Transcriptionist shortage may risk lives, says doctor

A shortage of medical transcriptionists, the workers who transcribe voice-recorded diagnostic reports, is putting patients in Newfoundland and Labrador at risk, says a St. John's doctor.

Dr. Stephen Major said the current wait time for reports from tests such as X-rays and CT scans from radiologists is about seven weeks, which is too long. Doctors used to get reports in about two weeks, he said, and a timely report can mean the difference between life and death.

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What Is A Transcriber

A transcriber is a person that transcribes recorded information to written form. Companies use transcription to shift the burden of typing from highly paid executives and professionals to lower salaried employees. Executives and professionals, such as doctors, dictate and then a transcriber transcribes the work to document form.

Although most of us are familiar with medical transcribers, transcribers work in a variety of fields and in a variety of circumstances. Many transcribers work in offices while others are self employed, working on a contract basis. Today there is a great deal of work available online for transcribers.

Professional business people will hire a transcriber on contract to transcribe for them. The contract will define the relationship between the professional and the transcriber along with what the rate of pay will be. It will address matters relating to confidentiality and file storage, as well as how you will handle files on your computer. Well laid out contracts are beneficial to everyone.

As a transcriber working independently, accuracy is your number one concern. However, the quicker you can transcribe the better for you so here are some tips to help you.

Make sure your Dictation equipment is in good working order. If you use software on your computer make sure it is operating optimally. Clean and service your Dictation equipment regularly and replace the tapes frequently. Tapes wear and although they will still work, the quality of the recording depletes.

Make sure you are working from a good ergonomic chair to avoid injury and to stay comfortable. You’ll be a lot more productive if you are comfortable. So don’t skimp on the right chair and the proper desk. Remember, if you are self employed and injure yourself you won’t be making any money. Is that enough incentive not to go cheap?

Try to keep your work environment quiet. Fast, accurate transcription depends on it. Speed and accuracy goes up the less ambient noise there is. So although it might not always be possible, it’s definitely worth striving for in order to reduce your error rate and help speed up your completion time.

Speaking of errors – they simply are not acceptable as a transcriber. And some individuals, especially some doctors, are really bad at dictating. So there are a couple of tricks you can try if you cannot understand something. Play with the tone by removing as much bass as you can, and try slowing or speeding the tape up. Sometimes a mixed speed will help catch the word.

Another trick that sometimes works is to listen to the recording through the regular speaker instead of the headphones. If confidentiality isn’t a problem, you can also have someone else listen to see if they can understand it. And sometimes taking a break and coming back makes it seem clearer.

Remember no guessing! If you simply can’t understand a specific word or phrase, you will have to leave a blank in the transcription - noting that the area needs clarification by the dictator. If it’s feasible you can contact the dictator right away asking for clarification.

If the dictator is consistently bad at dictating, tell him or her. You’ll be doing yourself and other transcribers a favor by telling that person they need to improve their skills. And if things don’t get better, as a contract transcriber you can drop the client.

A career as a transcriber can be rewarding and interesting, and the pay can certainly be good.

About Author:
Gray Rollins is a featured writer for iDictating. To learn more about transcribers, visit http://www.idictating.com/transcribers/ and http://www.idictating.com/transcribers/transcriberservices/

Article Source: http://www.BharatBhasha.com

Benefits of outsourcing transcription services

Transcription services outsourcing has many benefits, including cost savings. Outsourcing transcription services provides lower overhead, reduced payroll and benefits expenses, and fewer capital investments. The costs a transcription company will have to undergo in keeping a full-fledged department to meet its requirements will be much more expensive than outsourcing the same task.

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Outsourcing Audio Transcription - Why It Works

Outsourcing transcription works for many reasons, but the nub of the matter is that although anyone can set themselves up as a transcriptionist, a good transcriptionist is much more than just someone who can type; transcription is a specialised business. That is why if your administrative/secretarial staff are not specially trained in transcription, or if they are simply overloaded, outsourcing can be the answer.

What does a transcriptionist do?

A transcriptionist takes audio recordings, whether they be on tape or digitally recorded, and creates a typed transcript of the recording. Such recordings may be dictation (one person speaking), interviews (one or two people being interviewed), focus groups (a group of people under guided discussion), meeting recordings etc.

What's so special about that?

A transcriptionist is more than 'just' a typist because s/he is doing more than just typing what's on a written page. The transcriptionist has to understand the content of the recording in order to be able to punctuate it correctly and correctly spell homophones (words that sound the same but are spelt differently). The transcriptionist may also need knowledge of a particular vocabulary (e.g. for medical or legal transcription) and a general transcriptionist still needs a better than average vocabulary and general knowledge, in order to correctly pick up on things like place names, names of events, technical details etc. A transcriptionist these days is probably also an expert researcher on Google - a great way to fill those general knowledge gaps provided you know how to do it properly! Of course this person is also an expert typist with a fast typing speed - audio typing takes longer than copy typing for precisely the reasons listed above, but the industry standard for a fully experienced transcriptionist is that it takes about an hour to transcribe fifteen minutes of good quality interview recording (a bit less for dictation and more for groups or for recordings with 'issues' as indicated below.) Even someone who touch types may find that without transcription experience it takes much, much longer. Finally the transcriptionist also needs to have excellent attention to detail in order to proofread the work thoroughly before handing it over to the client.

Why outsource?

If your staff are not trained transcriptionists and you have transcription required on an ad hoc basis, then the reasons listed above should make the answer obvious. A meeting transcription might take a trained transcriptionist a full day to transcribe, so a non-trained member of staff could easily take two days - two days when they are unable to complete their normal day-to-day functions. The results may also be disappointing if their grammar and ability to punctuate is not up to scratch. The outsourced transcriptionist will complete you work without taking anyone away from their normal duties.

It is also useful where company politics might come into play! I have recently transcribed a number of disciplinary interviews etc. for a variety of clients who preferred that their secretarial staff were not party to the contents of the meetings.

Also if you do not require transcription on a regular basis you may not have the relevant equipment, and this can be quite costly. If recording on to digital formats there is freely available software that will allow your staff to listen to the recording, rewind, play it back at varying speeds etc. but without a transcription foot pedal the time taken to transcribe is increased even further.

Finding a good transcription company to outsource your work to

Anyone can call themselves a transcriptionist so how do you know if you're going to get a decent service? There are a number of things you can do - and some you shouldn't! One of the don'ts is asking for a CV. Why not? Because a transcription service is a business, not your potential employee. You wouldn't ask a solicitor, estate agent, builder or chiropodist for a CV, so why ask a transcriptionist? Instead go by recommendation, just as you would do for another business, or if you don't know anyone who can recommend a good transcriptionist look for testimonials. Many transcription services show these on their websites.

Another don't is to ask for the transcriptionist to take a test - frankly, if they have time and inclination to do this they're probably not very busy - and while that might be because they've just started up a business but have years of excellent experience (if you're lucky!) it might also be that they're simply not very good. If you do require a test then you should expect to pay for it at the normal rate.

If you have a significant number of recordings that are going to need transcribing in a short period of time then you might want to ask what procedures the service has in place to project manage large jobs like this, whether they employ people directly, subcontract etc. If they subcontract, you might need to check their confidentially procedures to ensure that this won't be an issue. If all your questions are answered quickly and positively then the chances are you're talking to someone who is familiar with working with such projects!

