About 4 out of 10 worked in hospitals and another 3 out of
10 worked in offices of physicians.
Medical transcriptionists listen to dictated recordings made
by physicians and other health care professionals and transcribe
them into medical reports, correspondence, and other administrative
material. They generally listen to recordings on a headset,
using a foot pedal to pause the recording when necessary,
and key the text into a personal computer or word processor,
editing as necessary for grammar and clarity. The documents
they produce include discharge summaries, history and physical
examination reports, operative reports, consultation reports,
autopsy reports, diagnostic imaging studies, progress notes,
and referral letters. Medical transcriptionists return transcribed
documents to the physicians or other health care professionals
who dictated them for review and signature, or correction.
These documents eventually become part of patients’ permanent
To understand and accurately transcribe dictated reports
into a format that is clear and comprehensible for the reader,
medical transcriptionists must understand medical terminology,
anatomy and physiology, diagnostic procedures, pharmacology,
and treatment assessments. They also must be able to translate
medical jargon and abbreviations into their expanded forms.
To help identify terms appropriately, transcriptionists refer
to standard medical reference materials—both printed and electronic;
some of these are available over the Internet. Medical transcriptionists
must comply with specific standards that apply to the style
of medical records, in addition to the legal and ethical requirements
involved with keeping patient information confidential.
Experienced transcriptionists spot mistakes or inconsistencies
in a medical report and check to correct the information.
Their ability to understand and correctly transcribe patient
assessments and treatments reduces the chance of patients
receiving ineffective or even harmful treatments and ensures
high-quality patient care.
Currently, most health care providers transmit dictation
to medical transcriptionists using either digital or analog
dictating equipment. The Internet has grown to be a popular
mode for transmitting documentation. Many transcriptionists
receive dictation over the Internet and are able to quickly
return transcribed documents to clients for approval. Another
increasingly popular method utilizes speech recognition technology,
which electronically translates sound into text and creates
drafts of reports. Reports are then formatted; edited for
mistakes in translation, punctuation, or grammar; and checked
for consistency and any possible medical errors. Transcriptionists
working in areas with standardized terminology, such as radiology
or pathology, are more likely to encounter speech recognition
technology. However, use of speech recognition technology
will become more widespread as the technology becomes more
Medical transcriptionists who work in physicians’ offices
may have other office duties, such as receiving patients,
scheduling appointments, answering the telephone, and handling
incoming and outgoing mail. Medical secretaries, discussed
in the statement on secretaries and administrative assistants
elsewhere in the Handbook, also may transcribe as part
of their jobs. Court reporters, also discussed elsewhere in
the Handbook, have similar duties, but with a different
focus. They take verbatim reports of speeches, conversations,
legal proceedings, meetings, and other events when written
accounts of spoken words are necessary for correspondence,
records, or legal proof.
The majority of these workers are employed in comfortable
settings, such as hospitals, physicians’ offices, transcription
service offices, clinics, laboratories, medical libraries,
government medical facilities, or their own homes. Many medical
transcriptionists telecommute from home-based offices as employees
or subcontractors for hospitals and transcription services
or as self-employed, independent contractors.
Work in this occupation presents hazards from sitting in
the same position for long periods. Workers can suffer wrist,
back, neck, or eye problems due to strain and risk repetitive
motion injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome. The constant
pressure to be accurate and productive also can be stressful.
Many medical transcriptionists work a standard 40-hour week.
Self-employed medical transcriptionists are more likely to
work irregular hours—including part time, evenings, weekends,
or on call at any time.
|Training, Other Qualifications, and Advancement
Employers prefer to hire transcriptionists who have completed
postsecondary training in medical transcription, offered by
many vocational schools, community colleges, and distance-learning
programs. Completion of a 2-year associate degree or 1-year
certificate program—including coursework in anatomy, medical
terminology, legal issues relating to health care documentation,
and English grammar and punctuation—is highly recommended,
but not always required. Many of these programs include supervised
on-the-job experience. Some transcriptionists, especially
those already familiar with medical terminology from previous
experience as a nurse or medical secretary, become proficient
through refresher courses and training.
