A Glimpse into Medical Transcription Education
Entry Level Education and Continuing Education Opportunities
Apr 7, 2009
Medical transcription is one of the ten fastest growing careers in the health industry. The outlook for employment is expected to surpass 14 percent growth between now and 2016 (Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Handbook, 2008-2009).
Medical transcriptionists are employed in comfortable settings, such as hospitals, physicians’ offices, transcription service offices, clinics, laboratories, medical libraries, government medical facilities, or their own homes. Many medical transcriptionists telecommute from home-based offices.
Working Conditions for Medical Transcriptionists
Medical transcriptionists listen to dictated recordings made by physicians and other health care professionals and transcribe them into medical reports, correspondence, and other administrative material. They generally listen to recordings on a headset, using a foot pedal to pause the recording when necessary, and key the text into a personal computer or word processor, editing as necessary for grammar and clarity.
The documents and reports they produce include discharge summaries, medical history and physical examination reports, operative reports, consultation reports, autopsy reports, diagnostic imaging studies, progress notes, and referral letters.
Currently, most health care providers transmit dictation to medical transcriptionists using either digital or analog dictating equipment. The Internet has grown to be a popular mode for transmitting documentation. Many transcriptionists receive dictation over the Internet and are able to quickly return transcribed documents to clients for approval.
Entry Level Education for Medical Transcriptionists
Employers prefer to hire transcriptionists who have completed post-secondary training in medical transcription offered by many vocational schools, community colleges, and distance-learning programs. This is one of the reasons why it is important to earn an associate degree.
Entry level education requirements are a two year associate degree or one year certificate program. The courses in the medical transcriptionist program include coursework in anatomy, medical terminology, legal issues related to health care documentation, and English grammar and punctuation.
Many of these programs include supervised on-the-job experience. Some transcriptionists, especially those already familiar with medical terminology from previous experience as a nurse or medical secretary, become proficient through refresher courses and training.
During the course of instruction, students gain a working knowledge of medical terminology and the ability to transcribe medical reports, learning the skills they need to obtain an entry-level position as a medical transcriptionist.
Medical transcription certificate programs are designed to provide students with a beginning knowledge of the transcription of medical records. Included are inpatient case studies, inpatient reports, and outpatient reports. Each report is typically taken from real hospital medical records for more realistic practice.
The reports utilized include history and physical examinations, radiology reports, operative procedures, pathology reports, consultations, discharge summaries, a death summary, an autopsy report, and correspondence. Practice reports are digitally recorded to be transcribed by the student. Different regional accents and background noises, which duplicate real-life situations, are used in the recorded dictation.
Students are typically required to earn a minimum of 80 percent on final exams to earn a Medical Transcription Certificate.
Paying for Medical Transcription School
Students in certified medical transcriptionist schools are eligible to receive financial aid from federal sources and other free sources of free money to pay for their education. An additional source of funding is through unsecured Sallie Mae loans.
Continuing Education for Medical Transcriptionists
Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) awards two voluntary designations, the Registered Medical Transcriptionist (RMT) and the Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT).
Medical transcriptionists who are recent graduates of medical transcription educational programs, or have fewer than 2 years experience in acute care, may become a registered RMT. The RMT credential is awarded upon successfully passing the AHDI level 1 registered medical transcription exam.
The CMT designation requires at least 2 years of acute care experience working in multiple specialty surgery areas using different format, report, and dictation types. Candidates also must earn a passing score on a certification examination.
Because medicine is constantly evolving, medical transcriptionists are encouraged to update their skills regularly. RMTs and CMTs must earn continuing education credits every 3 years to be recertified.
Making Connections: Medical Transcriptionist
A medical transcriptionist is a member of health care teams who provide medical health care services to patients. After completing entry level education requirements, students often have little difficulty finding employment considering it is currently one of ten fastest growing career fields in the health care industry. Entry into this career field provides additional opportunities to branch out within the health care industry.
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