Other things you should be asking are price (obviously) and turnaround time (when they can get the recordings back to you). Do bear in mind that a good service might well be a busy service so if you can book in advance of wanting to send your recordings, so much the better.

Questions your potential transcription service should be asking you include: what kind of transcription is it (interview, focus group etc.), how long is your recording, what kind of recording (e.g. standard cassette tape, digital recording in .wma format), what's the recording quality like, is the speech clear, do you need a verbatim transcription and when do you need your transcription returned?

If you have a specific requirement regarding formatting now is the time to say so, as most services have their own standard formats which will be used unless you state otherwise, although they're very happy to format in any way you require.

About the Author

Anne Hickley has many years experience in a wide variety of administrative posts. Roles have included provision of secretarial services, PA work, project management and administration, academic and business report writing and editing, and recruitment. She runs Penguin Office Services(http://www.penguinofficeservices.co.uk) and Penguin Transcription

(http://www.penguin-transcription.co.uk)

Home Medical Transcription : A Decent Living or a Scam?

No doubt you have seen many ads by medical transcription schools claiming that you can make big money typing medical transcription at home. Can you really make a good living doing medical transcription at home, or is it just another scam? In this article, you'll learn the honest facts about home medical transcription.

Can you really make a decent living doing home medical transcription? Yes and no.

Yes - Many people are earning $50,000 to $80,000 or more per year typing medical transcription at home. They work where they want, when they want, and as much as they want.
The amount of medical transcription work that needs to be done FAR exceeds the available transcribers to do the work. When I say the demand exceeds the supply, I mean the situation is desperate.

No - Reading a few booklets and listening to a few tapes will not make you into an instant $50,000 per year medical transcriptionist. If you're not ready to commit to between six months and a year of hard study and practice, find another means of earning a living.

Typing medical transcription is not like typing a letter to your mother. It's far more challenging. Below are some of the challenges you must be prepared to meet.

1. You must have a good understanding of medical terminology. You need to know how to spell the names of the latest medical conditions, drugs, medical tests, treatments, and procedures, and just knowing how to spell them is not enough. Because of challenge #2 decribed below, you need to have some familiarity with medical conditions and what tests, drugs, and treatments are related to that condition. It's difficult to learn this with a mail order medical transcription course. This type of knowledge comes from experience.

- You don't need to be familiar with ALL medical terminology. Many transcriptionists specialize in specific areas such as gastroenterology or opthalmology. However, when you want to go on vacation, you'll need someone else to take over your work while you're gone. In reciprocation,
you'll need to cover for someone else when they go on vacation, and they may be transcribing to a different field than you're familiar with.

2. You need to be able to extract the transcription from a noisy electronic recording. Unfortunately, many doctors mumble, garble, don't enunciate, don't speak up, or talk too fast when they dictate. Combine the above problems with a thick, foreign accent and you can have real dificulty understanding what the doctor is saying. In many instances, the only way you will be able to decipher what the doctor is saying is if you are familiar with medical conditions and what tests, drugs, and treatments are related to that condition.

- Doctors dictate "on the fly". They don't have time to think about proper sentence construction as the words emanate from their mouth. Frequently the sentence they started doesn't make any sense or has an error by the time they get to the end. Do you edit what the doctor said, or just type the jiberish as dictated? Usually a doctor appreciates when you clean up their dictation. On the other hand, medical documents are often presented as evidence in legal actions. You're taking on liability if you change what the doctor actually said.

- Many transcriptionists have their own group of doctors that they type for and eventually become familiar with the idiosyncracies of each doctor. This makes understanding what they are saying much easier; however, when a you go on vacation, someone else will need to cover the doctors while you're gone. In reciprocation, you'll need to cover for someone else when they go on vacation. You won't be familiar with how the doctors dictate.

3. To make the earnings cited above, you need to be able to sit and type for long hours. You need to isolate yourself from the noise and distraction of other human beings (and some pets) and pound on that keyboard hour after hour. As I stated earlier, the amount of medical transcription work available far exceeds the available transcribers to do the work. Some transcriptionists let greed take control of them and sit at the computer for 16 hours seven days per week.

They get accustom to a $100,000 a year lifestyle. But what
does it do for their health?

- Medical transcription companies charge more for "fast turn around". Some pass part of this money onto the transcriptionist, others just demand the work get done immediately. In either case, fast turn around work prevents you from controlling your own working hours.

Now that I've discouraged you, the fact is that many medical transcriptionists do work where they want, when they want, as much as they want, and earn a respectable living. If you're up to the challenge, how do you became a medial transcriptionist?

Training
--------

You'll need to be proficient in the use of a computer. You'll need to be a fast typist. If you can't type as fast as the doctor dictates, you'll be working hard with the foot pedal to move back and forth in the recording. You must be comfortable using a Word Processing application such as Microsoft Word or Workperfect. You'll need to know how to format documents and how to use macros. If you don't use macros you'll be typing the same phrases over and over.

If you decide to sign up for a medical transcription course, make sure the course provides plenty of authentic dictations. You cannot become a medical transcriptionist by just reading medical terminology. You need to hear it spoken. Just listening to terms being pronounced is of limited use. You need to hear the terms used in a sentence. Simulated medical dictations are fine, but you need some practice with actual medical dictations.

- Find a course that teaches basic anatomy and physiology along with terminology.

The best way to learn
---------------------

The best way to learn is with on-the-job training. If you have a doctor friend or family member who does dictations, ask them if you can transcribe a low-priority dictaion for practice. If you're working at a clinic or hospital as a secretary or receptionist, investigate how the transcription gets done and volunteer to help.

Start out with a specific type of transcription such as letters or office notes in specficic specialities. As you get more experience, your speed will improve and you can branch out into other types of transcriptions for other specialties.

The amount of medical transcription work that needs to be done far exceeds the available transcribers to do the work. Yes, you can make a decent living doing home medical transcription. You can work where you want, when you want, and as much as you want. But, medical transcription is an occupation only for those who are prepared to meet the challenge.

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About the Author

To learn how to maintain your computer and use it more effectively to design a Web site and make money on the Web visit bucarotechelp.com To subscribe to Bucaro TecHelp Newsletter visit http://bucarotechelp.com/search/000800.asp

Medical Transcription Ideal Career for Military Spouses, Navy Vet Says

When Leslie Slusarski got out of the Navy in 1979, her fast-paced military lifestyle didn’t change. Her husband, Walter, was a weapons officer for submarines, so her family still had to move every 18 months or so.
Slusarski was able to find a rewarding career that meshed well with her lifestyle -- medical transcription, which she says other military spouses should consider.

Medical transcription is an in-demand, technically oriented career field that can be done from almost anywhere, said Slusarski, who has worked in the career field for 28 years.

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Medical Transcription Now the Fastest-Growing Outsourcing Sector

Medical transcription is the fastest-growing sector in the local outsourcing industry, based on Commission on Information and Communications Technology data.

Some 35 medical transcription companies and 11 medical transcription schools operate in the Philippines. But the growth will continue depending on whether companies can hire more medical transcription professionals to support their expansion.

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On Line Medical Transcription Course

In the hectic hustle and bustle of daily work and play, it is a blessing that an on line medical transcription course is available. Most people do not have the time during the day to set aside a few hours apart from their work to learn a brand new skill. However, with a few hours a day after getting home from work, anyone can learn how to become a MT within a year!

