Medical understanding is critical for the professional medical transcriptionist. The complex terms used in medicine are unlike the language used in any other profession.
Medical transcription requires a practical knowledge of medical language relating to anatomy, physiology, disease processes, pharmacology, laboratory medicine, and the internal organization of medical reports. A medical transcriptionist is truly a medical language specialist who must be aware of standards and requirements that apply to the health record, as well as the legal significance of medical transcripts.
Reports of patient care take many forms, including histories and physical examinations, progress reports, emergency room notes, consultations, operative reports, discharge summaries, clinic notes, referral letters, radiology reports, pathology reports, and an array of documentation spanning more than 60 medical specialties and frequently dictated by healthcare providers for whom English is a second language. Thus, the medical transcriptionist, or medical language specialist, must be well versed in the language of medicine.
