How Do You Get Around the Experience Requirements for Medical Transcription?

One of the most intimidating things for many people looking into medical transcription as a work at home career is the high percentage of jobs that require 2-3 years' experience before an employer will consider you.

Or so they say on the Careers page of their websites. If you make the right choice with your medical transcription education, fortunately, you can get around that.

There are 3 main schools that employers have come to trust. These are the Andrews School, M-Tec and Career Step. Each of these schools has a medical transcription education program that is sufficient to help students reach a level of skill that employers can trust. Your skill level matters far more than your experience level, once you get employers looking at you.

Attending one of these schools is one of the best ways to get that first bit of attention. Each of the schools has a reputation with employers, who know that their graduates are worth testing.

Yes, testing. Even if you graduate from one of these programs you will need to prove to potential employers that you have the skills the courses taught you. You may be able to find out from your school which employers are most willing to consider their graduates for positions.

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Long-time Medical Transcriptionists Tell All

If you are evaluating medical transcription training options in order to start a career as a medical transcriptionist, you very well could benefit from hearing how my wife and I launched our business years ago. We struggled through some tough times together, and we are happy to share what we learned here with you. Hopefully you will be able to benefit from this information and not repeat the mistakes we made. I can say from personal experience that being able to work from home as a medical transcriptionist is one of the most liberating opportunities that you will find - anywhere.

Medical Transcription has become very personal to me. To help you understand, let me tell you a bit about my history with the industry. My spouse actually went through medical transcription training years ago by tutoring on the job with her mother, who was a long time medical transcriptionist and who owned a medical transcription company. Back then, there really weren't many other options to receive Medical Transcription Training. You could say that she went through the school of hard knocks. Actually, you could say we both did. It was a difficult and stressful time. And since medical transcriptionists are typically paid on production, it was a very lean time for us financially. Her line counts were extremely low during the first 6 or 8 months of apprenticeship... and so were her paychecks.

Over time, however, she improved her production and eventually I felt emboldened by her progress to the point that I went out and started selling our own accounts. I approached clinics, hospitals, physician offices -- pretty much anyone who would listen to my pitch and I would sell them on the idea of using our Medical Transcription services. We teamed up with my wife's parents and began to expand our presence in the marketplace. It was slow going at first, but eventually we built our little Medical Transcription company up to a level where we had dozens of medical transcriptionists working for us. It was an extremely exciting time!

This new career allowed my wife to work at home as a medical transcriptionist and be there for our young children. We were all happier with the flexibility that her Medical Transcription Training afforded us. I think our kids were the happiest of all. And the pay just kept getting better and better. For one thing her typing speed increased dramatically over time -- which meant more money in her pocket. More importantly, though, she got to the point where she didn' t have to stop and look up difficult medical terms so often. She actually got to where she had transcribed enough medical reports that she could generally anticipate what the doctor was going to say next. I was totally impressed as I watched her work! And I became even more impressed when I asked her to let me have a try at the keyboard. I put on the headset and pushed the play button on the footpedal all excited to type my first report... Guess what? If you are evaluating medical transcription training options in order to start a career as a medical transcriptionist, you very well could benefit from hearing how my wife and I launched our business years ago. We struggled through some tough times together, and we are happy to share what we learned here with you. Hopefully you will be able to benefit from this information and not repeat the mistakes we made. I can say from personal experience that being able to work from home as a medical transcriptionist is one of the most liberating opportunities that you will find - anywhere.

Medical Transcription has become very personal to me. To help you understand, let me tell you a bit about my history with the industry. My spouse actually went through medical transcription training years ago by tutoring on the job with her mother, who was a long time medical transcriptionist and who owned a medical transcription company. Back then, there really weren't many other options to receive Medical Transcription Training. You could say that she went through the school of hard knocks. Actually, you could say we both did. It was a difficult and stressful time. And since medical transcriptionists are typically paid on production, it was a very lean time for us financially. Her line counts were extremely low during the first 6 or 8 months of apprenticeship... and so were her paychecks.

Over time, however, she improved her production and eventually I felt emboldened by her progress to the point that I went out and started selling our own accounts. I approached clinics, hospitals, physician offices -- pretty much anyone who would listen to my pitch and I would sell them on the idea of using our Medical Transcription services. We teamed up with my wife's parents and began to expand our presence in the marketplace. It was slow going at first, but eventually we built our little Medical Transcription company up to a level where we had dozens of medical transcriptionists working for us. It was an extremely exciting time!

This new career allowed my wife to work at home as a medical transcriptionist and be there for our young children. We were all happier with the flexibility that her Medical Transcription Training afforded us. I think our kids were the happiest of all. And the pay just kept getting better and better. For one thing her typing speed increased dramatically over time -- which meant more money in her pocket. More importantly, though, she got to the point where she didn' t have to stop and look up difficult medical terms so often. She actually got to where she had transcribed enough medical reports that she could generally anticipate what the doctor was going to say next. I was totally impressed as I watched her work! And I became even more impressed when I asked her to let me have a try at the keyboard. I put on the headset and pushed the play button on the footpedal all excited to type my first report... Guess what? She went upstairs for a snack and came back down to find me curled up on the floor in the fetal position out of sheer frustration. I could no more transcribe an operative report than I could fly to the moon! Her school of hard knocks medical transcription Training had definitely paid off -- in spades!

As technology advances came into the picture she was able to create macros on her computer that automatically inserted whole strings of common technical words and phrases with one or two keystrokes. You cannot believe the difference this made in her productivity. It was amazing! As her productivity went up, so did our income! We could finally do some of the things we had been putting off for so long for lack of money. Life was good!

About the Author

Chris Dunn has created a website to help stay-at-home moms (and dads) to explore Medical Transcription as the perfect work-at-home career and quality medical transcription training options. See: http://www.MedicalTranscriptionTraining.com/

Source : http://www.webraydian.com/

Why Transcription Work Is Ideal Data Entry Work

If you know how to type, you can provide transcription services for businesses from home. You don't have to be a medical or legal transcriptionist or know medical or legal terminology. You don't even need any specialized training. All you need is typing skills, a transcriber for tape transcription and a specialized pedal with free software for digital transcription.
Business transcription provides legitimate typing and data entry work. It's one of the best profit centers for secretarial services.

What is transcription? Transcribing is just a fancy term that means typing from dictation. The transcriptionist or typists listens to the dictated recording and transcribes or types the dictation and turns them into printed documents or electronic files.

The internet made it easy to receive digital transcription, making it possible to provide transcription work from home from any location.

Here's how it works. The employer dictates. Specialized equipment changes the voice file into an MP3. The employer sends the MP3 file over the internet to the transcriptionist. The transcriptionists opens up the file to hear the dictation and uses a specialized foot pedal to start and stop the dictation. After typing the dictated information, the transcriptionist sends the typed text file back to the employer.

Many people still record dictation on tape and mail it to transcriptionists.

Who needs transcription services? Transcription is not only used by medical professionals. Many professionals dictate documents that need to be transcribed. A wide range of individuals and organizations outsource transcription services. Transcription clients may include universities, financial institutions, consultants, and focus groups. Public speakers and workshop/seminar leaders often transcribe their seminars and talks. Authors dictate materials for their books. Television stations and independent television producers need transcription. Insurance companies farm out transcription work but often require some knowledge of medical terminology.

If you have specialized training such as nursing, massage therapy or physical therapy, then you may have some basic knowledge of medical terminology and can provide medical transcription in those areas you are knowledgeable about.

An easy way to break into medical transcription without extensive knowledge of medical terminology is to target psychologists. Several of my friends got transcription work that way.

Don't overlook business transcription as an alternative to data entry work. Looking for legitimate typing work at home? Get a free report on how to avoid home typing and data entry scams at http://www.typing-and-data-entry-scams.com

Source : https://www.amazines.com/

4 Reasons to Study Medical Transcription

It's not for everyone, but if you have what it takes and the interest and the basic skills to start with, medical transcription can be a wonderful career choice.

1. Learning medical terminology can be a great mental workout.
   
   There's a lot of medical transcription terminology to pick up as you study. If you don't already have a pretty good everyday vocabulary, training to become a medical transcriptionist is going to be pretty challenging.
   
   Remember learning about prefixes and suffixes in school? You'll be doing more work in this area to get familiar with ones you haven't used before. And you'll need it for when the doctor comes up with an obscure term.
   
   
2. Despite rumors to the contrary, the industry still looks healthy.
   
   Yes, there are always rumors about voice recognition software and/or outsourcing ruining opportunities for medical transcriptionists. They tend to be greatly exaggerated.
   
