Medical transcriptionist

SK-222 · Jul 20, 2007

try asking this same question at http://mtgab.com. I don't know the answer for you, but maybe someone there would.

Baloney Amputation, BSN, LPN, RN · Jul 20, 2007

I am a nurse who became a medical transcriptionist. What would you like to know? It's hard work and you are generally paid by the line, so contrary to what so many people think ("You lucky thing! You can just throw a load of laundry in and do things around the house since you work at home!" No, you cannot, if you want to be paid.), you have to sit on your butt interrupted until you get your quota of lines in. However, there is nothing that beats working at home. There is a steep learning curve in MT even if you have been a nurse for 150 years. Unfortunately, the pay reflects that learning curve in the first few weeks.

You CAN make good money at medical transcription (we don't call it transcribing--a transcriber is a machine and some MTs are very particular about this distinction), but the first few paychecks you receive will be paltry. Starting line rates are .06-.07 cents per line normally with full time requiring 1200 lines a day; however, you cannot expect to make even half those lines for a while.

The key to securing a good job is really to get a good education and not skimp on the money for it. There are two schools of medical transcription out there that are costly but will nearly guarantee you have a job after school just because they are that well respected. No, community college is generally not the way to go on this one. There are two schools--look up Andrews School and M-TEC. They are costly but very much worth it.

I have to add that nurses who work at home DO have to take training for MT if they want a job at home with a national company; the two jobs are not interchangeable.

Spend time perusing mtchat.com and mtstars.com. MT Chat in particular has a lot of good information.

There are some companies out there who are very bad who prey on people wanting to work at home. There is info out there about these people. Beware of these companies! (TransAm comes to mind. Don't go there.)

oramar · Jul 20, 2007

Isn't there a problem with a lot of this work being outsourced to third world countries? A practice that I totally object to due to problems with confidentiality. There has been some very, serious problems with confidentiality.

Baloney Amputation, BSN, LPN, RN · Jul 20, 2007

Isn't there a problem with a lot of this work being outsourced to third world countries? A practice that I totally object to due to problems with confidentiality. There has been some very, serious problems with confidentiality.

This is correct, but many companies maintain American QA persons to check the work. There are also American companies that refuse to send the work overseas. Some companies that do send work overseas have other contracts with healthcare facilities that state in the contract that no work of theirs is to go overseas. There is still plenty of work here if an MT looks. This is where the education is so important. A PCDI grad is not going to get the same opportunity that a M-TEC grad will.

(Your sig rocks. My favorite line is where the word "unsingable" comes in the song.)

4thGenNurse · Jul 20, 2007

I worked as a medical transcriptionist for two years and I did not go to school for it. I was taught in office, which I realize that not everyone is lucky enough to have on the job training. I worked in a private office and in a hospital which I would prefer to do. I like the hospital setting because I had more information available to me to help transcribe acurately. Being at home just seems to distracting to me. I was paid by the hour with more pay after certain hours and on weekends. Also, if you were able to transcribe over a certain amount of lines in a day you were paid by the extra lines you typed. I miss transcribing but it was hard job to do. You sit in a chair for however many hours and just listen to docs drone on and on. I do miss the pay though!

Dixielee, BSN, RN · Jul 20, 2007

I have also considered trying this as an option to running around a busy ER all day. My question for those doing it is this....what will the climate be like in a few years when we are supposedly going to all electronic charting. Will there still be jobs or are all the docs going to have to do their own charting?

Our ER docs are already having to do most on the computer and they are not dictating anymore. Do you think it is worth investing the time and money now based on a not so certain future of employment?

Baloney Amputation, BSN, LPN, RN · Jul 20, 2007

I have also considered trying this as an option to running around a busy ER all day. My question for those doing it is this....what will the climate be like in a few years when we are supposedly going to all electronic charting. Will there still be jobs or are all the docs going to have to do their own charting?
Our ER docs are already having to do most on the computer and they are not dictating anymore. Do you think it is worth investing the time and money now based on a not so certain future of employment?

There will probably always be doctors who live by the "old school" way and want to dictate anyway. (For the record, speech recognition has not taken over the MT role. Some MTs just work as speech editors instead of straight transcriptionists.) Apparently these threats of not needing transcriptionists anymore have lingered over our heads for a while now, but it's not happened yet. This electronic chart thing has not come to fruition by a long shot. Even when it does become widespread, there will be practitioners that want to dictate, which creates the need for the transcriptionist.

I have also never had the pleasure of doing ER transcription. The hospitals I have worked for must have a separate thing for ER notes like radiology transcription tends to be separate from acute care transcription and clinics separate from acute care and radiology. I will say, though, that my experience in acute care transcription (meaning I type everything from ENT to rheumatology to peds cardiology to ophthalmology in a day) demonstrates that there is still a decent market for good medical transcriptionists. The wonderful thing about MT is that there is a definite opportunity to run your own independent thing.

The only thing I can say is don't let your nursing license lapse for those thinking of making the change.

prinson · Jul 22, 2007

I am a nurse who became a medical transcriptionist. What would you like to know? It's hard work and you are generally paid by the line, so contrary to what so many people think ("You lucky thing! You can just throw a load of laundry in and do things around the house since you work at home!" No, you cannot, if you want to be paid.), you have to sit on your butt interrupted until you get your quota of lines in. However, there is nothing that beats working at home. There is a steep learning curve in MT even if you have been a nurse for 150 years. Unfortunately, the pay reflects that learning curve in the first few weeks.
You CAN make good money at medical transcription (we don't call it transcribing--a transcriber is a machine and some MTs are very particular about this distinction), but the first few paychecks you receive will be paltry. Starting line rates are .06-.07 cents per line normally with full time requiring 1200 lines a day; however, you cannot expect to make even half those lines for a while.
The key to securing a good job is really to get a good education and not skimp on the money for it. There are two schools of medical transcription out there that are costly but will nearly guarantee you have a job after school just because they are that well respected. No, community college is generally not the way to go on this one. There are two schools--look up Andrews School and M-TEC. They are costly but very much worth it.
I have to add that nurses who work at home DO have to take training for MT if they want a job at home with a national company; the two jobs are not interchangeable.
Spend time perusing mtchat.com and mtstars.com. MT Chat in particular has a lot of good information.
There are some companies out there who are very bad who prey on people wanting to work at home. There is info out there about these people. Beware of these companies! (TransAm comes to mind. Don't go there.)

thanks for your reply.... prinson