What is Medical Transcription?

Medical transcription is the process of accurately and rapidly converting medical data dictated by physicians and other medical personnel into a typed and printed document to be used as part of the patient's permanent medical record.

This data might include patients':

• History and physical reports
• Office and consultation notes
• Symptom, diagnoses and treatment plans
• Laboratory, x-ray and pathology reports
• Operative reports and discharge summaries or clinical resumes
• Specialty studies such as cardiac catheterizations, electroencephalograms, etc.
• Psychiatric evaluations

Transcribing medical records accurately is critical to a person's health because the information:

• Affects future diagnosis and treatment
• Determines patient billing and accounts
• Help obtain payment from insurance companies
• Assist researchers with health surveys and research studies
• Is part of a legal document that records the patient's treatment

To perform their duties, Medical Transcriptionists should:

• Be an expert in medical terminology, anatomy and physiology and disease concepts
• Be able to type quickly and accurately
• Have excellent spelling, proofreading and editing skills
• Know how to operate computers
• Be able to think critically

Medical Transcriptionists have the flexibility to work in different environments such as:

• Home-based office
• Clinics, hospitals, physician offices
• Transcription services

Medical Transcriptionists often advance into:

• Supervisory or management positions
• Teaching or consulting positions
• Self employment as Medical Transcription Service Owners
• Editors of speech-recognized dictation

What are the career opportunities and salary ranges in the field of Medical Transcription?

According to the United States Department of Labor Occupation Outlook, the projected employment opportunities for medical transcriptionists are projected to grow faster than the average for all occupations through 2010. As the healthcare services industry expands because of older age groups receiving greater number of medical tests, treatments and procedures, the demand for qualified MTs will proportionately grow to meet these needs. Full-time entry level MTs in the Central Florida area earn between $10 and $14 per hour ($20,000 -$30,000 per year). Experienced Central Florida MTs can potentially earn between $14 and $33 ($30,000-$70,000 per year) depending on their education, experience, certification status, and ability to produce high "line counts" of accurate transcription.