   Certainly there are doctors who are using voice recognition software. There are doctors outsourcing medical transcription to other countries.
   
   Quality matters tremendously, however, as does privacy. Voice recognition still has trouble with medical terminology, and it is expected that the worst this will do will be to make it necessary for doctors to employ transcriptionists as editors, so that mistakes do not persist in their records. We're talking about people's health, after all.
   
   Outsourcing similarly has problems with accuracy if the foreign transcriptionists are not well enough trained. It also suffers from privacy considerations, as United States law does not apply to people in other countries.
   
   
3. The work is interesting if you enjoy medical topics.
   
   Some reports may make you glad that you're just typing them up, not seeing them as they happen. Others will just be fascinating as you hear about the medical conditions people are dealing with.
   
   One of my favorite parts of being a transcriptionist was learning about the different conditions. Once in a while it would even come in handy in my own life for a family member. Then again, it was hugely frustrating when my son had a condition I'd never heard of because I didn't specialize in pediatric transcription.
   
   
4. You can decide where to work and whether you want a job or a business.
   
   Many medical transcriptionists work at home, but others do work onsite. There are advantages to each, and you can decide which suits you best. Search for the jobs with the working conditions you desire.
   
   But if you want to earn more, there are also great possibilities for running your own transcription business. You can be just a single person running a business with as many clients as you feel comfortable handling, or you can hire your own employees.
   

The biggest challenge with running a transcription business is getting time off. Even if you go the solo route, I strongly recommend getting to know some subcontractors. You will want a vacation someday, won't you?

You can also set your own hours, within the limits of the turnaround time you need to achieve. If you're running your own business, this will be vital to your success. If you're employed by someone else but work at home, you can still probably set your own hours, so long as you notify your employer. Probably the only time you have no control over your schedule is when you work onsite.

Overall, medical transcription is an exciting and challenging field to study. If you have the determination and interest, you can earn a good living while enjoying your work.

Source : Stephanie Foster runs http://www.medicaltranscriptionbasics.com/ for people interested in getting into medical transcription. Learn more about getting your medical transcription education at her site.

Source : http://www.content4reprint.com/

Medical Transcription - Tips on Finding the Best Training

If you're considering a career in medical transcription, you may be wondering where you can find training. The fact is that you'll find plenty of training options, from hands-on schools with required classes to attend to online or correspondence courses. The problem is not in finding training options, but in finding the best training.

Start by looking at the school's reputation with former students. Having one or two posted statements by former students probably isn't sufficient. After all, you can't even be certain those students actually graduated from that training or that their statements are accurate. Anyone can post a glowing review on a website. Ask to talk to some graduates of the program. Remember that the people you call will have been screened by the training program and will have pledged to give good reviews, but you can still ask some pertinent questions that will help you make your decisions.

You should also take a close look at the amount of automated material you'll be handling and whether any of your time will be spent with real people who can offer personal training, feedback and advice. Its fine to take some automated tests and there's no doubt that computerized activities are an excellent source of practice and training. But when you finish an automated test with a score of 70, you may be upset that you didn't do better. When you're talking to those real people, you may find that most people have trouble with that particular exercise or given some real advice that will help you do better on future exams. Computerized work has its place, but shouldn't be 100 percent of your training.

Help in finding work after you've completed the medical transcription course is also a big incentive to choose a particular training option. In some cases, the training may include access to a website, newsletter or job positing forum that unites medical transcriptionists with potential employers. Whether you're looking for a full-time job in a health care facility or planning to use your knowledge to start a home-based business, your training will be useless without clients or an employer. Look for training opportunities that can help you past handing you a certificate of completion.

Convenience may very well be the deciding factor for some people. If you're already working a full time (or even part time) job, juggling demands of family and still trying to make some time for yourself, you probably already know that having time for school is going to be difficult. If this is the case, consider online training. You can study at your own rate. Don't have time during the week? Spend some of your weekend hours on your training materials. Just remember that the training won't finish itself and you have to make the commitment to complete the work if you want to start this exciting new career.

There are plenty of options when it comes to training for a medical transcription career. All you need to do is find the one that's perfect for you.

Medical Transcriptionist

Making your Business Conference Calling Effective and Useful

For a business to reach out to their client base, form connections with their satellite operations, and maintain communication levels exceeding that of emails and memos, they must reach those in their professional network by phone. Business conference calling can be done through a number of services, offering low rates, discounted toll free numbers to call in order to connect with everyone else on the call, and a myriad of added services that bolster the effectiveness of business conference calling.

If you are working for a medium to large size business, then you understand the complexities of managing time, resources, and money. The employees may work several hours from your office and need constant support and contact with your department. A business conference calling plan tailored to your specific needs can help you to stay in constant contact with those you are overseeing. For effective conference calls to become a reality, a business must first find the plan that works for them. There are several questions you must answer to find a suitable plan.

1. Do you know how many minutes/hours you will need for conference calls per month?
2. Looking at those numbers, does it make sense to purchase a monthly subscription plan, reducing your per minute charge for your business conference calling?
3. For effective conference calls, have you considered recording the sessions for transcription later?
4. Do you require a toll free number or will a toll number be sufficient?
   

Once you have the answers to these questions related to your business conference calling requirements, you can begin searching to find the perfect match for your business. The internet offers a wide array of business conference calling plans to match your company's usage and requirements. Once you have chosen the package right for your business, it is only a matter of holding effective conference calls.

Effective conference calls are achieved by strong leadership, focused discussions, and by having an agenda. A conference call can go awry when those leading the discussion lose focus, talk incessantly about one particular to the topic, or crowd the microphone time, eliminating others from the conversation. Effective conference calls should utilize the resources (people and money) to their advantage, bringing everyone together to brainstorm, listen and become informed on a topic, or just to talk about the business needs for them can be an effective conference calls.

By finding the right business conference calling plan, hosts can utilize the tools at their disposal to make it as easy to join and participate on the call as possible. Effective conference calls happen when those conducting the calls can do so without interference of dropped calls or other annoyances. The right service can promote effective conference calls, as much as the right leadership and personnel.

Author Resource:- Huzaili Aris is the webmaster of http://www.conferencecall101.com Starting a conference call is not as complex as some people think. It is the easiest way to save you time and money for your business. Find out the 11 things to remember when choosing a conference call service by visiting our website.

A Buyers Guide to Dictaphones and Digital Voice Recorders

Dictaphones or Digital Voice Recorders (DVRs) are ideal for recording voice memos, interviews, conferences, meetings and phone conversations. The term Dictaphone is a brand name that refers to the version that uses cassette tapes to record, as opposed to the newer Digital Voice Recorders (DVR) that the save the audio to memory.

Digital Voice Recorder (DVR)

• Use your USB port to save typing time by directly transferring audio files from your DVR to your computer
• With the DVR there is no need to rewind; when you finish recording you simply press the play button to playback immediately
• Each audio file you record to your DVR is automatically saved under a number with a time-and-date stamp
• The DVR usually has between 2 to 5 folders to separate audio for better organization
• Some DVR's allow you to move messages between folders and split or delete messages
• You won't cause a distraction during meetings or conferences changing tapes and you won't miss anything important whilst doing so
• Some DVR's come with software that automatically converts the voice file to text for easy transcription
• Newer DVR's have expandable memory and come with external memory cards. Look out for this as it gives you more flexibility with recording time and makes it easier to download audio to your computer
• The DVR is normally powered by 1 or 2 AAA alkaline or rechargeable batteries
  

Cassette Tape/Dictaphone

• Choose between Mini, Micro or Standard; Mini cassettes (15min per side) hold half of the content of Standard and Micro (30mins per side)
• Cassette Tape Dictaphones can be played on any player that takes the respective size
• With digital you only have a limited amount of space to store recordings (if you have no external memory card) - whereas with a cassette tape Dictaphone you can simply exchange tapes if you run out of room
• Battery life is longer in a Dictaphone than a Digital Voice Recorder
• A Dictaphone is a cheaper alternative
• There is no digital storage on a Dictaphone cassette tape
• Reuse the cassettes - you can buy a machine that automatically erases micro and mini cassettes
• Many come with equipment specifically for recording phone conversations
  

Desktop or Portable Voice Recorder?

Desktop DVR's or Dictaphones are generally cheaper and are ideal for recording phone conversations or are used in conjunction with transcription software. There are numerous models of portable Dictaphones varying in size and ability, but are all ideal if you are on the road or need a Dictaphone or DVR for times of inspiration.

