If you’ve read much about medical transcription as a career, you have probably figured out that choosing the right place to learn is important. There are a lot of options out there for learning, on-line courses, community colleges or specialty schools. Lots of ways for you to learn, but have you really thought about how much this decision can effect your career?
The biggest impact occurs in the early days of your career. Without proper education and practice, you’re going to have a hard time getting your transcription career started. It is difficult to land a job if you can’t pass the prospective employer’s proficiency test. You must be able demonstrate that you can do the level of work they require.
There’s more to it than landing that first job, however. It’s also about how much you earn at first. Most at home medical transcriptionist positions pay on production. Production means how many lines of dictation you can complete in a given session. Production also means submitting reports as error free as possible. The better the quality of your education the better prepared you are for real work as a transcriptionist, the faster you will transcribe in the early days. The effect this has on your pay can be dramatic.
A good training course will teach you how to use resources to find unfamiliar terminology quickly. Medical dictionaries, spell checkers, text expanders, word books both in print and electronic formats. Once again, the tools you have at your disposal and your skill in using them will impact your speed, which in many positions will directly impact your earnings.
You’re also more likely to prove yourself worthy of a raise if you are well trained. Employers like keeping good transcriptionist around. Show that your work is of high quality, and they will want to give you raises as appropriate.
An online medical transcription program is a huge help to anyone wanting to transcribe at home. It’s practice for the work you will be doing, in the conditions you will be doing it under. Working from a home office in any sort of job is a skill that needs to be developed. You must be able to manage your time and be able to dedicate enough time each day to accomplish your workload. Not everyone is cut out for the work from home environment. If you plan to work from home then train for medical transcription at home and you’ll be more prepared to deal with the challenges.
Training also helps you to be ready for some of the legal issues that medical transcriptionist face. You need to be aware of patient privacy concerns and HIPAA and HITECH regulations. While the exact manner in which this is handled will be up to your future employers, you an important role to play and must make sure you are informed about the requirements.
Preparation for your career is not a place to skimp on either time or money. Spend both wisely when you decide to train as a medical transcriptionist. You will find transcription a rewarding and satisfying career choice. As with anything in life you will get out of it in equal measure with what you put into it.