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Medical Transcriptionists in Davao can Earn P50,000 / Month

A medical transcriptionist in this city can earn from P20,000 to P50,000 a month, depending on the amount of work they do.

The MTC Academy, the country’s premier medical transcription education provider, is encouraging students, including graduates of nursing, pharmacy, medical technology, public health and allied medical courses to consider medical transcription work.

The first few medical transcription companies began operations not in Metro Manila, as expected, but in the countryside, said Wit Holganza, chief executive officer of MTC Academy, whose institution is located at E. Quirino Avenue, Davao City.

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Future Outlook For Medical Transcription

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the future outlook for medical transcription looks good. This is a lucrative, in demand-career with great growth opportunities.

If you’re considering a medical transcription course or are already taking one, this is good news. It means you will have plenty of employment as well as financial opportunities.

Although, medical transcription is predicted to grow and remain stable, there are a few common concerns among the MT community.

These are the most common.

Will voice recognition replace transcriptionists?

There has been talk for a long time about voice recognition and new software which will replace the jobs of MTs. This will not affect you any time soon. There are a number of growing issues and concerns with this software. It is not being used in a large setting and has not yet replaced the need for medical transcription on the whole.

Medical terminology is complex and the regulations for patient records are stricter than ever. At present, the most accurate way to transcribe these records is by trained MTs.

According to the Medical Records Institute, which actually promotes the use of computerized medical records, current research shows use of speech recognition in the medical fields is less than 1%.

What about offshore transcription companies?

Some companies are using offshore transcription companies to save money. However, while outsourcing medical transcription to offshore companies can save money, many companies are not following this route.

There are various concerns and issues with outsourcing to offshore companies. Offshore MT companies are not required to comply with HIPPA regulations. This means they don’t follow the HIPPA security and privacy guidelines to safeguard medical records.

In some cases it can be done, but mandatory agreements required by HIPPA guidelines must be signed. And precautions must be taken so that data isn’t sent overseas. The overseas vendors must log on to U.S. database to do their work, which means extra systems and measures must be put in place. This can be expensive and time consuming.

Although, some companies may find the need for saving money is worth these risks, most won’t.

I agree with the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics and believe the future of medical transcription looks good and there are many opportunities out there for the taking.

However, although the future of MT looks promising, times HAVE changed. MTs of today should start adapting to the ever changing business technology around them.

The technology is there and available for us to take our businesses to the next level. With a few clicks of a mouse we can build our own MT website, set up an online diary or download files for transcribing.

Be smart in your business, keep up with the times, adapt to technology and your future outlook will look better than ever.

Source: http://www.isnare.com/

About the Author:
Mila Sidman is an experienced MT and owner of http://www.askthemt.com/ - an informative website dedicated to answering all your medical transcription questions.

Broadcast News Transcription System

Background and purposes

It is required to increase TV programs with closed-captions for old ages and hearing impaired. Speech recognition is a technique to convert speech into texts automatically and is expected to be a useful way to make TV captions.

In the open house, a broadcast news transcription system for closed-captions is demonstrated.

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Start A Medical Transcription Business

A Medical Transcriptionist takes a physician's dictated notes and types them up to be put in the patient's medical file. When you consider how many patients any given doctor sees in a day you can just imagine the high demand there is for the services of an MT professional. Not to mention that medical reports are expected to be in file almost immediately and faxed to a referring physician when called for.

What skills and tools are needed to become a Medical Transcriptionist?

If you're interested in starting a business like this, you will need to find a good Medical Transcription Course at your local college or at an online school. The schooling is important, because you must be familiar with the medical terminology that physicians use on a daily basis and you won't get work without it. If you're committed to working from home you'll get it down in no time.

These training programs are usually fairly expensive but the good news is that you will come out with the skills and equipment that you need to move ahead. Check your community college as they may have courses at a far lower price.

Once you have obtained training, the next step is to decide whether you are interested in doing sub-contractor work for established MT companies or if you would like to strike out on your own and pursue your own clients.

Sub-contracting is an attractive option since you can focus on the work and not have to do all the marketing yourself. However, if you do decide to go it alone, you want to set up your own website to market your services, have a professional resume and cover letter created and come up with a plan to reach your intended clients. Your website should list your training, rates, the school you attended and any transcription experience you may have already as well as a little bio about who you are.

You may do best to market yourself locally first and then reach out into a wider market as you develop your clientele and gain valuable referrals from existing clients.

Will technology ever make the Medical Transcriptionist Job obsolete?

Possibly, but not in the near future. Despite the advances in technology and computer generated transcription programs, the field is still far from being automated and doctors and medical facilities all over the world continue to grow in their demand for trained transcriptionists.

A business as an MT is appealing for those desiring a home based career. While you are working on deadlines you do have a lot of freedom in determining your work hours. We wish you luck if you decide to move ahead towards a career in medical transcription.

Article Source: http://www.1articleworld.com

Robert Paul Williams is the Editor of Work At Home Business Website. Come Browse Our Free Article Library. Stay Informed with the Latest Home Business News, Success Tips & Strategies.

Medical Transcription a big Foreign exchange earner

Medical Transcription (MT) is likely to be the fourth biggest for-eign exchange earner for the country - after garments, dia-monds and software. The mainline software actions are reserved al-most exclusively for professionals, but MT part can be exploited by any sensible entrepreneur The entire American MT indus-try is said to be worth $ 7 billion has a potential of shifting to lndia.

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Transcription Service Company Awarded Statewide Contract

Reporters Transcription Center (RTC) has been awarded a service contract from the State of Maine. Working directly with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), RTC will provide transcription services for the office of Disability Determination Services (DDS) throughout the State. The contract has an initial term of one year and RTC anticipates there to be an additional two year extension. The estimated volume of transcription generated through the contract is projected to be 1 million lines annually.

One of the unique features of working with the Maine DHHS/DSS is that RTC will be one of the first companies to utilize the Social Security Administration's (SSA) Internet-based Electronic Records Express (ERE) for transcription delivery. Scott Mack, Director of Maine Disability Determination Services, explained that the ERE is an initiative by SSA and state Disability Determination Services (DDS) to offer electronic options for submitting health and school records related to disability claims. Having the ability to exchange information electronically ultimately benefits the patient because claims are processed much faster.

"The Social Security Administration, along with the Maine Disability Determination Services, is at the forefront of utilizing technology to make the exchange of medical information more efficient. We are pleased to be partnering with RTC, a company with the expertise and willingness to help us move forward in this endeavor," Mack said.

Source : http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/130369

Medical transcription now fastest growing outsourcing business here

Medical transcription is the fastest-growing sector in the local outsourcing industry, based on Commission on Information and Communications Technology data.

Some 35 medical transcription companies and 11 medical transcription schools operate in the Philippines. But the growth will continue depending on whether companies can hire more medical transcription professionals to support their expansion.

So far, Filipinos have only tapped one percent of the -billion per year market in the US alone, according to Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines, Inc. (MTIAPI) president Evelyn Abat.

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Medical Transcription: The Rising Star of BPO

When most people hear business process outsourcing, the first thing that comes into their minds is the call center industry. Due to our excellent English skills, many companies choose the Philippines as the center of their help desk and technical support operations. However, while this is the most visible side of business process outsourcing, our cheaper cost of labor and language abilities also mean that other functions are now increasingly being transferred here.