Push Button or Thumb Slide Recorders?

Push Button Cassette Recorders usually have the ability to insert dictation but it can be very difficult to find the point you want. With the Thumb slide switch it is much easier to review and control with rewind review capability, rewind, insert, play and stop.

Which Mode?

There are three levels of recording quality and differing recording times. The longer the recording time the lower the quality.

High Quality (HQ) - 43 mins approx.
Short Play (SP) - 65 mins approx.
Long Play (LP) - 121 mins approx.

Advertisers usually display the longest recording time, so keep in mind that the Dictaphone or DVR will record at less than half of that on high quality. This is particularly important for DVR's, as the higher quality mode uses much more memory and you don't want to be halfway through a meeting or interview and find you are out of memory.

There are usually two levels of sensitivity available on a Dictaphone or DVR. LOW is the best for dictation, as the microphone tends to be uni-directional in this mode and will focus on your voice. HIGH sensitivity picks up sound in all directions along with unwanted background noise.

Dictaphones and Digital Voice Recorders: Other Features to Consider

• Voice Activate System (VAS) - Dictaphones or DVR's with VAS will automatically record when they hear your voice (or other sound) without having to push any buttons. Great for when your hands are tied up.
• Alarm - to remind you when to record or a timer that you can set to automatically record between two times
• Tie clip microphone - for hands free recording
• Earphones - for play back when you do not want to disturb others
• Rechargeable batteries and a battery level indicator
• Microphones can either be built in or detachable. If you want your Dictaphone or DVR for a higher quality of recording such as music, then look for one with a microphone jack
• Speakers - most are built in but some models have detachable speakers that can be used for presentations.
• Digital storage - some come with more than others
• Hands free or foot control - keep your hands free for typing or playing an instrument
• Automatic backspace - automatically reverse the desired number of seconds for input or playback
  

Transcribers and Docking Stations

All digital transcription systems require you to use a foot pedal connected to your computer. This enables you to transcribe files from your Dictaphone or DVR from audio to text by listening and typing a few seconds at a time.

Docking stations make it very easy to download the files you have recorded to your computer. Some docking stations also recharge the batteries on your recorder, which is ideal if your Dictaphone is in high use.

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

Medical transcription industry to take a hit from US recession

The Philippine medical transcription industry will not be spared from the effects of the global economic slowdown although its share in the global market is small, an executive of a transcription company said Tuesday.

Speaking in one of the sessions at the BPO Summit Philippines 2008, Fred Kumetz, chief executive officer of medical and transcription firm eData Services said that the medical transcription (MT) sector is not immune to the effects of the slowdown in the economy of the United States, where most MT clients are based,

“The belief that medical transcription is recession proof is a fallacy,” said Kumetz.

Kumetz, however, said that the effect of the slowdown in the global MT industry will be “totally insignificant” because the Philippine MT industry is too small to be affected by the financial crisis.

The transcription sector is one of the non-voice sectors of the BPO in the Philippines. In 2007, the sector generated US$197 million and it has grown by an average of 24 percent during the past three years.

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Medical Transcription - Online Versus Classroom Training

If you've considered a career in medical transcription, you've probably already spent at least some time looking into the study options. And there are some serious decisions to be made when it comes to those training options. Should you study medical transcription in a classroom? Or would an online or correspondence course be better? It depends on your personality, your location and your needs.

Start by looking into schools in your area that offer medical transcription in a classroom setting. The sheer fact of your location in relation to any schools you'd be interested in attending may very well make the decision for you. While location is sometimes the deciding factor, don't let yourself be talked into taking what you consider to be second-rate medical transcription training just because it happens to be nearby. You can certainly get quality training from an online or correspondence school if there's nothing close to your location.

Your own personality - and limitations - should also play a role in your choice of training options. Do you work well without strict supervision and deadlines? Can you set goals for yourself and follow through? If your answer to those questions isn't a resounding "yes," you may not do well with online or correspondence training. There's a big difference between sitting in a classroom every day (or once a week) and being turned loose to do your own work. In a classroom, you're held responsible for keeping pace with the class. A correspondence class allows you to set your own pace. Some people simply need the structure of a classroom setting.

That's not to say that you have to attend classes in person to get that structure. Many distance learning programs allow students to "meet" with instructors and even classmates on a regular basis via computer. You simply set up a webcam at your location and you have the opportunity to interact with the teacher and even others taking the class. In some ways, this is the best of all possible worlds for the busy adult who still needs some structure to accomplish the goals of medical transcription training.

If you think the online "meeting" is a good idea for you, take a minute to look at your own computer and your connection. A dial-up connection with a slow computer may simply not be able to present the class in "real time." The lag can be annoying or even embarrassing, and you may find yourself losing out on some important points.

Regardless of what kind of training you choose, be wary of those offering claims that seem simply too good to be true. No one can guarantee that you'll find a job the week you complete your training and a school that offers those kinds of promises may very well be exaggerating other points of their training as well. Take time to be sure that any training facility you choose is reputable and that your hard work will end with training that will make you qualified to work in the medical transcription field. medical transcription online courses

YouMail Announces New Voicemail Transcription Services

Users Can Receive High-Quality Transcriptions of All Voicemails via SMS or Email

YouMail, Inc. , the mobile industry's premier consumer voicemail service, today expanded its offerings to include high-quality voicemail transcription. This opt-in transcription service provides YouMail customers with human transcribed voicemail or automated transcriptions via SMS or email.

"We're committed to providing our users with the most innovative mobile voicemail service," said Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail. "That's why we are thrilled to offer our users the option to read their voicemail, helping them save time and letting them access their voicemail when it would otherwise be inconvenient."

Benefits of the new transcription service include low price points, the ability to select human or automated transcriptions, and the ability to provide feedback and/or correct transcriptions they receive to improve transcriptions of future voicemail.

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Telecommuting Job Idea Transcription

Working as a transcriptionist is a great way to telecommute or work from home. Transcription simply means that you take spoken word and transcribe it into a written document. The person you are doing the transcription for usually speaks on a tape or records his voice as a digital file and then sends it to you. You simply type what you hear.

Of course there is software and hardware out there that will make the job easier by allowing you to slow down the recording you are transcribing. Different Types of Transcription Positions

Medical Transcription

Medical transcription is probably the most common and best know type of transcription. Doctors and other medical staff record their comments and notes about a patient. The transcriptionist then transcribes the recording and the written document is added to the patients file.

As a medical transcriptionist you should have a good understanding of medical terminology and their spelling. While a degree or course in medical transcription is not required, especially if you are working for smaller doctors' offices, it does help to gain more lucrative contacts and of course prepares you for the work ahead.

Legal Transcription

Almost everything in legal proceedings is recorded from interviews between attorneys and clients to actual trials. Many of the minor recordings are often outsourced to someone doing transcription from home. You could work for a few lawyers and turn their recordings into written documents that can be added to their client's files. As with medical transcription, there is quite a bit of specialized terminology, in this case legal lingo that you will come across when doing legal transcription. Previous experience in the field of law, or taking a class or home study course will help prepare you for your work as a legal transcriptionist.

Business

There is an increasing need for transcription in the business world. In addition to the traditional letter dictating work that you can pick up, there is an increasing demand for transcriptionists that will turn teleconferences and online meetings into written documents. It seems that almost any online business owner these days is holding teleseminars or teleconferences these days to communicate with both customers and business partners. While many people appreciate the option of listening to information, there are also quite a few who prefer to read a transcript of the call. You could stay busy just transcribing for a few online business owners, or work as a secretary taking dictations for a few traditional business owners in your area.

If you have good typing skills, transcription may be a great way for you to telecommute. Start with some general business or teleconference type jobs. If transcription is something you enjoy doing, it may be worth your wile to take a class or course to prepare you for medical or legal transcription, both of which require extensive knowledge of special terms in the respective field.

About the Author
Nell Taliercio is the owner and founder of http://www.TelecommutingMoms.com - which is a leading resource website with work at home jobs and everything a telecommuting mom would need. Come visit us today!

How To Choose A Good Medical Transcription Training Program

Many ideas abound about what constitutes a good MT program. Some people feel that the schools that advertise on TV showing a mother working at her computer while her children play quietly at her feet is an accurate portrayal of the life of an MT. What is true and what is not true in regard to MT education?

What is AAMT and COMPRO?

