Medical trancription means

WHAT IS MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION? Medical Transcription (MT) means converting into written form, the dictation by the physicians and other healthcare professionals regarding patient assessment, workup, therapeutic procedures, clinical course, diagnosis, prognosis etc. in order to document patient care and facilitate healthcare services. A Medical Transcriptionist is a medical Language specialist who, using a computer and accessories like headphones and a footpedal, transcribes the recorded audio into electronic data. This data is further scrutinized for grammar and clarity by a proofreader. WHY MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION? Let’s start from the beginning. It flows from the need for documentation of medical records and the inability of hard-pressed doctors to sit and write those reports themselves. In Western countries, particularly the US, maintaining extensive medical records is mandatory-and vital-for each patient treated. The fact that medical insurance claims and lawsuits are decided on the documented case history makes this all the more necessary. Further, doctors are frequently invited to deliver lectures at medical colleges. This implies preparing extensive notes on case studies to be handed out to participating students. So, what does a harried medico do? Simple: he or she just speaks into a tape-recorder, these days, into voice recording PCs. That’s faster, and can be done even while walking from one hospital ward to the next. These tapes, or audio files, have to be converted into written statements, which is what medical transcriptions are all about. With the rapid change of outlook in Indian healthcare and privatization of the insurance sector, documentation of all patient records will become mandatory in the future. Thus medical transcription will hold a vital link in altering the Indian job scenario. What the doctors do is to hand over their audio records to a company that gives them transcripts- in clean, perfect English- for filing and reference. Naturally, these companies need people who know the language to do the actual transcriptions, and won’t charge them the earth. India, given the high English literacy levels, and the weak rupee, provides the ideal location for conducting these transcriptions. HOW THE PROCESS WORKS? It’s simple. The exhaustive oral reports are stored in a compressed format and transferred to India or any other country via data communication lines. The recordings are decompressed at the destination. And your job is to listen to these voice recordings, using special playback equipment that allows minute controls over voice play, and key in the commentary using word- processing software. The report is then proofread for errors, and sent back to the hospital of origin, or to the individual doctor, using the same communication links. A stenographer’s job, you sniff? No way. WHAT SKILLS DO YOU NEED? The best thing is that you need no formal qualifications. Or even experience. Normally, you only need to prove that you can transcribe complex spoken sentences accurately. What do you need to bone up, though, are names and spellings of medical terms and medicines, which can be quite a mouthful. Picking up word-processing skills, if you aren’t at home with a computer keyboard already, is a breeze. There’s nothing to it. Add to that patience and concentration, and you’re sure to emerge a winner. HOW MUCH MONEY CAN YOU EXPECT? Apart from having convenient timings, medical transcription jobs pay very well. At entry level, medical transcriptionists are paid around Rs. 5,000per month, which can exceed to Rs. 20,000 per month within two years. As a trainee, though, you’ll get about half of that. As you climb, you’ll get to become a reader and progressively, an editor, levels at which salaries will climb. There are also additional carrots dangled by some companies, in the form of perks and performance-based incentives. Given that you’ll work no more than eight hours a day, that’s not bad at all. WHAT NEXT? Well, you can specialize in transcribing voice-records in specific areas of medicine, such as surgery, cardiology et al. With a couple of years’ experience, you can apply for certification as a Certified Medical Transcriptionist, and then as a Medical Language Specialist. Later, you can move on to becoming a supervisor, editor, trainer or manager of a medical transcription unit. Experienced MTs may become teachers working in schools and colleges and train future medical transcriptionists. THE US SCENARIO The MT business volume is growing by 20% every year whereas the availability of MTs is falling by 8%. As a result the companies in US are now outsouricing the jobs to cater to their ever-increasing demand of quality transcripts. The present market share of the US medical transcriptionindustry is estimated at US $ 20 billion. The US Bureau of Labor predicts a 51% increase in the need of medical transcriptionists by the year 2008. THE INDIA ADVANTAGE Of the 700 million hospital events transcribed every year in the US, presently the contribution by India is only Rs. 140 crores, which amounts to just 0.165%. NASSCOM projects that against the total Indian exports of about US $ 34 billion, medical transcription is expected to have a market potential of about US $ 17 billion to one country alone viz. the USA. Thanks to the recent advances in telecommunication, both in terms of facilities and cost, MT in India has a potential of creating about 200,000medical transcriptionists. The factors that give India an edge in providing quality transcripts are: Support of Government of India for all IT- led industries. A huge pool of English-speaking and computer-literate graduate manpower to cater to the growing demand. High-quality computer skills Cost advantage Advantageous 12-hour time zone difference with USA Tremendous improvement in telecom infrastructure for data exchange Hardware and software costs are falling-reducing break even point MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION: THE RIGHT CAREER CHOICE The medical industry is immune to recession; the demand for medical services is around the year and hence all subordinate products and services such as medical transcription will never decline. Medical Transcription provides unlimited intellectual challenge and the opportunity to make a unique contribution to quality patient care and service. The medical transcriptionists provide an important service to the healthcare industry and patients, by transcribing dictated medical reports that document every individual patient’s medical care and condition. Since every dictated report represents a part of the patient’s life, the medical transcriptionist should demonstrate an extensive knowledge ofmedical terminology including anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, human diseases, as also surgical procedures, diagnostic studies and laboratory tests to produce an accurate and complete permanent medical record. PROMISING FUTURE INDEED… As per estimates, the demand for MTs in India is expected to rise to 1,60,000 by the year 2008 (projected by NASSCOM). More and more healthcare companies are looking towards India as a future destination for remote data processing. HOME-BASED PROFESSION – " An excellent career option for women" Medical Transcription is a home-based skill that allows professionals a geographical mobility. As their services are in demand, transcriptionists are often able to arrange convenient and flexible work schedules. This provides an excellent career option for the qualified Indian women, who can manage their families as well as continue earning. AND FINALLY… If you’re wondering how we fit into the picture, well, we firmly believe that the key to becoming a successful medical transcriptionist is the comprehensive quality training that one has undergone. By taking a specialized training program that enables future transcriptionists to interpret and transcribe dictations accurately, you guarantee success for yourself. We give you an elaborate description of the various terminologies and other related words. Moreover, our expert in the field will be conducting workshops where students will be able to interact on a one to one basis, thereby, facilitating greater co-ordination. Students can mail their queries, which will be directed, to the expert and this provision is available round the clock. So, like we mentioned earlier, MT is a richly booming industry and you too can become a part of this magnanimous career. So, register and take first hands experience on Medical Transcription. Before venturing into any professional field, one must know whether he/she possesses a basic aptitude for the same. So, we have devised aCOMPETENCY SKILL TEST, which is just to check whether one is competent enough to go ahead with this course. So, go on and evaluate for yourself whether this is the RIGHT CHOICE BABY!!