There are many misconceptions about medical transcription, many thinking it is just like call center work, or viewing transcription as a service required only by doctors with bad handwriting. But, to follow a cliche with another, there’s more to medical transcription than just that.

An Integral Function of Medicine
Medical transcription is actually a function that has been performed since ancient times as a means of preserving knowledge. After studying their patients and their particular ailments, ancient physicians would record their observations on papyrus for future reference. It has been integral to the growth of medical science from early times. While times may have changed, and knowledge is now stored as data in huge mainframes and complex server systems instead of paper, the function of medical transcription remains the same. To this day, when studying a patient, doctors still make observations, but instead of writing these down on paper, now commonly use voice recorders to keep track of their observations.

New Trends in Transcription
While these recordings contain the information, it is difficult to analyze or share this raw data without converting it into a more accessible medium. This is where medical transcription comes into play. The audio recordings are converted into text format by a medical transcriber. The term can either refer to a person performing this function or to voice-recognition devices that can interpret and encode the data.

Despite the recent advances in technology that allow voice recognition software to encode spoken word into textual data, many still prefer the services of human encoders. This is due to the high cost of voice recognition systems, as it is a relatively new technology, and many systems have not been developed to the point where they can cost-effectively replace people. Automatic Recognition Software still has some years to go before it can match human recognition. This means that there are still opportunities for those who wish to pursue a career in medical transcription.

The Work
The benefits of being a medical transcriber are high pay, and relatively acceptable working hours. Since transcription only requires the voice recording, there is less need for graveyard shifts, unlike call center employees who have to match the work schedules of their offshore clients. The work also provides good working experience to those who are in the medical profession, as it serves as a means for them to learn more about their field even while working. Indeed, a major requirement for medical transcribers is basic medical knowledge.

Due to our high number of nursing and medical students, this should not be a problem save for the fact that many of them already opt to work abroad. A DTI article written in August 2005 stated that every year, an average of 30,000 medical professionals complete their studies in the country. Our doctors, nurses and healthcare providers have achieved worldwide recognition for their accuracy, effectiveness and integrity. According to the same article, around 25,000 from the total 380,000 college graduates are qualified to do BPO work (DTI, http://sites.k2ia.com/dti/DTI_News.php?contentID=60).

In a TESDA article, MTC Academy President Eugenio G. Gonzales said that at present the country cannot as yet satisfy the high demand for transcribers due to the lack of awareness among jobseekers about employment opportunities in the medical transcription industry. However, Mr. Gonzales remains confident that the growth in the industry comparable to that of contact centers will materialize like in the next three years given the immediate and proper positioning and readiness of the Philippines in the global market. (TESDA, October 2004, http://www.tesda.gov.ph/services1/lmi_oct2004.asp). MTC Academy is the country’s first and largest TESDA accredited medical transcription training program.

Career Advancement
As in call centers, there is room for advancement in Medical Transcription, especially if one is already aiming for a career in health care. Besides promotion to management or to human resources and development for training, the work also provides good experience in the health care field, and can provide an excellent stepping stone to further work in the medical field. Should one continue his or her studies in medicine or nursing, the past experience with transcription offers insights into the profession that normally may take years to reach.

Future Developments
Due to the advancement of voice recognition programs, medical transcription as a career is not going to be around forever. While it is some time before the technology becomes adequate to eliminate the need for people to do the work, large players in the IT industry such as IBM, Philips and Microsoft have been investing heavily in voice recognition research. Bill Gates has predicted that the technology will be present by 2011, and IBM is even targeting 2010 as the rollout date for their voice recognition systems.

As new technology develops, the industry will have to become more and more competitive just to survive. Lower salaries may become standard as more companies will be switching to the newer technologies. But until that point, the market is still set to grow for outsourced medical transcription. So if you are interested in a career in health care and are looking for an entry-level job that provides more immediate financial benefits, there is no time to waste! Now is the time to make use of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

For a listing of the different job openings for medical transcribers, log on to www.jobstreet.com, click on “search jobs” and type medical transcription in the search field

Source: www.transcription.mixph.com

Voice Recognition And Medical Transcription

You’ve probably heard different opinions and views on this subject. If you’re a medical transcriptionist you may even be concerned about voice recognition taking over your career… and you’re not alone.

Let’s dig a bit deeper into voice recognition.

As you already know, doctors are busy people. This is never more obvious then when they’re dictating their notes. It’s understandable they’re busy, and as their MT, I can surely forgive them but will the latest voice recognition software be as forgiving as me?

Not likely.

As a transcriptionist you will have typed through background noise, patients moaning, doctors eating their lunch, personal conversations (oops they forgot the recorder was on) and other incomprehensible noise. Not to mention, ESL doctors with heavy accents and very tired ER doctors after a long shift!

At this time there is no voice recognition software which can handle this type of voice recognition. It is impossible for the software to determine actual speech from mistakes in conversation, background noise, heavy accents, etc.

So what does this mean for our future?

Rumors of MTs being out of r a job have been around long before I became an MT. Eight years later, there are still no real advances in this field.

Can voice recognition ever replace transcriptionists?

Sure it can.

If a doctor is willing to sit down and take the sufficient time to train his voice recognition software to recognize his voice and speech patterns (this takes time and is not done automatically), yes it is possible.

If the doctor thereafter dictates very clearly, using proper punctuation in his speech (stopping for periods, pausing for commas) without any background noise or interruptions. Yes, it is possible.

Will the document be 100% accurate?

No.

Remember medical records have to be in compliance with a number of very strict regulations. Most doctors, will not trust voice recognition enough to send these records through without at least a quick glance through.

Even under the best dictating circumstances the report will still need to be proofread and edited. So, yes under the “perfect” circumstances, voice recognition can replace a transcriptionist.

Is it likely? Not unless every physician out there is willing to take the time, energy and ongoing effort to train their voice recognition software and maintain a certain standard of dictation.

I don’t see that happening any time soon. Doctors are busy people, remember? ;)

If anything, us MTs should embrace voice recognition and use it as a tool to help us in our MT careers. If applied properly, it can be a time-saving tool. So why not use it for our purposes?

As with any business to stay ahead of the game you have to adapt to change and technology. Learn how to use it to your advantage instead of being frightened by it. That’s the only way to stay ahead of the competition…. Voice recognition or otherwise.

About the Author:

Mila Sidman is an experienced MT and owner of http://www.AskTheMT.com - an informative website dedicated to answering all your medical transcription questions.

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Video Recording for Transcription - It May Not be Worthwhile

If you're planning to make a video recording for transcription, whether digital or analogue, the first thing you need to consider is the reason for recording video rather than audio. If you have other reasons for wanting video - for instance to record the body language in a training session or meeting, or because you're recording TV or film footage, then you may want to consider transferring to audio before sending to your transcriptionist. I'm not aware of any transcription machines that will play back video footage, and there is significant time involved in transferring video to audio tape in order to transcribe it. If you are recording video in a meeting or focus group, in order that the transcriptionist can better identify speakers, then you need to carefully consider how best to set up the cameras or the effort may go entirely to waste. You also need to consider your location and that of your transcriber - for instance as we are based in the UK we only accept videos in European format (PAL) rather than NTSC as used in America.


