Considering Work in Medical Transcription?

I was talking with my wife this morning, and she suggested that I write something about medical transcription work-from-home jobs. My wife is employed at Queen's Medical Center here in Honolulu, Hawaii. She works in the emergency room as a psych assistant/tech. She told me she had met Queen's employees who work from home doing transcription work for QMC. The work basically involves listening to dictated messages left by doctors and typing out notes for medical record keeping.

For instance, let's say Doctor Smith does a heart surgery on Joe Q. Payshun. During and after the surgery, Dr. Smith dictates notes about the operation that are recorded. These notes are then forwarded to a transcriptionist, who may be employed by the hospital where the operation took place, self-employed and doing contract work for the hospital, or employed by a medical transcription company contracted by the hospital.

According to the United States Department of Labor, medical transcriptionist jobs are projected to grow 14 percent in the next ten years. This, says the USDL, is "faster than average" compared to other occupations. The reason: the increasing population and more specifically, the increasing population of the aged. This makes sense because older people require a greater number of tests, treatments, operations, and procedures. Most of these require documentation. And medical transcriptionists are needed as part of the medical records documentation process.

Accordingly, employment prospects for current and job-seeking transcriptionists are good, particularly at physicians' offices, especially those that are part of large-group practices.

What are requirements to be a transcriptionist? Understandably, most employers want transcriptionists who have experience but many are willing to hire those who have education or training or some background as a substitute. Employers seek transcriptionists who have completed post-high school training in transcription work. Here in Hawaii, medical transcription classes are offered by at least one of our local community colleges-Hawaii Community College on the Big Island. I couldn't easily find other classes here, but they are likely to exist. Nationwide and online, numerous options exist for transcription training and certification.

What do transcriptionists get paid? According to the USDL, medical transcriptionists make on average $14 an hour. Medical transcriptionists in the bottom 10% pay range made less than $10 an hour while those in the upper 10% range earned more than $20 an hour. In some situations, particularly for work-at-home transcriptionists, the pay is based on production rather than time. In other words, the transcriptionist is paid by the number of lines he or she produces. What this means that fast, accurate, and adept transcriptionists can potentially make more money in eight hours than a transcriptionist who works for an hourly wage.

For more information and suggestions about working as a medical transcriptionist, there is a good article on Associated Content here.