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• What is Medical Transcription and how is it done ?

• Why is Medical Transcription necessary ?

• Who is a Medical Transcriptionist (M-Tist) ?
• M-Tist - Basic Knowledge, Skills & Abilities.
• Experienced M-Tist - Basic Knowledge, Skills & Abilities.

• Why dictating the Patient Report is less time consuming than writing it ?
• What if I have a Medical background or have already attended
• Medical Transcription training elsewhere ?
• How Does Your Course compare with other Programs ?

• How Much Education and Training Does A M-Tist Need ?

• How Many Voice Files Will I Transcribe In Your Course ?
• Is Typing Included in Your Medical Transcription Course ?
• Will I Be Able To Contact My Instructors When I Have Qns. ?
• Is Quality or Quantity of Medical Transcription - Important ?
• What skills do I need to become a Medical Transcriptionist ?
• What about Voice/Speech Recognition Software's ?

Medical Transcription is the process whereby one accurately and swiftly transcribes medical records
dictated by Doctors and others, which include - History & Physical Reports, Clinic Notes, Office Notes,
Operative Notes, Consultation Notes, Discharge Summaries, Letters, Psychiatric Evaluations, Laboratory
Reports, X-ray Reports, Pathology Reports etc. It involves receiving dictation by tapes or as voice files over
the internet, and the use of Head Phones, a Media Player and a Word Processing Program.
It requires good listening and language skills, computer skills and knowledge of Medical Terms.
Several books like - Medical definitions, Medications, Medical Terms by specialty,
Laboratory Terms, Surgical Terms and Abbreviations books are used. Software's like Stedman's,
American Drug Index, Medical Spellchecker and Abbreviation Systems are also used.

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A Medical Transcriptionist is often called a " Medical Language Specialist. "

A M-Tist is a person who assists Physicians and Specialty Surgeons by Transcribing, Formatting, and
proofreading their dictated Medical Reports. Most commonly, a M-Tist, transcribes a Physicians' dictation
that outlines a patient's health.

The Health Care Industry relies on the M-Tist to accurately communicate medical information in time.
As a result, we at Rachna Transcriptions Pvt. Ltd., encourage the M-Tist to keep themselves updated on
current technology, terminology, and advanced computer skills.

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A MT is a Medical Language Specialist, who transcribes dictation by Physicians and other Health
Care Providers in order to document the Patient treatment, using Professional Reference Material.

Some of the following Basic Knowledge, Skills and Abilities are:

• Medical Terminology, Anatomy & Physiology, Disease Processes, Signs & Symptoms,
  Medication/Drug Names and Laboratory Values.
• Medical Transcription Guidelines and Practices.
• Proven Skills in English Usage, Grammar, Punctuation and Editing.
• Ability to use Professional Reference Materials.
• Ability to operate Word Processing Equipment, Dictation and Transcription Equipment
  and other Equipment as specified.
• Ability to work under Pressure with Time Constraints.
• Ability to Concentrate with Excellent Listening Skills.
• Excellent Eye-Hand-Hearing Coordination Skills.

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An Experienced Medical Transcriptionist is a Medical Language Specialist, who transcribes and interprets
dictation by Physicians and other Health Care Providers in order to document Patient Treatment, using
Professional Reference Material. In the routine, gets involved in helping and educating their Juniors.
Does research work and resolves complex questions relating to health information etc.

Some of the following Basic Knowledge, Skills and Abilities are:

• Expert Knowledge of Medical Terminology, Anatomy & Physiology, Disease Processes, Signs &
  Symptoms, Medication/Drug Names and Laboratory Values, also being a specialist in a Specialty
  or many Specialties.
• In-depth knowledge of Medical Transcription Guidelines and Practices.
• Excellent skills in English Usage, Grammar, Punctuation, Style and Editing.
• Ability to use a vast array of Professional Reference Materials often in Innovative Ways.
• Ability to educate others (one-to-one or group).
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to operate Word Processing Equipment, Dictation and Transcription Equipment and other
  Equipment as specified and to troubleshoot as necessary.

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Studies have shown that physician productivity can be enhanced when ER visits, Progress Notes and other
Medical Reports are dictated rather than handwritten. According to industry sources, when comparing the
writing of Medical reports versus dictating, the average person can dictate at a speed of 85-95 words per
minute compared to 20 words per minute for writing. To illustrate, a document of 85 lines takes 25 minutes
to write versus 5 minutes to dictate. This translates to a ratio of about 5:1; i.e., 5 minutes of writing takes
only 1-minute to dictate. Using this time savings ratio, one can conclude that a dictating physician, saves
many hours per eight-hour shift.

Additionally, besides the actual time required to write the report, it is impossible to factor in the inevitable
interruptions encountered while writing the report and the possible delays associated with losing one's train
of thought. In the course of a busy day, it is more likely that a clinician would have one to three minutes
of uninterrupted time to dictate as compared to a writing time of seven to twenty minutes.

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A special test is used for experienced Transcriptionists. We find that while medical graduates from
local transcription courses may graduate early, applicants with less than two years of full-service Medical
Transcription experience benefit from attending at least a part of our training program to assist in their
transition to our production environment.