If you have recorded video in order to help the transcriptionist identify speakers, the transcription has to be carried out first from the audio tape, and then read through while watching the video tape to check that speakers have been correctly identified. As the video does not have transcription-style playback controls this is again time-consuming.

If you have a video made of a focus group, meeting or round table discussion for instance, please remember to provide us with a seating plan so that we can actually identify the different speakers from their positions in the room. This may not always be 100% effective, as it depends on the positioning of the camera, but it will help. A client once sent us a video and said 'Oh you won't need a seating plan; everyone has a name card in front of them.' However, the video camera was situated in the corner of the room and looked over the shoulders of six of the twelve participants, meaning that their bodies entirely blocked the view of the place markers. It also meant that we couldn't tell with 100% certainty who was speaking as we could only see the backs of half the participants!

It is important to understand that it takes around four hours to transcribe one hour of clear, good-quality one-to-one interview from audio tape, and it can take much longer if the quality is poor in any way. The additional time taken to record the audio from the video and then check back will probably be in the region of 1 to 2 hours per hour of video recording. So an hour of analogue video recording may take from five to seven plus hours for an interview and substantially more for a group session.

Other factors that increase the time taken, such as strong accents, background noise or a need for verbatim transcription (please see the information on our website about the differences between verbatim, intelligent verbatim and edited transcription) will also increase the time taken to transcribe.

Digital recording is becoming more affordable all the time and it has many advantages over analogue recordings, so if you are making analogue recordings consider switching to digital. Digital video has many of the same issues as analogue video but you will at least have a better quality recording in almost all cases! It may also be practical to make a video (analogue or digital) for your purposes e.g. examining body language, but make a digital audio recording at the same time for your transcriptionist. Although you will then need to check through to ensure voices have been identified correctly, the cost of transcription will be considerably less than if the transcriptionist has to convert the recordings to audio and then check back using the video.

About the Author
Anne Hickley has many years experience in a wide variety of administrative posts. Roles have included provision of secretarial services, PA work, project management and administration, academic and business report writing and editing, and recruitment. She runs Penguin Office Services (http://www.penguinofficeservices.co.uk)and Penguin Transcription (http://www.penguin-transcription.co.uk)

10 Effective Tips For Promoting Your Medical Transcription Business

Looking to build your existing MT business or just starting out? These marketing tips will give you some good ideas for finding new clients.

Promotion Letter – A very effective way of landing accounts. Send out a promotion letter to all your local medical offices describing your services. And follow it up a few days later with a personal phone call.

Freebies and Giveaways – Give away a certain amount of services for free, such as a free sample transcript or a discount for a certain amount of work. Tell clients about your giveaways in all your advertising material.

Flyers – Flyers are great for marketing a medical transcription business. Distribute them to doctor’s offices, hospitals, clinics, social workers or any other targeted customers.

Business Cards – Carry them with you wherever you go and give them out as necessary. Use proper business card etiquette. Always ask for a business card in return and don’t just stick the card in your purse or wallet. Glance at it a few seconds to show the person you are interested in them.

Magnetic Signs – Place a magnetic sign or bumper sticker on your car. Make it short but effective so people will remember you. Include your website address and/or contact details on it. Remember it will be easier for people to remember a catchy .com website address than a phone number. Not everyone will have pen and paper handy.

Pens or Other Tokens – Pens, mouse pads, mugs, t-shirts or other small tokens with your business name and details on them is an inexpensive and effective marketing tactic. Pens, mouse pads and mugs work especially well in the MT field. Your business name will be displayed in busy medical offices and hospitals for potential clients to see.

Charitable Acts – Support a local charity in return for exposure. Choose a medical related charity for targeted exposure, such as cancer awareness or heart charities. You’ll raise funds for needy charities and feel good about yourself in the process.

Ask for Referrals – Don’t be shy about asking for referrals from current clients. If you’ve provided a good service for them, they will be happy to spread the word about you in return. Ask if they would please pass out some business cards to their colleagues for you.

Network, Network, Network – Find other local MTs and network with them. The key to network is not to go out with a “what’s in it for me” mentality. Genuinely make friends and help others wherever you can and people will do the same for you in return.

The Phone Power Hour – Set aside an hour every day or every few days of uninterrupted time and make this your phone power hour. Pull up a list of local potential customers and start calling them. If you’re a bit nervous at first, write down what you would like to say. Follow up with potential customers you’ve sent letters to or potential marketing partners. Use this hour to expand your networking opportunities as well.

That’s it, 10 easy, affordable and effective ways to start spreading the word about your MT business. With a little practice you’ll be well on your way to finding new clients.

About the Author:
Mila Sidman is an experienced MT and owner of http://www.AskTheMT.com - an informative website dedicated to answering all your medical transcription questions.

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Finding Affordable Transcription

You may have been conducting research interviews, focus groups, market research, but whatever your reason for recording conversations you’ll be looking for an affordable transcription service. There are many transcription services available but sometimes an affordable transcription service can seem hard to find. Transcription is not cheap, because it is a lot more involved than copy typing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find an affordable transcription service, and by providing good quality recordings you can make the transcription more affordable, as it will take less time to complete.

You may have planned to do the transcription yourself, but if you are not a fast touch-typist and do not have specialist transcription equipment then you have probably now realised that it’s going to take you a very long time. I have had clients come to me saying it was taking them 20 hours to produce a transcript of a 1-hour recording. That’s why they ended up using a transcription service!

The most important thing to remember is that it’s just not possible to type as fast as you speak. Even an experienced transcriptionist will be able to average four times as long for a good, clear one-to-one interview – so an hour of recording will take an average of four hours to transcribe. A focus group may take six hours or more per hour of recording. (Industry standards obtained from the Industry Production Standards Guide (I998), published by OBC, Columbus, OH, USA) Transcriptionists also have to make sense of what’s being said, punctuate the speech correctly and use the right homophones (words like there/their/they’re that sound the same but are spelt differently.)

So how can you make sure that your transcript is clear, in order to get an affordable transcription price? Basically, the easier you make the transcription for the transcriptionist, the more likely they are to be able to give you an affordable transcription quote.

First of all, use the best recording equipment you can afford, and make sure it’s fit for purpose. This means that for interviews you should record with an external microphone rather than one built into the recorder, which is only designed to pick up one voice dictating. For focus groups you should have several microphones so that all participants are close to a mike.

If you’re conducting interviews then, if at all possible, conduct them in a quiet room, as background noise will dramatically increase the time taken to transcribe the recording, as the transcriptionist may have to listen to sections several times in order to capture the interview speech. It is helpful to spell out your interviewee’s name at the beginning of the tape, before starting the interview, and speak out any information you would like on the transcript header e.g. the date, the job title of your interviewee etc. You may also want to conduct a ‘debrief’ session at the end of the recording, when you are alone, in order to quickly record your impressions of the interview. For research interviews this is often part of the methodology.