The American Association of Medical Transcription (www.aamt.org) is the professional industry organization that represents medical transcriptionists. The AAMT has developed a competency profile for medical transcription education (COMPRO). This profile outlines many of the areas that a good solid MT program should cover. In brief, some of these areas include the following: English language, medical knowledge, technology, healthcare documentation, and professional practice. Under each of these broad headings are very particular sets of competencies that an MT student must demonstrate to show they have mastered that area. The full COMPRO guidelines are listed on the AAMT's web site, and we highly recommend that all prospective MT students visit the site and go over the profile in detail.

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113 are now certified medical workers

BARBADOS has produced its first ever group of qualified medical transcriptionists, taking advantage of the "critical" shortage in the United states.

One hundred and thirteen pioneers in the profession, which is new to Barbados, graduated from a one-year course as part of a project set up last year to establish the infrastructure necessary for the development of medical transcription services here. It is expected to boost the island's foreign exchange earning capacity substantially in the future.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony at Kensington Oval on Tuesday evening, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office with special responsibility for Finance and Energy, Senator Darcy Boyce, said the Barbados project involved the establishment of the infrastructure necessary for the development of medical transcription services in Barbados, through the establishment of an educational/ training facility supported by Government.

"The objective was to develop a fully staffed medical transcription training facility to train 500 persons, with the aim of eventually developing three to five production facilities," Senator Boyce disclosed.

The project was also intended to provide the opportunity for local and foreign investors "to work together in strategic investment relationships to establish new businesses earning foreign exchange", according to Boyce.

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Medical Transcription Tips for Word Searching

Word searching is locating the medical word that is correct both in spelling and meaning. This is a Medical Transcription skill that takes time and practice to develop.

Tip #1:

If you find yourself unable to locate a medical word in your reference books, it might be the word has an initial letter different than the sound or initial letter you hear. For example, the v sounds very much like that of f, the letter m may actually be an x (xiphoid) and the k might be ch (ischemic).

In addition, medical terms that contain silent letters such as euthyroid, herniorrhaphy, pneumonia or words frequently mispronounced such as menstruation present a unique challenge for the Medical Transcriptionist.

Experience is often more the teacher in using available resources. The longer you remain a Medical Transcriptionist, the more proficient you will become in determining sound-alikes and locating terms with silent letters.

Tip #2:

When you are unable to locate a phrase under a particular entry, look under a related entry.

Tip #3:

When you hear a phrase you cannot understand, look first under the noun and not the adjective. Nouns usually follow adjectives. An example: If you are looking for bullous emphysema, look under emphysema (the noun) and not bullous. To find particular diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, look under disease.

An exception to the above tip is that in Latin phrases, the noun is followed by the adjective such as “fascia lata,” and “ligamentum flavum.” You would look under the first word with Latin phrases. Bacterial names are another exception in that the genus is given first, followed by the species: Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

If you exhaust all you know to do when word searching on the job, a Medical Transcriptionist should:

1. seek another transcriptionist’s opinion
2. refer to the patient’s chart
3. contact the dictating physician for clarification
4. leave a blank in the report and attach a note so that the dictator may insert the correct word
   

If you leave a blank in the report, you should flag the report by attaching a note with a paperclip. The note should list all blanks left in the report, and giving as many details as possible for ease of identification such as page and line number. The Medical Transcriptionist may also give a phonetic spelling of what the word or words sounded like to assist the dictator in filling in the blank or blanks.

The main thing to remember about word searching is to never guess at a word. A blank in the medical report does not reflect poorly on the Medical Transcriptionist who thoroughly researched for the words and exhausted all else before leaving the blank. Leaving a blank is the correct thing to do. Integrity and accuracy of the medical report is much more important than presenting documents that never leave blanks.

Written by: Connie Limon, Medical Transcriptionist. Visit us at http://www.aboutmedicaltranscription.info for more information about the unique and rewarding career choice of Medical Transcription.

Remote Medical Transcription Services

In the competitive healthcare arena, remote medical transcription services have great significance. Every healthcare facility, whether small or large, has to maintain proper and consistent healthcare documentation. Even though the demand for medical transcription has gone up steadily over the years, there has been a lack of skilled and trained personnel in key areas of medical transcription.

Nowadays, many healthcare practices in the US are finding it difficult to maintain the medical records of patients. As there is critical shortage of medical transcription workforce, many healthcare providers face a serious situation in which they do not get patients’ records transcribed on time, usually in times of emergency. In such situations, remote medical transcription services are the best option.

Excellent remote medical transcription services are now offered by many medical transcription firms, where the medical transcription specialists work from remote locations, even from their own homes. As this line of service is of great help for healthcare facilities, it is now being availed by medical facilities and establishments of all sizes including hospitals, professional practices, pain clinics, and others in the field, in all medical specialties. As per the needs of clients, remote medical transcriptionists transcribe the medical records dictated by doctors and others, including history and physical reports, discharge summaries, clinic notes, office notes, consultation notes, operative reports, x-ray reports, psychiatric evaluations, laboratory reports, pathology reports, and more.

By availing of the remote medical transcription services, you can gain many competitive advantages and benefits in terms of higher output and turnaround time.

Apart from these initial benefits, other benefits that can be gained include:

• Superior work product
• HIPAA compliant transcription practices
• 24x7 customer support service
• Cost-effective rates
• Security and confidentiality
• Customer satisfaction
  

Almost all MT (medical transcription) firms employ quality controllers to maintain the excellence of the remote medical transcription works. To provide the services in an efficient way and to stay competitive, the companies are committed to maintaining the latest technologies and equipments.

If you are in search for an MT firm that can offer remote medical transcription services, the internet is the best place to start your search. Before making a choice, it is better to conduct some research in terms of turnaround times and costs.

About the Author:

Outsource Strategies International (OSI) is a medical transcription company and a medical billing services company providing HIPAA compliant medical transcription services added with other services such as medical billing, medical coding, patient scheduling, authorizations and verifications.

Transcription Tips: Increasing Accuracy in Voice Recordings

Here are things you can do to increase the accuracy of the transcription for your recordings:

1. Reduce ambient room noise
   
   The quieter the room is, the better it will be for the recording. As transcriptionists rely solely on the sounds that we hear, background noises such as cars passing by, sounds of paper rustling, sounds of doors opening and closing, even the sound of the PA system all contribute to a higher noise level– and reduce the accuracy of the transcription
   
   
2. Use more than one recorder
   
   If you are recording for a group of people, centering the recording device around them will only ensure the accuracy of the people near the recording device. The voices or sounds made by the people farther away are more than likely going to be faint. Transcriptionists are less likely to be able to transcribe these. One solution is to place more recording devices. Transcriptionists can use the recordings from these other devices to check on the accuracy of the transcribe documents.
   
   
3. Encode with higher bit rates
   
   Once the recorder captures the audio, you will need to digitize it for uploading to our servers. The preferred format is either in wma, mp3 or wav– in that order. The preferred settings are 96kb for the bit rate, and 44khz for the sampling rate. The higher the bit rate, and the higher the sampling rate, the more higher the clarity of the voice recordings, and collaterally, the higher the accuracy of the transcription.
   
   
4. Provide notes of the event
   
   The words of interests like speakers’ names, events, places, and even powerpoint slides during the meeting are all materials that can help us transcribe more accurately.

Source : http://www.futuregen.sg/

Payroll rebate funds new medical transcription jobs

A Toronto-based medical transcription company is expanding its business in Nova Scotia with the help of a government payroll rebate program.

Prudential Consulting Inc. plans to create up to 70 jobs in the next five years. The province, through development arm Nova Scotia Business Inc, will support the expansion with a payroll rebate of up to $590,400. It is an earned incentive tied to the company achieving hiring targets.

Economic Development Minister Angus MacIsaac said that because of PCI’s unique operating model, it can draw talent from across the province, allowing Nova Scotians to live and work in their own communities.

Prudential Consulting provides health information management services for hospitals in Nova Scotia and across the country.

Read More Article...

Transcription Tips and Guidelines

Tips

Remember where the image controls are
The control buttons for zooming in and out and panning are located just above the image. Unfortunately, when the scrollbars are used to scroll down the image the controls are scrolled out of sight. Remember that when you get to the bottom of the image, and want to view additional lines, that you need to scroll back to the top to use the controls. NOTE! the Archives have changed the placement of the image controls to be centered above the image; on low resolution screens you may have to scroll to the right to bring them into view.