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We will leave that for you to decide. We obviously believe that our training program is the best, but we
are supposed to think that way. Our Students tell us that they can easily recognize the difference after
visiting several training schools and institutes. Our customized training program was founded when we
realized that the training, newly recruited Medical Transcriptionists were receiving, was totally inadequate.
So we put together a program offering QUALITY Medical Transcription training, with regular upgrades.

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Medical Transcription requires a great deal more than just fast typing and knowing some Medical Terms.
Even though the Students complete our course quickly, it's important to note that Medical Transcriptionists
always have to keep learning. Throughout ones career as a Medical Transcriptionist one will need to keep
up with changes in Technology, Medical Procedures, etc. Medical Transcription is an interesting and
challenging career. It is not just a Medical Terminology course. It is not for everyone. All those people
who are being hired " off the street " and given a terminology course can only become Medical Typist.
They certainly are not Medical Transcriptionists.

Our course is comprehensive. We start with Medical Terminology, Anatomy and Physiology and Disease
Processes (Pathology) as well as proper Medical Report Style and Formatting, Confidentiality, Familiarity
with Medical Records and Ethics. The Students start transcribing shortly after enrolling and transcribe
throughout the course.

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The Students transcribe hundreds of high quality voice files. The number of files isn't as important as the
quality. Students spend hundreds of hours transcribing high-quality material. These quality materials
teach them how to transcribe, the right way.

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A Medical Transcription course is by no means a typing class, although we work very effectively to increase
speed and accuracy throughout the program. Students are required to type 20 words per minute before
starting to transcribe. You just can't get a good pay as a Transcriptionist if you don't have excellent
Keyboard Skills. There's so much more to it that Keyboarding must almost be second nature to a
Medical Transcriptionist. English grammar and punctuation skills are also required before starting the
class. A Student with very poor grammar and punctuation will not do well in this career.

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Experienced instructors are available round the clock to answer your questions. Our team works effectively
together. The direct involvement of the companies Director ( a Practitioner Member of American
Association for Medical Transcription ) helps in making quality changes to the companies program
immediately. We do not go through an administrative board for approval. We want the Students to
get what they need. We do not compromise on their education.

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Quality is more important, but you must have the knowledge and skills to be able to provide both.
MT's should start slowly and do a good job of what they do. If a MT studies effectively throughout the time
with us,  they won't feel the need to stop and look up every term they encounter. This habit does
not help one in both - Quality & Quantity. A MT has to go slowly and do a solid and dependable work.
The Medical Transcription community is a very large one. We frequently hear about the quality of work
other Transcriptionists do. Those Transcriptionists with poor training or those who do sloppy work quickly
run out of places to work. Our advice is - Don't take on more than what you can do.

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Some of the general skills a MT requires are, being able to type, or more correctly, " Keyboard Typing ".
Which means, being proficient at using all the keys on a computer keyboard, good knowledge of general
language skills, such as your grammar, spelling, punctuation rules and writing styles. A good knowledge of
medical terms, medical phrases, rules for combining medical words using prefixes and suffixes, good
knowledge of human anatomy and physiology.

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Without concept processing, speech recognition by itself is useless. The problem is not in the mouth,
but in the relationship between your fast and intuitive brain and your slow and clumsy mouth.
In fact, the only reason transcription dictation works half way well, is that there is a human on the other side,
who is performing lots of functions that voice recognition software can never duplicate.
( What happens if the Doctor says - " sorry, please get back to the previous paragraph and make the
following correction after cancer………" ). In other words, it takes a second human brain to do that job of
translating abstract human thoughts into words.

The one area that the VRS would influence upon is, it would takes the place of the keyboard.
But again - your keyboard is NOT the problem.

At this point, we would like to talk about an article on the VRS, in an Indian Daily News Paper. The article
stated that, with the advent of the VRS, Medical Transcription would soon become a thing of the past.
This is exactly the kind of reporting that is not only irresponsible but damaging. The reporter does not
know that whatever VRS can or cannot do, it certainly cannot produce accurate medical transcription
reports. Not at the levels of accuracy required by the American Healthcare Industry.
To quote an American doctor -" 98% works but the 2% kills".

Even the medical spell-check is unreliable when you have homonyms. The Medical as well as the English
Language is replete with homonyms. Can the reporter tell us on how the VRS would distinguish between "
ileum " and " ilium " ? " Urine samples " would easily be transcribed as " your in samples ",  " angiography "
as " and geography ". Need we go on ? It must be remembered that in medical reports we are dealing with
the life of a human being (the patient) and we cannot afford to have such big bloomers ! It is clear that
most reporters/writers don't research their subjects when they write.

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15. Why is Medical Transcription necessary? 

Physicians, hospitals, clinics, and insurance companies all across the world use Medical Transcription
services. The industry is moving toward electronic health records, making it mandatory to store a patients
medical health history so that it can be accessed by physicians anywhere. The reports transcribed by
Medical Transcriptionists function as mandatory legal documentation and fulfill requirements for insurance
reimbursement. These records are also used as reference material for scientific research.

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     If you have some questions we have not yet answered, please send us an e-mail.