Focus group transcription will cost more than a one-to-one interview transcript, but you can still get an affordable transcription service if you work to make your recording as clear as possible. Again make sure the recording is conducted in a private quiet room. Air conditioning can affect a recording, but so can opening a window, so if it’s a hot day it’s worth making a couple of test recordings before you start to see if there are problems! It’s really important to firmly chair a focus group too. Remind all the participants that all their views are valid, there are no rights and wrongs and, while you’re interested to see if they agree or disagree with each other, they should try not to talk (or shout!) over each other to make their point. Saying this at the beginning is important but it’s even more important, if you want affordable transcription, to remind participants each time things start getting a bit ‘out of hand’ that they need to speak separately for the sake of the recording. Finding the balance here between letting the talk flow and making sure you get a good recording is quite an art!

Conference recording is best left to the professionals if possible! Often these days a venue will provide recording facilities of good quality, included in the price. A microphone needs to be set up for the speaker and there should also be people in the audience with ‘roving’ microphones to take around to any audience members wanting to ask a question.

Digital recording systems provide the best quality and many transcriptionists only work with digital now, so if you want to give yourself the widest field then it’s certainly worth considering digital.

Any information you can provide to the transcriptionist about your recording will help, and may help toward an affordable transcription service. For example a list of key words will reduce the time spent ‘Googleing’, searching the internet to find out how to spell technical terms, names of organisations etc. If you can provide this info it certainly saves time, and saving time saves you money, again reaching toward that goal of an affordable transcription service. Technical work will always be more expensive than non-technical, but providing a ‘crib sheet’ of key words should reduce the cost.

Most transcriptionists work in a standard format, whether that be tabular, tabbed, interviews shown as initials or full names etc. Again most are happy to work to your specifications, but the standard format might well be cheaper, so think carefully about whether you need something different or not. Find out what the standard format is in advance if it concerns you, and you may be able to adapt it to your needs. If, for instance, it’s essential that you have speakers in different fonts or different colours, this will add to the price. It might be more cost-effective for you to put this in when the basic transcript is returned to you!

Finally, give some serious thought to whether or not you need a verbatim transcription. Verbatim transcription includes every repeated word, every ‘um’ and ‘erm’, all those ‘filler’ phrases like ‘you know’ and ‘know what I mean’ that may be repeated a hundred times in one interview, and can also include pauses, coughs, throat clearing etc. if required. Needless to say if this takes longer. If the transcriptionist can filter out all this stuff the transcript is quicker. In my company the cheapest level is what we call ‘intelligent verbatim’ which cuts out all these fillers but leaves the rest exactly as it’s spoken. Different transcriptionists work this differently though, so always check when you’re phoning for your quote. Here are some brief examples. Somewhat more expensive is edited, which corrects the grammar and any mispronounced words as well as knocking out all the fillers.

Verbatim

So, anyway, you know, I said …er, ‘Well, Susan, I really think you, you shouldn’t be um asking, er, me that.’ And she, erm, er, she, she, well, she said, ‘Look Mark, I dunno what you mean,’ know what I mean?

Intelligent Verbatim

So anyway I said, ‘Well, Susan, I really think you shouldn’t be asking me that.’ And she said, ‘Look Mark, I dunno what you mean.’

Edited

So I said, ‘Well, Susan, I really think you shouldn’t be asking me that.’ And she said, ‘Look Mark, I don’t know what you mean.’

You can see that a whole extra line of typing is required for the verbatim work in just those two sentences.

There are occasions when verbatim is required – depending on your topic it might be required for legal reasons, or you might be studying the language itself and the way it’s used. But if you really don’t need it, don’t end up paying for it!

There are many excellent reasons for interviewing groups of people, but don’t do this in order to try to reduce the transcription cost! As already stated, it takes much longer to transcribe a group of more than two or three people (including the moderator/interviewer) because of the time taken to distinguish the different voices and the fact that people will inevitably talk over each other, especially when they get excited, enthusiastic, impassioned or angry.

And finally, remember that the cheapest transcription quote might not be the most affordable one in the end. There is an oft-quoted phrase: if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. Will it really be cost-effective to send your hard-won interviews to the cheapest service if what comes back is gobbledygook and you have to go through the whole thing correcting every other word? How much time will you then waste that could have been spent more productively on your core business?

Source: http://www.articlealley.com/

About Author : Anne Hickley has many years experience in a wide variety of administrative posts. Roles have included provision of secretarial Services, http://www.penguinofficeservices.co.uk/

The Use Of Pharmacology References In Medical Transcription

Drug reference books are an important resource in the library of a medical transcriptionist. In order to keep up to date on new drugs, a medical transcriptionist should purchase drug reference books every year or every other year.

Four important pharmacology references in the medical tanscriptionist's library are:

1. Physician's Desk Reference (PDR)
2. American Drug Index (ADI)
3. Saunders Pharmaceutical Word Book
4. Understanding Pharmacology

It is very important that a medical transcriptionist be familiar with drugs, their indications and dosages as well as how to research new or unusual drug names in drug reference books. Elderly people especially sometimes take multiple, as many as ten or more medications per day. A wise medical transcriptionist will be sure to stay up-to-date. Familiarity with drugs and drug reference books will make transcription assignments much easier and will increase the rate of productivity, which is important if the medical transcription is being paid by line of transcription.

The pharmaceutical companies use three different names to describe a drug, they are:

• The chemical name (which is a complicated formula describing the drug's molecular structure).
• The generic name (a shorter name assigned to the drug chemical)
• The trade or brand name (the copyrighted name selected by the pharmaceutical company)

The trade or brand name is easy to pronounce, and may indicate what the drug is used for or how often it is taken, and is selected for its appeal to prescribing physicians. A generic drug may have several trade names copyrighted by different manufacturers.

Rules to remember when transcribing drug names include:

• Generic drugs are always written in lowercase letters. Trade name drugs always start with a capital letter. Some trade name drugs will also have internal capitalization (such as pHisoHex). It is also important to note that the PDR contains only prescription drugs. There is a separate publication for nonprescription drugs. In addition, only drugs that the manufacturer pays to have listed in the PDR are included.

• Be alert to drug names that sound alike but their uses are completely different, such as Xanax used to treat anxiety and Zantac used to treat stomach ulcers.

• Words such as tablet, capsule, solution, elixir and cream are not part of the trade name of a drug and should not be capitalized for use

The standard drug reference is the Physicians' Desk Reference (published annually) and well known as the PDR. It contains various sections of drugs and is found in most physicians' offices. Sections of the PDR of most interest to the medical transcriptionist are:

•Yellow pages (list generic names of drugs)
•Pink pages (list brand names of drugs)
•Blue pages (list therapeutic category
•White pages (give a complete description of the listed drugs including indications and dosages)

The American Drug Index (ADI) is another standard drug reference book. This is a comprehensive reference that lists both generic and trade name drugs and prescription and nonprescription drugs in alphabetical order throughout the reference book. It lists every drug name in all capital letters. Generic drugs are preceded by a small black dot to denote their difference from trade and brand name drugs. Trade name drugs list the name of the manufacturer to alert the medical transcriptionist that the drug is to be capitalized.

The Saunders Pharmaceutical Word Book is a new drug reference book to be updated annually first published n 1992. It is an A to Z listing of medications with generic drugs in lowercase letters and trade names capitalized as the medical transcriptionist must type them. Each entry states briefly what the drug is for and the usual methods of administration. It has an appendix list of Sound Alikes, 879 pairs of drugs that sound enough alike to be confusing which serves as a special help to the medical transcriptionist.

