Medical Transcription Course

A medical transcription course prepares you for the specific job of converting audio tapes recorded by doctors and physicians to text. Medical transcription is a growing industry as a large quantity of audio content is generated at medical centers and needs to be archived in written form. A medical transcription course will not only provide you with the technical skills needed for this profession but will also expose you the business and administrative aspects of the profession. This is critical since medical transcription is increasingly outsourced to independent companies.

What will I learn in my medical transcription course?

A medical transcription course will start by exposing you to the common terminology and shorthand used by doctors and physicians. This will make you more comfortable with understanding the content you are expected to transcribe. 
A medical transcription course needs to give you the practical experience of listening to audio content and converting it to written text under time pressure. You need to get used to the audio technology and what it sounds like. You need to be comfortable using a headset and developing your writing speed. Medical transcription companies basically compete on the speed and accuracy with which they can complete the task. So the relevant training prepares students to complete the task as efficiently as possible.

People working in medical transcription will gradually move into managerial roles. It is thus important for them to be trained in the soft skills of working in teams, delegating tasks and scheduling them. A medical transcription course thus includes an emphasis on project management techniques.
Given the increasing emergence of outsourcing as a viable option to completing medical transcription tasks, courses have also been developed that improve communication across company boundaries and facilitate the seamless transfer of information between companies.

Can I complete my medical transcription course online?

A medical transcription course can be completed online. Many online institutions offer certificates and associate degrees in medical transcription. These degree programs will provide you sufficient exposure to the field to be able to get entry level jobs.
An online medical transcription course will generally use interactive software to allow you to practice the process of transcribing information. The software will be able to time how long it takes you to complete your task and express your accuracy in percentage terms. These parameters provide a measure of how effective you are at the process of medical transcription.

What are my career options after completing a medical transcription course?

Medical transcription is increasingly outsourced to countries like the Philippines, India and Pakistan that boast large populations of people who can understand English and thus complete the task effectively. 
But each hospital or medical center that outsources such work requires some amount of in-house professionals to plan, manage and monitor the tasks. There is thus still high demand for professionals trained in medical transcription. There is particular demand for people with strong training skills who can help build new teams to complete tasks when they grow in quantity.

How Long Does It Take to Complete a Medical Transcription Course?

Many schools in the United States, such as SUNY Broome, are offering a Medical Transcription course. Students can enroll in a Medical Transcription Certificate program or an Associate of Applied Science in Health Information Technology. While the certificate program can be completed within a year, the Associate of Science in Health Information Technology usually takes 2 years to complete. These programs offer intensive hands-on training that helps students develop their time management and listening skills.

What Are the Requirements to Complete a Medical Transcription Course?

Students are required to complete around 28 to 30 credits in order to obtain a Medical Transcription Certificate and have to complete approximately 70 credits in order to obtain an Associate of Applied Science in Health Information Technology. They have to study modules like Introduction to Medical Transcription, Medical Terminology, Understanding the Medical Records and Report Formatting and Word Processing.

How Much Can I Make after Completing a Medical Transcription Course?

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the annual median income of Medical Transcriptionists was $34,770 in 2018. The number of jobs available in this field in 2018 was 58,000. The top paying industry in this occupation was medical and diagnostic labs, paying $41,490.