Medical Transcription (also known as "MT") is a professional career—simply put, it involves listening to a doctor dictating medical reports and accurately transcribing them into a properly formatted and accurate medical document.
The US Dept. of Labor describes the duties of a medical transcriptionist this way:
Medical transcriptionists typically work on a personal computer (usually Windows-based). They should be accurate and reasonably fast typists, be familiar with word processing programs (Microsoft Word or Corel's WordPerfect are most popular) and have excellent referencing skills. (In other words, they need to be willing to look up the spelling on an obscure word and know where to look!) They should be able to sit quietly in front of a computer screen for hours at a time, listening and typing, typing and listening. Also, a good medical transcriptionist should enjoy working with words and perfecting their grammar. (I certainly am working on my less-than-perfect grammar right now!) Needless to say, it's not a job that will suit just anyone. But, when a person is suited for it, it certainly is a rewarding and enjoyable profession.
Transcription can be done in-house (in the hospital or clinic) or at home (on a personal computer). Transcriptionists may work directly for a hospital or doctor, or they may work for a service that offers transcription services to a variety of health care providers (either locally or nationally). They may be an "employee," (who may get benefits like vacation time and health insurance) or an "independent contractor" (a.k.a. "freelancer").
Often the geographical location of an MT is immaterial to her employment if she is working at home. As long as she is living in an area that gets Internet access (preferably high-speed access) then usually she is "employable" all over the US. For instance, an MT living in Omaha may work at home for an employer located in Los Angeles. Such arrangements are quite mainstream in the MT world.
The option of being a work-at-home medical transcriptionist is something that appeals to many people—particularly, it seems, stay-at-home moms. However, it should be stressed that this is not a "lightweight" job, or "easy money." It's not very easy to get much MT work done at home if children or other family members are constantly interrupting and demanding attention. Medical transcription can be difficult, sometimes stressful, requires an exacting education, patience, and concentration. A good medical transcriptionist should truly be interested in the work and all it entails.
Medical transcriptionists should have a good knowledge of medical terms, pharmacology, anatomy, laboratory medicine, disease processes, and much more. They need to be able to transcribe a report and know enough about what is being dictated to be able to recognize strange, obscure medical terms, (or, more likely, to know which reference book to look through to find out how the obscure medical term is spelled). There are a lot of things that a medical transcriptionist should know in order to be good at their job. It simply isn't enough to memorize some medical terms and be a fast typist.
There is so much to the knowledge of a medical transcriptionist (also know as "MT"). This page on AAMT's (American Association of Medical Transcriptionists) site will tell you more about what sort of knowledge is required to be a good medical transcriptionist. (Please note: the above AAMT link may require you to click it twice to reach the actual page with the pertinent information on it. The first click may just redirect you to their main page. If that happens, just click on this link again, and you should be taken to the proper page. I can't explain that little bug in their system!)
http://www.delicateflower.org/MT/index.html