Understanding Pharmacology is an easy-to-read textbook used in many pharmacology classes. Medical transcriptionists seeking a greater understanding of drugs and their uses may find it especially useful to include in their library as well.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/the-use-of-pharmacology-references-in-medical-transcription-188623.html

About the Author:
Connie Limon, Medical Transcriptionist. Visit us at http://www.aboutmedicaltranscription.info/ for more information about the unique and rewarding career choice of Medical Transcription. Visit Camelot Articles http://www.camelotarticles.com/ for a variety of FREE reprint articles for your newsletter, web sites or blogs.

How to Record Digital Audio from VHS Tape for Transcription

What you need

• A VHS player
• A PC/laptop
• A twin phono to 3.5mm (1/8 inch) Stereo Jack Lead (available from (for example) Maplin - UK, RadioShack -USA)
• A SCART phono out adaptor (available as above)
• Sound editing software such as Goldwave (Shareware) or Audacity
  Setting up

Put the VHS cassette into the player and check that it's the correct tape! With the VHS machine turned off, put the SCART adaptor into the SCART socket. If you're planning to record video as well as audio, now or in the future, you're better off purchasing the slightly more expensive SCART to phono/S-vido input-output adaptor, which does exactly what it says on the tin - allows you to both input and output sound and video. To output video to your PC though, you would also need an S-video card.

In order to transfer audio only, plug the twin phono sockets (red and white) at one end of your lead into the matching colours on the SCART adaptor.

Plug the other end of the lead into the microphone socket of your PC.

Using Goldwave

In the control box set preferences as follows:

• Record tab: record mode: unbounded
• Volume tab: Device: your sound card (e.g. NVIDIA sound card in my case)
• Device tab: Playback device: Primary sound driver
• Device tab: Record device: Primary sound capture driver

You can chose the time in advance e.g. if you know the video is 1 hour long you can set to record for one hour. Or you can leave it to just record. If you record a lot of blank at the end you can 'save selection' (from the file menu) and select the relevant bits.

The settings I use are 'mono' at a sample rate of 44100 if it asks, but I have to confess that I don't really understand sample rates fully and would welcome advice from an audio wiz!

In Audacity I believe you have to set the file as x amount of silence and then record over it, but I'm not sure about that as I've only used Goldwave.

Recording

Press record in your sound editing software.

Press play on your VHS machine.

The VHS is recorded into digital audio.

Finishing

When the VHS has finished press stop on your VHS machine and stop in your sound editing software.

Now you MUST save your file - this is a bit slow for a large file, but if you don't do it you lose it!

I believe Goldwave automatically defaults to WAV files (see my article on digital file types if you're not sure what file type to use) but if WAV is too large for you e.g. if you need to send the file to your transcriptionist, you can convert. Probably due to my settings and through no fault of the software itself, I get very poor results converting to wma (a really compressed file) but I get excellent results converting to mp3 (fairly compressed). To do this simply 'save as' and choose mp3 from the bottom box in the dialogue box.

You should now have a fully functioning audio file which can be sent to your transcriptionist or loaded into your transcription software.

About the Author

Anne Hickley has many years experience in a wide variety of administrative posts. Roles have included provision of secretarial services, PA work, project management and administration, academic and business report writing and editing, and recruitment. She runs Penguin Office Services (http://www.penguinofficeservices.co.uk/) and Penguin Transcription (http://www.penguin-transcription.co.uk/)

Transcription - Making Your Life Easier

When it was first used and aired over the radio, the word transcription drew large attention and become the gist of the public’s conversation. Newspapers also have many data about and everybody who can read it become interested in getting into it.

Being a transcriptionist, working on transcriptions offers a different kind of job opportunity. It is a task that you can get fond of, aside from that you will also be earning more money as compared to other jobs.

However, does working as a transcriptionist present to you the greener pasture you are looking for?

Quality transcription generally means providing the client with the clearest and most comprehensive drafts that the clients look into. In order to achieve this goal, the company makes sure that they get highly experienced transcriptionists and the best audios that can be acquired.

The work somehow leads to pressure, aside from being a deadline-driven business; it also needs a full precision. All the information that you will be hearing over the audio, you must be able to transcribe it accurately. The clients always seek for an output that is both credible and reliable.

The companies also have to make it sure, that they will deliver the complete transcripts in the quickest time as possible. Aside from accuracy, deadline is another important consideration. Once the client has given a particular cut-off limit, by whatever means, it has to be delivered.

The value of a transcription will vary on how the clients assess the work that these transcriptionists accomplished. The increase or the decrease on the number of their clients will also depend upon the quality of output that the transcriptionist produced.

Most of the noted formats that are accepted by the transcriptionist are the following:

1. Court tapes- This will be comprise of the coverage of court hearings be it in higher or lower courts. It will also include testimonies from both of the parties involve in a particular case.
2. Interviews- This will also include the dialogue usually between the interviewer and the interviewee.
3. Board Meetings and Conferences- The important agenda of the meeting are necessary things to be discussed and taken into account.
4. Roundtable Discussions- this refers to either a formal or an informal manner of laying discussing things out by a group.
5. Medical Advisory Groups- Usually, this is one of the most in demand services in transcription at present.
6. Video and Film Time Coding- Clients who are in the field of movie editing are offered these services.

On the other hand, when it also deals with the transfer of your audio in various media types, you can do it on neither of the audiotape, Compact Disc, CD-ROM, DVDs, and some can be transmitted to videocassettes. There are several preferences so that it will be easier for you to transfer the data from the audio that you needed.

The entire task in transcription needs to be done precisely. The transcriptionists make it sure that they are able to make all the necessary omissions, corrections, formatting and other technical tasks that must be done before sending the outputs to the clients.

The companies also provide for several trainings and reviews for their transcription to keep track that the quality of their work is for the better.

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Robert Thatcher is a freelance publisher based in Cupertino, California. He publishes articles and reports in various ezines and provides transcription resources on www.abouttranscription.info.

Finding Affordable Transcription

You may have been conducting research interviews, focus groups, market research, but whatever your reason for recording conversations you’ll be looking for an affordable transcription service. There are many transcription services available but sometimes an affordable transcription service can seem hard to find. Transcription is not cheap, because it is a lot more involved than copy typing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find an affordable transcription service, and by providing good quality recordings you can make the transcription more affordable, as it will take less time to complete.

You may have planned to do the transcription yourself, but if you are not a fast touch-typist and do not have specialist transcription equipment then you have probably now realised that it’s going to take you a very long time. I have had clients come to me saying it was taking them 20 hours to produce a transcript of a 1-hour recording. That’s why they ended up using a transcription service!

The most important thing to remember is that it’s just not possible to type as fast as you speak. Even an experienced transcriptionist will be able to average four times as long for a good, clear one-to-one interview – so an hour of recording will take an average of four hours to transcribe. A focus group may take six hours or more per hour of recording. (Industry standards obtained from the Industry Production Standards Guide (I998), published by OBC, Columbus, OH, USA) Transcriptionists also have to make sense of what’s being said, punctuate the speech correctly and use the right homophones (words like there/their/they’re that sound the same but are spelt differently.)

So how can you make sure that your transcript is clear, in order to get an affordable transcription price? Basically, the easier you make the transcription for the transcriptionist, the more likely they are to be able to give you an affordable transcription quote.