Use the tab key!
The tab key can be used to move from input field to input field. The first time you press tab it moves to the first input field, scrolling the window if necessary. This makes it easy to get to the form on a web page without having to use the scrollbar. It also is a much quicker way to move from field to field than having to use the mouse. When the page is first brought up, or if you have clicked in the top part of the window, you need to click in the lower part of the window before using the tab key.

Type the first letter of the value you want in a drop-down selection box
If you use the tab key to select an input field with a drop-down selection box you can select the value you want by simply typing the first letter of the value. If there are multiple values starting with the same letter, press that letter multiple times, the value will cycle through the possible values. For example, in the relation to head of household field, pressing 's' once will select "Son", pressing 's' a second time will select "Sister", and pressing it a third time will select "Servant". If you continue to press a letter it will cycle through the values over and over. Using the tab key and typing the first letter of your choice will generally be much faster than using the mouse to move between fields and select values in drop-down boxes.

A magnifying glass or virtual magnifying glass is sometimes quicker than zooming in on the image
If you just want to take a closer look at a word or name you may find it is quicker to use a magnifying glass or a program like Virtual Magnifying Glass than to reload the image at a higher magnification. On Windows XP there is a built-in magnifier intended for people with visual impairments that can be useful: start / Programs / Accessories / Accessibility / Magnifier

Entering a non-date value in the date of birth column
If the enumerator wrote something like "didn't know" in the month and date of birth column you can enter it by selecting "Other" in the month selection box and then entering the text in the day input box. If the enumerator entered a valid month but then something invalid for the day, e.g. May ? still select "Other" for the month and enter both the month and whatever else in the date column.

Deleting a duplicate line
If you have a duplicate line on a full page edit that line and set the line number to 99. Records with line set to 99 will be automatically deleted periodically. If you have a duplicate line on a page that is not yet complete you can also edit the line and change all the values to data from an as yet untranscribed line. To edit a line use the transcription page and click on the edit link next to the line in the table under the input form. Note: once a page is claimed the edit link will only appear when you are signed on/authenticated as the user that claimed the page.

1911: in the 1911 census you can delete an unwanted line by clicking on the Show Data link below the input form and then clicking on delete next to the line you want to delete.

Notes and corrections
You may edit or add notes to each line previously transcribed. As soon as a line transcription has been submitted, it is available for consultation, editing and/or annotation. Scroll down to the bottom of your screen to access the lines previously transcribed. Have a quick look to make sure there are no duplicate or missing lines. If you find errors in your transcription, you may correct them by clicking on the "Edit" button found at the end of each line. Do the necessary corrections and press Enter or click the "Submit" button, when you have completed editing each line.
Notes:
There are two types of Notes available: surname notes and line notes. It is important to remember that they serve different purposes and should be used accordingly.

Surname Notes are used to offer an alternative surname to the one listed on the census where the enumerator has made a spelling mistake in a name. It should always be attached to the line of the head of the family. A Surname Note affects a whole family, not only the individual listed on the line to which it is attached. Furthermore, whenever an alternative surname is suggested in a Surname Note, it will also be included in the National Surname Index with a link to the related family. Please remember that Surname Note cannot be edited or deleted. So they should be done with care!

Line Notes, on the other hand, are used to add a comment when a line is struck out, contains comments or other information not easily captured in the standard fields. Line Notes are attached to a line number, not to the individual listed on that line. Please remember that if you change a line number, the note will remain attached to the line number originally affected by the note. For example, line number 20 has a note attached, correcting the field known as "relation to the head of the family" for a certain individual. When reviewing your work, you realize that line 20 should actually be line 21; using the "Edit" button, you correct the field "line no." from #20 to #21 and click "Submit". The individual previously listed on line 20 is now appearing on line 21, as it should be, but the line note remained with line #20. Therefore, your Note is now attached to the wrong individual. You have no other option but to delete the Note attached to line 20, and to do a new one, this time, on line 21. You may use the copy/paste commands to save yourself some time. Always remember to delete Notes which are no longer needed, specially when correcting a line # to 99, as the Note will remained attached to the original line number. To view the complete list of all the line notes added to one page, first access the transcription page, after you are logged in, and scroll down to the bottom part of your screen, right under the transcription board. The delete option can be found under each line note.

1911: to delete a line note you have added in the 1911 index go to the transcription screen, click on Show data, click on the note link for the line the note appears on, and click the delete link next to the note in the list of existing notes for that line.

Surname Note:

Scroll to the bottom part of your screen, to the transcriptions board. Click on "Note" to the right of the line of your choice. The next screen will show the complete line with the information as entered. Under it, you will see "Add surname note". The field next to it contains the family name as it has been entered. You have the option to edit the name to offer an alternative: overwrite it with the alternative surname. If necessary, use the next field to add the appropriate comment to support your alternative, and click on "Submit alternative surname".
Line Note:
In the field "Add line note", include additional comments or other information not easily captured in the standard field. If a line is crossed out or a note appears in the margin in the original you can use a line note to include this information.
If you have records such as birth, baptism, or marriage records that indicate that information given in the census is incorrect, or giving additional useful information, you can add a line note citing that record and giving the alternate information. By using line notes the index stays true to the original census record while the user is alerted to the additional information. The ability to add information should only be used where you can cite a record, the index will become cluttered and confusing if a lot of unsupported information is added. Line notes are limited to about 200 characters so plan carefully in order to enter as much as possible in the space available. If you have important information to share, if necessary, you may add an additional line note to the same line.

Note: line notes should never be used to correct a transcription error! Correction notes should be used for that purpose.

Guidelines

Repeated values
Where the value of a field on the original census form indicates a repeat of the previous value either with a quotes/ditto mark or, in the case of the household number by being left blank, the value should be repeated in the transcription rather than using a ditto mark or leaving the field empty. This makes each record complete in itself which is useful for searching and sorting purposes.

Capitalization
The capitalization used in the original census form should be preserved in the name fields. Surnames should not be entered completely in upper case letters. Where output is desired with the surname in upper case it is trivial for the computer to produce all upper case from a mixed case value but not the other way around.

Errors in the original census
Where the enumerator has made a spelling error in a name or one of the other values seems to be or is in error, the transcription should be faithful to the value entered by the enumerator. Conflicts in the date of birth versus the age are particularly common and should be transcribed as they are written in the original census. For fields with selection boxes (e.g. month) the appropriate value in the box should be selected even if the enumerator has used a different abbreviation or misspelled the word.

Unreadable entries
In some cases the transcriber will not be able to make out what is written in a field. In these cases a question mark (?) can be used to indicate an unreadable value. If a value is partially legible then the part that is legible should be entered and the part that is not should be represented with a question mark. If the transcribers feel they can make a reasonable guess at the characters then they should enter their guess rather than using question marks. For example, if * represents an unreadable character in the original then:
Original Transcription
***** ?
Patt** Patt?
P***en P?en
*atten ?atten
[Something vaguely
resembling Patten] Patten(?)

Crossed out lines
If a line is filled in and then crossed out enter the values for the line and use the note link next to the line in the table below the input form to add a line note indicating the line was crossed out. If there was a note on the original form such as "dead" include that in the line note comment.

Blank lines
If a line is left blank all values for that line (except the line number!) should be set to blank. It is preferable for blank lines to be represented as blank rather than apparently missing. On the last page of a polling district there will usually be some blank lines, to fill these in use the link at the bottom of the transcription page which will bring up an alternate transcription form with all the default values set to blank, making it easier to add blank lines, you only need to fill in the line number for each line. If you want to fill in the rest of the page with blank lines there is a link at the top of this alternate transcription form that will fill in blanks from the last transcribed line to the end of the page. If there are blank lines in the middle of the page you will need to fill them in line by line.

Surname and givens order reversed
Some enumerators entered names with the given names first instead of surnames first. Sometimes entire pages were recorded this way, other times a single household. If a whole page is recorded this way or it is otherwise clear which is the surname and which is the given name then they should be entered in the input boxes labeled surname and givens regardless of the order in which they are written in the original. If the correct order for a single household is ambiguous then the names should still be entered according to the order they were written and a surname note should be added. For example, if an entry is written "John Henry" in an area where Henry is a common surname and John is not, then it should be transcribed with surname John and givens Henry but a surname note added with the surname Henry. Adding the surname note flags the entry so that users are alerted to the need to consult the image and judge for themselves, and adds an extra entry to the surname list making it possible to find the person if it turns out that what was written as the givens is actually the surname.

Abbreviated given names and initials
Sometimes the enumerator abbreviated given names, e.g. Geo. for George. Such abbreviations should be transcribed as they appear in the original. Some enumerators put periods after initials, others did not, and some were inconsistant. The preferred transcription is to record exactly what was written in the original but this is not critical and one should not enter corrections where the only difference between the original and the transcription is a period after an initial.