The American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT)
awards the voluntary designation Certified Medical Transcriptionist
(CMT), to those who earn a passing score on a certification
examination. As in many other fields, certification is recognized
as a sign of competence. Because medicine is constantly evolving,
medical transcriptionists are encouraged to update their skills
regularly. Every 3 years, CMTs must earn continuing education
credits to be recertified.
In addition to understanding medical terminology, transcriptionists
must have good English grammar and punctuation skills, as
well as proficiency with personal computers and word processing
software. Normal hearing acuity and good listening skills
also are necessary. Employers require applicants to take pre-employment
tests and usually prefer individuals with experience.
With experience, medical transcriptionists can advance to
supervisory positions, home-based work, editing, consulting,
or teaching. With additional education or training, some become
medical records and health information technicians, medical
coders, or medical records and health information administrators.
Medical transcriptionists held about 105,000 jobs in 2004.
About 4 out of 10 worked in hospitals and another 3 out of
10 worked in offices of physicians. Others worked for business
support services; medical and diagnostic laboratories; outpatient
care centers; and offices of physical, occupational and speech
therapists, and audiologists.
Job opportunities will be good. Employment of medical transcriptionists
is projected to grow faster than average for all occupations
through 2014. Demand for medical transcription services will
be spurred by a growing and aging population. Older age groups
receive proportionately greater numbers of medical tests,
treatments, and procedures that require documentation. A high
level of demand for transcription services also will be sustained
by the continued need for electronic documentation that can
easily be shared among providers, third-party payers, regulators,
consumers, and health information systems. Growing numbers
of medical transcriptionists will be needed to amend patients’
records, edit documents from speech recognition systems, and
identify discrepancies in medical reports.
Contracting out transcription work overseas and advancements
in speech recognition technology are not expected to significantly
reduce the need for well-trained medical transcriptionists.
Outsourcing transcription work abroad—to countries such as
India, Pakistan, Philippines, and the Caribbean—has grown
more popular as transmitting confidential health information
over the Internet has become more secure; however, the demand
for overseas transcription services is expected only to supplement
the demand for well-trained domestic medical transcriptionists.
In addition, reports transcribed by overseas medical transcription
services usually require editing for accuracy by domestic
medical transcriptionists before they meet domestic quality
standards. Speech-recognition technology allows physicians
and other health professionals to dictate medical reports
to a computer that immediately creates an electronic document.
In spite of the advances in this technology, the software
has been slow to grasp and analyze the human voice and the
English language, and the medical vernacular with all its
diversity. As a result, there will continue to be a need for
skilled medical transcriptionists to identify and appropriately
edit the inevitable errors created by speech recognition systems,
and to create a final document.
Hospitals will continue to employ a large percentage of medical
transcriptionists, but job growth there will not be as fast
as in other industries. An increasing demand for standardized
records should result in rapid employment growth in physicians’
offices, especially in large group practices.
Medical transcriptionists had median hourly earnings of $13.64
in May 2004. The middle 50 percent earned between $11.50 and
$16.32. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $9.67, and
the highest 10 percent earned more than $19.11. Median hourly
earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of
medical transcriptionists in May 2004 were:
|General medical and surgical hospitals
|Offices of physicians
|Business support services
Compensation methods for medical transcriptionists vary.
Some are paid based on the number of hours they work or on
the number of lines they transcribe. Others receive a base
pay per hour with incentives for extra production. Employees
of transcription services and independent contractors almost
always receive production-based pay. Independent contractors
earn more than do transcriptionists who work for others, but
independent contractors have higher expenses than their corporate
counterparts, receive no benefits, and may face higher risk
of termination than do employed transcriptionists.
A number of other workers type, record information, and process
paperwork. Among these are court reporters; human resources
assistants, except payroll and timekeeping; receptionists
and information clerks; and secretaries and administrative
assistants. Other workers who provide medical support include
medical assistants and medical records and health information
|Sources of Additional Information
For information on a career as a medical transcriptionist,
send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:
- American Association for Medical Transcription, 100 Sycamore
Ave., Modesto, CA 95354-0550. Internet: http://www.aamt.org/
State employment service offices can provide information
about job openings for medical transcriptionists.
Source: Bureau of Labor
Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational
Outlook Handbook, 2006-07 Edition