical Transcription is very versatile as well. After a few years of education, Medical Transcriptionists can acquire work from medical transcription firms who receive dictations made by doctors and turn these orders over to medical transcriptionists to be transcribed.
As part of that versatility, a Medical Transcriptionist may be able to work full or part-time from home. The American Association for Medical Transcription is the governing body in the United States that certifies Medical Transcriptionists.
Although you may not need certification to work as one, a certification from the AAMT will certainly increase you're "market value" and credibility.
Medical Transcription has grown out of its infancy of merely listening and transcribing the words dictated by a doctor. Medical Transcription has matured and now requires specific education and knowledge regarding medical language, Greek and Latin prefixes and suffixes, physical anatomy, physiology, disease processes, medical science and procedures, medical instruments, pharmacology, laboratory instruments, laboratory test results, medical reference material techniques and many, many more.
Read more..
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Medical Transcription Services and Specialties
Today medical transcription has almost become a popular term among the health professionals and services are available for all medical specialties. What is Medical transcription? It is the extensive procedure of transcribing voice-recorded reports done by doctors and healthcare professionals into text formats for various uses including for research and reimbursements.
A medical transcriptionist's job primarily involves converting significant, confidential, and up-to-date data into written text. This text is printed and included in the patients' records, archived and retained as an EMR (electronic medical record).
Transcriptionists can today work either from inside the hospital premises, from their homes or from any other distant global location. Electronic storing of medical records is preferred by modern medical institutions because of the huge volume of patient data being accumulated. Also it makes it very easy to incorporate all details including the medicine, diseases details and other diagnostic information. Maintaining of this type of records is primarily to facilitate the patient's healthcare and also to use it as a general use data bank while still maintaining confidentiality of patient data.
What is the actual MT process comprised of? It generally includes,
# Tying of documents
# Active listening
# Information formatting
# Editing/proofreading
# Checks for compliance with medico-legal policies and procedures
Medical transcription services are offered specifically for all the different medical specialists. Today we have experienced medical transcriptionists who do specializations in transcription of different branches of medicine. Thus there has evolved various specialty medical transcriptions like radiology transcription, pediatrics transcription, cardiology transcription and so forth.
Though all medical transcription professionals have to be familiar with transcribing all branches of medicine, a specialty transcriptionist, (some one specialized in transcribing for a particular branch of medicine) often gets preferred by the respective specialist. Further specialty in each branch is also done. Thus if we take specialty transcription professional he will be an expert in transcription of all pediatric specialty areas such as allergy immunology, anesthesiology, endocrinology, cardiology infectious diseases, neurology, nephrology, orthopedics, sports medicine and general academic pediatrics.
There is a recent increased trend in the usage and dependence of voice recognition software for transcription. However the technology for it is yet not perfect and if the documents are not well looked into and edited by humans, it can give irrelevant and absurd transcripts. One can expect the regular manual transcription to be around for some time into the future and the fear of voice recognition software based transcription totally replacing the human element is not valid. Th demand for health services and medical transcription is on the rise as the number of aging population is fast growing and the law requires transcription documentation of medical bills for the insurance benefits on worker's compensations.
Read more..
A medical transcriptionist's job primarily involves converting significant, confidential, and up-to-date data into written text. This text is printed and included in the patients' records, archived and retained as an EMR (electronic medical record).
Transcriptionists can today work either from inside the hospital premises, from their homes or from any other distant global location. Electronic storing of medical records is preferred by modern medical institutions because of the huge volume of patient data being accumulated. Also it makes it very easy to incorporate all details including the medicine, diseases details and other diagnostic information. Maintaining of this type of records is primarily to facilitate the patient's healthcare and also to use it as a general use data bank while still maintaining confidentiality of patient data.
What is the actual MT process comprised of? It generally includes,
# Tying of documents
# Active listening
# Information formatting
# Editing/proofreading
# Checks for compliance with medico-legal policies and procedures
Medical transcription services are offered specifically for all the different medical specialists. Today we have experienced medical transcriptionists who do specializations in transcription of different branches of medicine. Thus there has evolved various specialty medical transcriptions like radiology transcription, pediatrics transcription, cardiology transcription and so forth.
Though all medical transcription professionals have to be familiar with transcribing all branches of medicine, a specialty transcriptionist, (some one specialized in transcribing for a particular branch of medicine) often gets preferred by the respective specialist. Further specialty in each branch is also done. Thus if we take specialty transcription professional he will be an expert in transcription of all pediatric specialty areas such as allergy immunology, anesthesiology, endocrinology, cardiology infectious diseases, neurology, nephrology, orthopedics, sports medicine and general academic pediatrics.
There is a recent increased trend in the usage and dependence of voice recognition software for transcription. However the technology for it is yet not perfect and if the documents are not well looked into and edited by humans, it can give irrelevant and absurd transcripts. One can expect the regular manual transcription to be around for some time into the future and the fear of voice recognition software based transcription totally replacing the human element is not valid. Th demand for health services and medical transcription is on the rise as the number of aging population is fast growing and the law requires transcription documentation of medical bills for the insurance benefits on worker's compensations.
Read more..
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