Two digit birth years
Where the enumerator has written birth years as two digit numbers instead of the full four digits the birth year should be expanded to four digits. Like month names that are abbreviated in various ways, the value of the birth year is not being changed when it is written in full and no interpretation is necessary.

Duplicate, missing, and corrected household numbers
The household numbers have no intrinsic meaning, they were just assigned in the order of enumeration. Since the order of enumeration is already reflected in the page and line ordering they carry even less significance (in the past the family number could be useful where the transcription was presented ordered alphabetically by surname of the head of household which is not an issue with our index). The importance of the household number in our index is in grouping people into households, so what the number is is less important than that all the members of a given household have the same, and preferably unique number. Having said that, where the numbers are clear and legible they should be entered as is. Where a number is repeated the onus is then on the user of the index to recognize the anomaly and draw their own conclusions. If two households have the same household number add 1000 to the household number for the second household in order to ensure it is unique. A line note should then be added to explain that this has been done. In the common case where the numbers have been written over it is preferable to choose the numbers that correctly group the households. Often the original numbers have been corrected but the correction is fainter or less clear than the original, it is still preferable to record the fainter but correct numbers or simply use sequential numbers where the overwriting makes the numbers in the original illegible. Note that the combination of page and line number create an unambiguous reference to a person and will normally provide a better means of refering to a record than using a household number both because of how commonly the household number is unclear and because the household number has no real meaning. Use of household numbers for references are mainly an artifact of printed transcriptions that have been reordered and online indices that do not provide listings of whole pages in the original order. In particular, note that refering to a page and line number does not tie your reference to a given index in any way, the page and line numbers correspond to the original documents.

Groups with no surname
There are several cases where a group of people did not use surnames including first nations peoples and religious orders. In these cases we have elected to use an identifying keyword for the missing surname and use the single name as a given name. Some example artificial surnames are: Sister (for nuns), Inuit, Blackfoot. This scheme has the added benefit that it makes it significantly easier to search the index.

Inclusion of titles
In cases where the enumerator has included a title it should be transcribed at the end of the givens field. For example, "Wood, Senator Josiah" should be transcribed surname "Wood" and givens "Josiah, Senator".

Source : http://automatedgenealogy.com/

Payroll rebate funds new medical transcription jobs

A Toronto-based medical transcription company is expanding its business in Nova Scotia with the help of a government payroll rebate program.

Prudential Consulting Inc. plans to create up to 70 jobs in the next five years. The province, through development arm Nova Scotia Business Inc, will support the expansion with a payroll rebate of up to $590,400. It is an earned incentive tied to the company achieving hiring targets.

Economic Development Minister Angus MacIsaac said that because of PCI’s unique operating model, it can draw talent from across the province, allowing Nova Scotians to live and work in their own communities.

Read More Article...

Medical transcription group shares career opportunities

The Kansas Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity -- a medical transcription professional group -- is holding a career information meeting next week in Derby.

The group is looking to share information with people interested in learning more about this in-demand career.

Read More Article...

VoiceCloud Launches Voicemail-to-Text Transcription Services

VoiceCloud (News - Alert), a provider of next-generation, voice-to-text solutions, announced the general availability of its industry-leading, voicemail-to-text transcription services.

The VoiceCloud solution uses VoiceCloud's patent-pending streaming audio technology that allows multiple concurrent connections to instantaneously transcribe voicemail messages to text. Users whether on a mobile device or online can immediately see who has called and what was said — ensuring that critical voicemails are never missed.

In addition to this, VoiceCloud solution is completely self-hosted which indicates all resources and operations are managed in-house and processes are streamlined. Unlike other providers of voicemail-to-text services, the time and costs of dealing with third-parties are eliminated. VoiceCloud along with its advanced technology is enabled to provide their customers with quicker, more accurate and less expensive services than any other voicemail-to-text provider in the industry.

Read More Article...

When recording material for transcription

• Check the recorder each time to ensure that it is working properly.
• Replace batteries periodically. Weak batteries cause fluctuation in recording speed and volume.
• Record at the recorder’s highest volume.
• Spell our participants’ and company names when applicable.
• During interviews or conferences, balance microphones between speakers or directly in front of each participant so all voices are heard by the transcriptionist.When recording on micro cassettes, record on the 2.5 speed for best quality.
• By not rewinding tapes once you have finished recording, we know at a glance how long each tape is, allowing us to schedule your work promptly and keep production moving.
• Tell us what the outcome of your project is so we won’t spend time and money transcribing any information that is not required.
  

Source : http://www.andersontypefast.com/

Using Amazon Mechanical Turk for transcriptions: Effective, but it's a kluge

Andy Baio has an interesting review of Amazon's Mechanical Turk being used for "cheap, easy" audio transcription. The review immediately caught my eye -- I've been manually transcribing interviews for years, and, as Baio notes, it's a royal pain. Human transcription services are one alternative, but they tend to be expensive and a hassle to arrange. I've been waiting for some company to launch a cheap, automated, accurate transcription service or software package. Could Mechanical Turk be the answer?

After reading the review, I've come to the conclusion that it's not. The service is cheap, but it is definitely not automated -- remember, this is Mechanical Turk, which is a marketplace for buyers and sellers of services that need to be done by human beings. I did not try to transcribe anything through Mechanical Turk, but Baio's 1,143-word review describes a multistage, manual process that involves:

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Transcription job: Home, sweet, home

Editor's note: This is one in a weekly series of profiles on locally owned and operated businesses in Southern Oregon.

What do you do and how long have you been doing it? I do radiology transcription for major hospitals on the East Coast. I've been doing this 16 years.

How long have you lived in the Rogue Valley? We moved here in 2001 from Stillwater, N.J.

What inspired you to go into this line of work? I retired from the corporate world because it was getting too rat-crazy and I wanted to be home with my 7-year-old son. So I went back to school to get the certification I needed. I wanted a good income and to be home with my son when he was younger.

What decision or action would you change if you could do it again? I probably should have begun doing this sooner rather than later. The more experience you have, the more money you make. I'm starting to make good money now and if I had started at a younger age, I'd be making more now.

What's the toughest business decision you've made? Deciding on what's a good account and client and what's not, and staying away from companies that outsource work outside the U.S. I'm an independent contractor and sub-contract for people all over the United States. My interest is finding companies that hire only people in the U.S.

Read More Article...

MessageSling Makes Mobile Voice-Text Transcription a Two-Way Street

When you're at your desk, you have many ways to access and reply to voice-mail messages. You can use your desk phone with its ergonomically engineered keys or, increasingly, your PC with its speaker or headphone, keyboard and mouse. The process is a lot less convenient for mobile phone users. Limitations in both handsets and the circumstances where they can be used present major obstacles. Worcester, Mass.-based startup messageSling plans to use speech-to-text technology to help overcome some of those obstacles.

Launched in January 2008, messageSling made a splash at this month's DEMOfall 08 show. The foundation of its offering is a fairly conventional stand-alone voice-mail service. Users instruct their cellular carriers to forward unanswered calls to a messageSling number. They can then access their messages in the traditional way by dialing in and navigating a key-press menu. Users can also listen to their messaes as MP3 audio files, either as delivered in email messages or on the messageSling Web site.

Read More Article...

Medical Transcription Practice Tapes: Ways to Achieve Proficiency in Medical Transcription

Medical transcription is one of the most popular home businesses and is always high on the list of those who want to work at home. Running your own medical transcription business involves typing medical notes, including a history and physical, operative reports, follow up reports etc., so that the physician has detailed information about that patient. The physician also needs a medical transcript to send to the insurance companies so he/she can be reimbursed for services rendered.

A keen sense of hearing is an ace in the game of medical transcription. A typical hearing acuity alone will not assure a 100% accuracy in the medical transcripts you produce. If you wish to master the art of medical transcription, you need to have a well-developed sense of hearing. In this field, you can't afford to make mistakes when you're typing what the doctor says. This is because there is a very thin line between each word's pronunciation as with the terms "a rock" and "Iraq". And, in a case like this, slight misheards could mean a difference between life and death especially when you're dealing with the patients' medicines. We all know that it's hard to find a medical transcriptionist who is born with an excellent sense of hearing. But, it does come with practice. You have a lot of potential to achieve good listening skills. As we always say "practice makes perfect". You can start training your ears by watching English TV shows or by talking to different kinds of people and study their voice patterns and pronunciations. Also, you can start listening to the varying accents in English of American, Australian, British, Mexican, or Indian doctors. Really, it's your choice. Although, the best approach is exposure to real physician dictations, you can also enhance yourself through the use of medical transcription practice tapes.

