Medical transcription
the industry that renders doctors dictated reports, procedures and
notes into an electronic or paper format in order to create files
representing the treatment history of patients. Usually health practitioners
dictate what they have done after performing procedures on patients.
Nature of the work: A medical transcriptionist listens to recordings
made by doctors and other health care professionals and transcribes
them into reports, letters and other administrative material. They
usually listen to recordings through headphones, using both hands
to type while pausing the recording as necessary with a foot pedal.
The recordings will cover a variety of medical areas, including
patient histories, exam reports, consultations, autopsies and discharges.
After the information is transcribed, the documents are sent back
to the physician or other health professional who dictated them
for review, signature and corrections. The transcribed documents
are then part of the patient’s permanent record. A medical
transcriptionist must know medical terminology relating to anatomy
and physiology, diagnostic procedures,
The compensation methods for medical transcriptionists vary depending
on the company. Some are paid based on the number of hours they
work or on the number of lines they transcribe, while others receive
a base pay per hour
with incentives for extra production. Employees of transcription
services, as well as independent contractors, usually receive production-based
pay.