The Responsibilities of a Medical Transcriptionist

As a medical transcriptionist, you would be responsible for listening to dictated recordings made by physicians and other healthcare professionals and transcribe them into medical reports, correspondence and other administrative material. You would listen to these recordings on a headset, using a foot pedal to pause the recording when you need to, and type the text into a personal computer or word processor, editing as you go along for grammar and clarity. The documents produced by you would include discharge summaries, operative reports, autopsy reports, progress notes, referral letters, medical history, physical examination reports, consultation reports and diagnostic-imaging studies.

Medical transcriptionists are responsible fore returning transcribed documents to the physicians or other healthcare professionals who dictated them for review and signature or correction. These documents are especially important because they eventually become a part of a patient’s permanent files that doctors and other healthcare professionals will refer to for years to come. Anyone training to become a medical transcriptionist is required to understand medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, diagnostic procedures, pharmacology, and treatment assessments. Without this knowledge, it would be impossible to understand and accurately transcribe dictated reports. You will also need to be able to translate medical jargon and abbreviations into their expanded forms, and be able to identify terms appropriately and refer to standard medical reference materials – both printed and electronic. While some of these are available over the Internet, one must still complete a series of trainings to completely understand the medical world. Medical transcriptionists are made to comply with specific standards of medical records and legal and ethical requirements for keeping all patient information confidential.

An experienced transcriptionist is able to identify mistakes and inconsistencies in a medical report and make corrections. The ability to understand and correctly transcribe patient assessments and treatments greatly helps to reduce the chance of patients receiving ineffective or even harmful treatments and helps to ensure high-quality patient care.

Today’s healthcare providers usually use either digital or analog dictating equipment to transmit dictation to medical transcriptionists. As the Internet becomes more and more popular, it also becomes a useful tool for transmitting documentation. Medical transcriptionists can receive dictation over the Internet and can return transcribed documents to clients for approval. Medical transcriptionists have begun to work closely with programmers and information systems staff to stream in voice communication that provides seamless data transfers through network interfaces. This allows you to have all the tools and software you need to do the job on a personal computer or hand-held device.

Another popular method for transcribing medical text is by using speech recognition technology, which electronically translates sound into text and creates the reports for you. Medical transcriptionists are still needed to format these reports and edit them for spelling, punctuation or grammar mistakes and check for consistency and any wording that doesn’t make medical sense.

Medical transcriptionists working in an office environment may also be responsible for other office duties, such as receiving patients, scheduling appointments, answering phone calls, or organizing incoming and outgoing mail. The majority of medical transcriptionists will work in a comfortable environment, such as in a hospital, physician’s office, transcription service office, a clinic, laboratories, medical libraries, government medical facilities, or even in their own home.

Any risks involved in working as a medical transcriptionist come from working in the same position for long periods of time. Over time, you could suffer wrist, back, neck, or eye programs caused by strain. You could also be at risk for repetitive motion injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Medical transcriptionists are also constantly under pressure to be accurate and productive, which can become very stressful.

Forty hours a week is the standards working schedule for medical transcriptionists. However, those that are self-employed are often called to work irregular hours, including part time, evenings and weekends.