But what are medical transcription practice tapes? Actually, medical transcription practice tapes are recording and storage devices used by doctors for their dictations, which are converted as wav or voice files in the computer just like that of an mp3. But, there are also those medical transcription practice tapes being used by students in some medical transcription schools, which may be bought online. They are not really that different from those used by physicians except for the fact that they are utilized for a specific purpose. Medical transcription practice tapes as the name implies are only used for practice and not for actual transcription. They either contain simulated or real physician dictations. Medical transcription practice tapes are for the use of beginners who have no exposure to real physician dictations as well as for already established medical transcriptionists who just want to attain a higher level of competency in the field.

Although medical transcription practice tapes may be rented, the best option for beginners is perhaps to have a copy of their own. These days, you need not go to a specific store to purchase medical transcription practice tapes. They are available online from several websites that specialize in medical transcription. They usually come in two sizes, that is standard-sized medical transcription practice tapes and micro-sized medical transcription practice tapes.

The duration of dictation for these medical transcription practice tapes and the level of the terms' difficulty vary as well. As an added feature, answer keys are provided to compare your work with.

Whoever said you can't learn on your own must be bluffing. Medical transcription practice tapes can truly make a difference in your performance, although it is necessary to have medical terminology skills beforehand. In fact, for beginners, early exposure to actual dictations could give you the edge you need, and for seasoned transcriptionists, or people going back into the field of medical transcription, the extra practice will definitely improve the skills necessary to become a true medical language specialist.

About the Author:
Michele Miller is the author of an ebook about medical transcription at home. http://www.medical-transcription-at-home.Visit My Websites to Learn More!

Transcription work may be what you are looking for

Transcription is one area where work at home opportunities are fantastic. Many companies are now creating a large number of audio and video files from meetings, phone support calls, and other interactions. These files are difficult to study and analyze when they’re in multimedia form, and transcribing the conversations into text files allows the company to more easily keep records and analyze events. All these files, however, need to be written down first, though. While there are a few companies who do this, or have people in house to take care of it, a large part of the work is now being outsourced. This offers a fantastic opportunity for anyone looking for a great way to work from home and earn some extra income.

Getting involved can be extremely simple. Many companies that need to hire transcriptionists to work at home advertise online or on their website. Other companies act as portals for people looking to work from home as a transcriptionist. Usually, they will ask for writing or transcription samples to ensure you are qualified, and then begin regularly sending the recorded media to be copied down. The job is extremely simple, and is ideal for anyone looking for a good way to work at home. Listen to the recorded media, write down exactly what is said and format it a way that is easy to read. The transcriber doing the work from home can then check carefully for any words that may have been misheard or attributed to the wrong person, and send the complete work back to the company.

Of course, it isn’t always as simple as that. Some work requires a good deal of specialization which, if you are looking for an easy way to work from home, may not be something you have. Transcription that is extremely technical, in the legal or medical fields, or esoteric in another way, may be rather difficult to interpret for the layperson doing the work at home. However, for someone who has a background in that area, who perhaps works as a paralegal during the day, such problems shouldn’t be difficult. In fact, having that degree of skill, especially in a field typically filled with people who work from home may give you a leg up on the competition.

Technical sophistication and esoteric information may not be the only problem faced when doing transcription work from home. A far more likely scenario is being given a recording that is simply inaudible or impossible to decipher. For whatever reason, a microphone or recording malfunction, or even just a quiet speaker, some recordings may make it nearly impossible to transcribe. However, there are a few routes around even this. For short, hard to hear gaps, using the surrounding context is likely to give a clue to the meaning of the indecipherable portion. If only one word is difficult to hear, it can probably be inferred from the surrounding sentence, especially if it is a common one.

On the other hand, some recording faced when doing transcription work at home may be far larger. For longer and more intransigent gaps, it may be necessary to attempt to enhance the quality of the recording using common sound editing software. A few tricks may be necessary to remove static and other problems.

Overall, transcription can be an excellent way to earn a little money doing work from home. It may even be possible to solely rely on it, turning the work into a small business of sorts.

The best information about transcription work can be found at Best-offers-online.net. It has many different work from home jobs available. Anyone can get a good job doing work at home at: www.best-offers-online.net .

Source : http://www.articleselections.com

Medical Outsourcing Services are going Global

The outsourcing of medical services enables patients to get the best medical attention from specialised doctors. State and federal legislations ensure that the doctors providing these medical outsourcing services have been properly trained and licensed. Without proper documentation and permission, the doctors are not allowed to render medical outsourcing services. This has been touted as the most promising yet contentious area of outsourcing. The services that can be outsourced could be anything from keying in transcriptions of the treatment records into structured documents to physically sending the patients to another country for treatment.

Medical services have been outsourced due to the shortage of specialists who can do the job in the country. Medical outsourcing services are enthusiastically welcomed, with some of it being done in India and elsewhere because it saves them from long hours of work.

India is particularly favoured for such medical outsourcing services because of the time zone differences. Other countries providing such services are Australia, Switzerland, Israel and Brazil. These countries are also equipped with the latest technology, which allows radiologists to read images from far-flung places. Remote medical services like radiology and clinical services are also being outsourced. Clinical services include oncology, orthopaedic services, molecular imaging and disease management. Outsourcing radiology not only involves substantial cost savings, but also ensures timely diagnosis and treatment for patients. The saving of time is a critical factor and outsourcing medical services leads to reduced workload pressure on radiologists, faster turn around time for patients, and cost savings.

India is fast becoming the main hub to outsource medical services. Not only does India have talented pool of medical professionals but also the latest medical technologies and techniques. Outsourcing teleradiology to India gives access to innovative solutions, which have helped improve an unwieldy clinical process. Competent and trained professionals, time zone advantages and in-built quality advantages are some of the advantages of outsourcing medical services. Other services include using the service of radiologists at a remote but competitive country to interpret scan images such as CT or MRI. Blood and urine samples of patients are also now sent to India for pathology tests to cut cost. The labs conduct the test and the results that are uploaded back. Another growing area of outsourcing is bioinformatics and biotechnology. The outsourcing of medical services also ranges from data analysis to basic research.

Source: Article Submission Service

Transcription work may be what you are looking for

Transcription is one area where work at home opportunities are fantastic. Many companies are now creating a large number of audio and video files from meetings, phone support calls, and other interactions. These files are difficult to study and analyze when they’re in multimedia form, and transcribing the conversations into text files allows the company to more easily keep records and analyze events. All these files, however, need to be written down first, though. While there are a few companies who do this, or have people in house to take care of it, a large part of the work is now being outsourced. This offers a fantastic opportunity for anyone looking for a great way to work from home and earn some extra income.

Getting involved can be extremely simple. Many companies that need to hire transcriptionists to work at home advertise online or on their website. Other companies act as portals for people looking to work from home as a transcriptionist. Usually, they will ask for writing or transcription samples to ensure you are qualified, and then begin regularly sending the recorded media to be copied down. The job is extremely simple, and is ideal for anyone looking for a good way to work at home. Listen to the recorded media, write down exactly what is said and format it a way that is easy to read. The transcriber doing the work from home can then check carefully for any words that may have been misheard or attributed to the wrong person, and send the complete work back to the company.

Of course, it isn’t always as simple as that. Some work requires a good deal of specialization which, if you are looking for an easy way to work from home, may not be something you have. Transcription that is extremely technical, in the legal or medical fields, or esoteric in another way, may be rather difficult to interpret for the layperson doing the work at home. However, for someone who has a background in that area, who perhaps works as a paralegal during the day, such problems shouldn’t be difficult. In fact, having that degree of skill, especially in a field typically filled with people who work from home may give you a leg up on the competition.

Technical sophistication and esoteric information may not be the only problem faced when doing transcription work from home. A far more likely scenario is being given a recording that is simply inaudible or impossible to decipher. For whatever reason, a microphone or recording malfunction, or even just a quiet speaker, some recordings may make it nearly impossible to transcribe. However, there are a few routes around even this. For short, hard to hear gaps, using the surrounding context is likely to give a clue to the meaning of the indecipherable portion. If only one word is difficult to hear, it can probably be inferred from the surrounding sentence, especially if it is a common one.

