Essential Reference Materials Needed for All Medical Transcriptionists

When I first started medical transcription, I had no idea as to the amount of reference materials that were needed in order to successfully complete my day typing transcriptions. When transcribing, the audio that is delivered is not always the best quality, and therefore having a complete reference library on hand is essential. Many dictators are non-native English speakers, so their pronunciations of words make it hard to decipher their true intended choice of word. Also, there are disturbances that get in the way of playback such as background noises, fast dictators, and poor quality audio. If this comes into play, reference materials will become absolutely necessary in order to complete your transcription. While it may appear to be a time consuming measure, with medical transcription, accuracy is essential.

So when choosing to set up your medical reference library, here are some important items to have on hand. While many come in both print and electronic form, it comes down to a matter of personal preference. Also, many transcriptionists who type straight transcription, as opposed to voice recognition, prefer online reference materials. Voice recognition (or VR) transcriptionists may prefer printed, hardcopies or reference materials.

In choosing the most essential of items, a medical transcriptionist will need to have a good medical dictionary. This is to seek out and reference any complex medical terminologies that may arise during the course of your transcribing. Online spellcheckers can verify that the terms you typed are correctly spelled, which helps the transcriptionist to maintain a higher quality control percentage. Another great item to have on hand is a current Pharmaceutical Word Book. This is essential because many dictators interchange brand and generic drugs, and if a transcriptionist is unsure a drug being dictated is the brand name or its generic equivalent, it can be referenced. This is important, as the capitalization rule for drugs is based on whether or not the drug is a brand name or generic. Speaking of rules, a good book to have on hand for formatting style and medical transcription guidelines is the AAMT Book of Style.

When it comes to specializations, many transcriptionists like to have other reference materials available to the based on their given area of medicine he or she transcribes. For example, many people who transcribe radiology like to have and anatomy and physiology book on hand so locations in a body can be verified to ensure accuracy. Also, people who transcribe hospital reports may prefer to keep a medical-surgical reference book on hand. Since transcriptionist can cover a variety of specialties, from dental to physical therapy, having a book in your given area of transcription is a welcomed reference material for many transcriptionists.

In the end, the choice of reference materials for a transcriptionist can vary, based on specialty, and whether or not these items are supplied by your transcription provider. However, it is always best to purchase current AAMT Book of Style updates, as well as new Pharmaceutical Word Book in order to stay abreast of any current changes to style and new drug introductions.