Careers in  Medical Transcription

Medical Transcription is one of the fastest growing fields in health care. Medical Transcriptionists are in demand in Western countries especially in the US where the entire healthcare industry is based on insurance and detailed medical records are needed for processing insurance claims. Medical transcription could be one of the speedy growing IT enabled service in India also, with the rapid change in the outlook in Indian healthcare and privatization of the insurance sector. India provides an ideal location for conducting medical transcription with the large population of educated English speaking people and the comparative low cost which encourages companies abroad to outsource their work to the Indian Medical Transcription field.

Medical transcription is an interesting and challenging career. It is the process whereby one accurately and swiftly transcribes medical records dictated by doctors and others, including history and physical reports, clinic notes, office notes, operative reports, consultation notes, discharge summaries, letters, psychiatric evaluations, laboratory reports, x-ray reports and pathology reports. M.T. or Medical Transcriptionist is a person who assists physicians and specialty surgeons usually by transcribing, formatting, and proof reading their dictated medically oriented report of a patient's health history. This dictation covers pretty much everything that takes place between the health care provider and the patient. Usually, the information dictated by doctors is recorded either into tape or onto digital voice processing systems. The process of medical transcription is transferring this information using word processing. Transcription services range from small, one-person home-based businesses to sophisticated, high-tech corporations which employ transcriptionists. Some medical transcription services now employ both 'on-site' and home-based medical transcriptionists. Medical transcription services serve client hospitals throughout the nation and abroad.

In India there was a boom in this industry couple of years back with a lot of companies and training institutes entering this field. Most companies except a few could not survive due to lack of proper training and understanding of this comparatively new concept in India. By improving the work standards and quality of service, India has a wide scope for capturing the huge clientele in the US and provide employment opportunities to the huge mass of English speaking and computer literate people in the country. The success of the surviving companies proves that Medical transcription can hold a vital link in altering the Indian job scenario.

Eligibility

It does not require specialised IT skills but it requires primary skills like good listening and language skills and knowledge of medical terms. Fluency in English, especially understanding of American way of speech and accent is a must to be in this field.

However, an ideal qualification for a medical transcriptionist is Graduation with English comprehension skill and undergoing a training course in MT is an added advantage. Further, the candidate should be able to quickly develop new skills and adjust with the different accents and diction. Throughout the career as a medical transcriptionist one would need to keep up with changes in medical terminologies, medical procedures etc. and have the ability to detect medical inconsistencies in dictation and fix poor grammar and syntax. One must also have patience, as the work may get monotonous and repetitive. Regular comprehensive quality training is necessary to be successful in this field.

Job Prospects and Career Options

In India, lot of companies in the metros and major cities have ventured into the field. Since the job requires experience, these companies are expected to recruit a lot of people as trainees and then develop their skills so that they become experts in this field. Induj Infotech Ltd. of the S. Kumar group based in Mumbai, Infoscript Services Pvt. Ltd. in Bangalore, Webcom Infotech Ltd. in Mumbai, Pioneer Transcription Systems in Delhi etc are some of the companies in MT.

There are lots of options available in the field abroad. One may choose to work from home for yourself. Another option would be to work outside your home in a hospital or for a medical transcription service. Other options include working in a doctor's office, insurance company, attorney's office, or a company marketing medical products or a medical book publishing company.

Some of the companies

• Pioneer Transcription Systems
  B-372, Meera Bagh, Paschim Vihar.
  New Delhi Delhi
  Phone 011-5271696 / 011-5279693
  Fax 091-11-5279694

• Webcom Infotech Ltd.
  Regent Chambers, 10th floor, 208 Nariman Point
  Mumbai Maharashtra
  Phone 2826352 / 2881176; Fax 2819289

• Transcript Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
  24\39 Gandhi layout Baswashwar nagar bangalore-560079
  Bangalore Karnataka
  Phone 91-80-3209040 / 91-80-3102423; Fax 91-80-3209041

• ISA Softtech Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
  S.C.O 75, PHASE IX
  Mohali Punjab
  India
  Phone 0172-394517 / 0172-394518

• Focus Infosys
  #117-120, 2nd Floor 80 Feet Peripheral Road 4th Block, Koramangala
  Bangalore, Karnataka, India
  Phone 5527231; Fax 5527230

• Induj Infotech Ltd.
  SKumars House, Street 14 , plot no 60 , Phase II. MIDC
  Andheri (E), Mumbai Maharashtra
  Phone 8368429

• Drish Infotech limited
  SCO 104-106, Sector 34 A
  Chandigarh Punjab
  Phone 0172665653 / 0172665654; Fax +91-172-615622

Remuneration

It is a lucrative career with lot of benefits. At entry level medical transcriptionist is paid around Rs. 5000/- per month, which can exceed to Rs. 20000/- per month with two years, depending on their capabilities. There are also additional perks and performance incentives. Usually there are editors who help the transcriptionists in their work. If the MTs can become independent and do editors work also they have better prospects to earn more. With experience one can move on to becoming a supervisor, editor, trainer or manager of a medical transcription unit.