On the other hand, some recording faced when doing transcription work at home may be far larger. For longer and more intransigent gaps, it may be necessary to attempt to enhance the quality of the recording using common sound editing software. A few tricks may be necessary to remove static and other problems.

Overall, transcription can be an excellent way to earn a little money doing work from home. It may even be possible to solely rely on it, turning the work into a small business of sorts.

The best information about transcription work can be found at Best-offers-online.net. It has many different work from home jobs available. Anyone can get a good job doing work at home at: www.best-offers-online.net .

GotVoice Broadens Speech-to-Text Availability

GotVoice Inc.'s voice-to-text transcription capabilities have been available to many voice-mail users for some time. The GotVoice service could access major carriers' and enterprise telephony vendors' voice-mail systems, grab the messages and turn them into text for email or SMS delivery. But there was a problem for the customers of smaller carriers: many such carriers used third-party voice mail and IVR (interactive voice response) systems that were somewhat outdated. As a result, they couldn't be certain that GotVoice would work for them. To solve this problem, GotVoice has completed additional development and testing of its technology to assure that it works with such systems.

How It Works

GotVoice uses automated transcription to convert voice-mail messages to text. Exploiting the fact that voice mail has predictable structures and content, it can transcribe messages with 90 percent accuracy, with a small amount of human intervention in cases where words aren't clear. GotVoice can also convert text into synthesized voice messages for delivery to phones or groups of phones.

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The Basics Of Radiology Transcription Jobs

Are you interested in a job in radiology transcription? We've got all the information you need right here. Read on for plenty of details regarding what this job is, what you need in order to do it, and what to expect from this rewarding career.

What is radiology transcription?
Radiology transcription jobs are a branch of medical transcription that specializes in patients undergoing radiology procedures. Let us elaborate.

Every day, all over the country, patients are in and out of hospitals, clinics and urgent care centers. While there, they are given multiple tests and undergo several different procedures. Patients are often under the care of multiple people at once, including nurses, specialists and physicians.

Now keep in mind that all of this activity must be recorded in the patient's records for future reference. It must all be combined with all of the patient's past history and any other relevant information concerning the patient's treatment. This is vital for two reasons. Number one is the health of the patient; all activity must be documented to ensure the patient is getting the best treatment possible. Reason number two is to protect the hospital in the case of their activities being called into question.

This is where the transcriptions comes in. If you're looking for jobs in radiology transcription, your job will revolve around recording various activities for patients undergoing radiology treatments and procedures. You may simply be helping keep records of ultrasounds, X-rays, and sonograms received by the patient. You may also be working on the therapy side of radiology, where your job will include keeping records of chemotherapy and other forms of radiology treatment.

So how do you know if you have what it takes to get a radiology transcription job?

Requirements
Needless to say, radiology transcription jobs require excellent knowledge of computers and fast, accurate typing skills. But that's not all. A radiology transcriptionist should also have a good working knowledge of medical terms and procedures. You will spend a great deal of time transcribing information from doctor's recordings and you'll need to know the terms that are being used in order to ensure your record is correct.

As a radiology transcriptionist, you'll also be required to have excellent grammar and spelling skills, and the ability to research information in medical texts when you feel it's necessary, i.e. when a term comes up with which you're not familiar with. Finally, you should be able to work independently if you're interested in a transcription job. Many transcriptionists work from home and under minimal supervision.

How to gain the necessary skills?
Most transcription jobs require previous experience in the field. Naturally, in order to get experience you need to land the job first and the quickest way to do that is through training.

You'll find many courses available on medical transcription. Some are at-home courses that you can take through the mail or over the Internet. Make sure to check the validity of these courses before signing up for them- some of them will 'train' you, but won't actually teach you the skills necessary to succeed in the job market.

Your best bet is a local community college or learning center. Many schools offer evening classes for adults interested in learning medical transcription. Although no special degree is required, what you learn by attending these classes will be invaluable- and should help you land your first job too.

Keep in mind that if you're interested in radiology transcription jobs in particular, you'll need to brush up on the area of interest and learn as much as possible about radiology. Study the terms and processes well and ask local hospitals what they look for in radiology transcriptionists when they're hiring.

The field of radiology transcription jobs is fairly competitive. Among all medical transcription jobs, radiology seems to attract a great deal of interest. And little wonder- the field of X-rays, ultrasounds and chemotherapy is one of the most exciting medical fields working today.

About The Author

Rita Henry is a contributing editor for Jobs In Radiology, the leading job and resource site for the Radiology Industry. To learn more, please visit http://www.jobs-in-radiology.com/.

Medical Transcription Career Benefits

Medical Transcription Career Benefits

What are the benefits of a medical transcription career? This article gives you more information about why a career in medical transcription is a great choice.


Have you been thinking about a medical transcription career? What's holding you back?

Medical transcription is a great career choice which allows you the flexibility to work from home, earn a good living and have full career control.

As a medical transcriptionist your work will be exciting and vary every day. You'll build relationships with doctors and other hospital staff. You'll have a career that's lucrative, exciting and prestigious.

There are also many differnet choices for jobs. You can choose to work from home for a national online company or for a local company.

You can choose to work at a local hospital or doctor's office. You can start your own local business with small doctor's accounts.

Or you can choose to start your own home based medical transcription business. Your clients can be local where you pick up a micro cassette (where the dictation is recorded) or you can choose to have national clients where they dictate onto wav files which you receive over the internet.

The possibilities for medical transcription job choices are endless. You can choose as many or as little of the above choices as you'd like. Medical transcription is a business where you really do have full control of your earnings and growth.

And there is no shortage of medical transcription jobs in site, so you can be sure this will be a long-term profitable career. Here's what the US Department of Labor has to say:

“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.”

Source : http://www.askthemt.com/

Legal Transcription- The Language And The Job

No doubt, one of the things that make legal language hardest to understand is its unusual words and terms. Some legal terms such as-judge, court, interrogation etc. are relatively well known, where as others are complete mystery to non-professionals. Some legal writings tend to consist of very long sentences, sometimes hundreds of words in length. This makes the transcription job harder. Below are some tips and hints of the legal terms encountered in legal transcription and how to transcribe a document successfully.

Some difficult legal words and terms

. Without knowing these, transcribing legal documents will be almost impossible.

1. Arbitration-A method of alternative dispute resolution in which the disputing parties agrees to abide by the decision of an arbitrator.
2. Assignment-The transfer of legal rights, from one person to another.
3. Bankruptcy-This is a process governed by the federal law to help people, when they cannot or will not pay their bills.
4. Bifurcation-Splitting a trial into two parts: a liability phase and a penalty phase.
5. Certiorari- It refers to the order of a court so that it can review the decision and proceedings in the lower court.
6. Deed-A written legal document that describes a piece of property and outlines its boundaries.
7. Defamation-The publication of the statement that injures a person’s reputation.
8. Deposition-It is a process in which a witness testifies under oath, before trial.
9. Escrow-The deed of a property will be in escrow( in pending), until the completion of the real estate transaction.
10. Foreclosure-When a borrower cannot repay a loan and the lender seeks to sell the property.
11. Immunity-Exemption from a legal duty or penalty.
12. Implied warranty-A guarantee imposed by law in a sale.
13. Intestate-To die without a will.
14. Plaintiff-The person who initiates a lawsuit.
15. Pro se-A person who represents himself in court alone without the help of the lawyer.
16. Quash-To nullify or declare invalid.
17. Slander-Defamatory oral statements and gestures
18. Subpoena-An order compelling a person to appear in court or produce documents.
19. Suvoir Dire-Means speak the truth.
    

Tips to become a good legal transcriptionist

Below are certain rules you have to keep in your mind to become a good legal transcriptionist.

1. Listen to a legal phrase or group of meaningful words carefully again and again before transcribe, till you are not sure.
2. Understand each legal testimony correctly and use them appropriately.
3. Analyse what is being dictated, listen dictator’s voice, and follow it as a guide.
4. A 1-hour tape will take not less than 3 to 4 hours, depending on your speed. Maintain a good speed throughout, so that you can finish it in time.
5. Review document for a second time and improve it by studying rules.
6. Use information found in the appendix, prefix, suffix sections of legal reference texts, whenever necessary.
7. Edit the final copy, which should be free of spelling, punctuation, grammar or any other errors.
8. Proofread the transcript with 100% accuracy.
   

Legal transcription involves the conversion of audio files into typed transcripts. Modern day legal transcription technology has gone digital and is highly effective.

This article is issued in general public interest, and contains information on transcription services compiled by GMRTranscription Services.