First of all, use the best recording equipment you can afford, and make sure it’s fit for purpose. This means that for interviews you should record with an external microphone rather than one built into the recorder, which is only designed to pick up one voice dictating. For focus groups you should have several microphones so that all participants are close to a mike.

If you’re conducting interviews then, if at all possible, conduct them in a quiet room, as background noise will dramatically increase the time taken to transcribe the recording, as the transcriptionist may have to listen to sections several times in order to capture the interview speech. It is helpful to spell out your interviewee’s name at the beginning of the tape, before starting the interview, and speak out any information you would like on the transcript header e.g. the date, the job title of your interviewee etc. You may also want to conduct a ‘debrief’ session at the end of the recording, when you are alone, in order to quickly record your impressions of the interview. For research interviews this is often part of the methodology.

Focus group transcription will cost more than a one-to-one interview transcript, but you can still get an affordable transcription service if you work to make your recording as clear as possible. Again make sure the recording is conducted in a private quiet room. Air conditioning can affect a recording, but so can opening a window, so if it’s a hot day it’s worth making a couple of test recordings before you start to see if there are problems! It’s really important to firmly chair a focus group too. Remind all the participants that all their views are valid, there are no rights and wrongs and, while you’re interested to see if they agree or disagree with each other, they should try not to talk (or shout!) over each other to make their point. Saying this at the beginning is important but it’s even more important, if you want affordable transcription, to remind participants each time things start getting a bit ‘out of hand’ that they need to speak separately for the sake of the recording. Finding the balance here between letting the talk flow and making sure you get a good recording is quite an art!

Conference recording is best left to the professionals if possible! Often these days a venue will provide recording facilities of good quality, included in the price. A microphone needs to be set up for the speaker and there should also be people in the audience with ‘roving’ microphones to take around to any audience members wanting to ask a question.

Digital recording systems provide the best quality and many transcriptionists only work with digital now, so if you want to give yourself the widest field then it’s certainly worth considering digital.

Any information you can provide to the transcriptionist about your recording will help, and may help toward an affordable transcription service. For example a list of key words will reduce the time spent ‘Googleing’, searching the internet to find out how to spell technical terms, names of organisations etc. If you can provide this info it certainly saves time, and saving time saves you money, again reaching toward that goal of an affordable transcription service. Technical work will always be more expensive than non-technical, but providing a ‘crib sheet’ of key words should reduce the cost.

Most transcriptionists work in a standard format, whether that be tabular, tabbed, interviews shown as initials or full names etc. Again most are happy to work to your specifications, but the standard format might well be cheaper, so think carefully about whether you need something different or not. Find out what the standard format is in advance if it concerns you, and you may be able to adapt it to your needs. If, for instance, it’s essential that you have speakers in different fonts or different colours, this will add to the price. It might be more cost-effective for you to put this in when the basic transcript is returned to you!

Finally, give some serious thought to whether or not you need a verbatim transcription. Verbatim transcription includes every repeated word, every ‘um’ and ‘erm’, all those ‘filler’ phrases like ‘you know’ and ‘know what I mean’ that may be repeated a hundred times in one interview, and can also include pauses, coughs, throat clearing etc. if required. Needless to say if this takes longer. If the transcriptionist can filter out all this stuff the transcript is quicker. In my company the cheapest level is what we call ‘intelligent verbatim’ which cuts out all these fillers but leaves the rest exactly as it’s spoken. Different transcriptionists work this differently though, so always check when you’re phoning for your quote. Here are some brief examples. Somewhat more expensive is edited, which corrects the grammar and any mispronounced words as well as knocking out all the fillers.

Verbatim

So, anyway, you know, I said …er, ‘Well, Susan, I really think you, you shouldn’t be um asking, er, me that.’ And she, erm, er, she, she, well, she said, ‘Look Mark, I dunno what you mean,’ know what I mean?

Intelligent Verbatim

So anyway I said, ‘Well, Susan, I really think you shouldn’t be asking me that.’ And she said, ‘Look Mark, I dunno what you mean.’

Edited

So I said, ‘Well, Susan, I really think you shouldn’t be asking me that.’ And she said, ‘Look Mark, I don’t know what you mean.’

You can see that a whole extra line of typing is required for the verbatim work in just those two sentences.

There are occasions when verbatim is required – depending on your topic it might be required for legal reasons, or you might be studying the language itself and the way it’s used. But if you really don’t need it, don’t end up paying for it!

There are many excellent reasons for interviewing groups of people, but don’t do this in order to try to reduce the transcription cost! As already stated, it takes much longer to transcribe a group of more than two or three people (including the moderator/interviewer) because of the time taken to distinguish the different voices and the fact that people will inevitably talk over each other, especially when they get excited, enthusiastic, impassioned or angry.

And finally, remember that the cheapest transcription quote might not be the most affordable one in the end. There is an oft-quoted phrase: if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. Will it really be cost-effective to send your hard-won interviews to the cheapest service if what comes back is gobbledygook and you have to go through the whole thing correcting every other word? How much time will you then waste that could have been spent more productively on your core business?

Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_154766_15.html

Setting Up Your Medical Transcription Home Business

There are hundreds of thousands of people pursuing careers at home today because of the ongoing development of the internet. One of the many professions people are looking into as a home business is medical transcription. While it is possible to start this home business in a relatively small amount of time, there are several steps that should be taken in order to have success with medical transcription. Listed below are some things to do prior to opening up a medical transcription business.

1. Plan Ahead
   When you start a home business you have to realize that you are starting an actual business. In order to have success you have to plan everything from how you will set up the business in your home to how you will market it. There is a lot of work required with a home business such as work space, office equiment, reference books, etc. It is essential that you plan out every detail prior to jumping into it.
2. Finances
   Part of the planning process is determining the initial finances that are going to be required to get a home business going. If you jump into a medical transcription business without considering the costs, you may end up closing the business sooner than you think. Finances should include all of the equipment needed to work at home, the cost of your transcription course and the expenses of marketing and advertising your business.
3. Goals
   Once you have committed to the idea of a medical transcription home business, set goals for yourself to achieve. You need strict discipline to do your work accurately and on time. There is no employer standing behind you to make sure you are doing what you should be doing. Setting goals regarding your schooling, your marketing, and how far and in what direction you want your business to go is essential in reaching your full potential as a home based MT.
   
4. Research
   If you have never been in the MT field, do some researching to determine if this is something you think you would want to do. Vist the MT forums to research the best schools, the best transcription companies to work for and to network with veteran MTs to find out what it is like to be a home based MT. This will help you decide if this would be a career you would want to pursue.
   
5. Financial Expectations
   One of the most vital parts to starting any sort of home business is being patient in regards to income. Too often people that start a home business expect to start generating a high income immediately. Job experience is vital to improving your income in this business. A beginning medical transcriptionist is going to start at the low end of the pay scale so do not expect to start making $50,000.00 a year right out of school. Just be patient and build up your experience and you will eventually get there.

Starting a home business in medical transcription can be very rewarding personally and financially. The better prepared you are going into the business, the more success you will have down the road. Start your business off right with planning ahead to avoid some of the pitfalls of establishing a home based business.

Article Source: http://www.1articleworld.com

Marilyn Roberts has been a home based medical transcriptionist for many years. For more information and tips on becoming an MT visit her website at www.medicaltranscriptionabcs.blogspot.com to see if this is the career for you.