I was wondering if you could help me out with this.
I have read various posters here suggesting Medical Transcription as a job.
I tried to search for threads, but I came up with nothing (must have been the words I was using).
My dad, I think, would be in ideal candidate for such a job, if it is true that you can do it from home.
Could some of you with experience tell me about the job and point to some legit sources?
I appreciate any advice or suggestions.
My wife is currently going through getting her certification for Medical Transcription. From what she has found, first, to get hired by a company to do this work, you need to be certified. This involves paying a fee to a established company and taking their coursework (which is supplied through the mail - you won’t need to leave the house). Their course work is an intensive set of lessons on medical terminology, including sessions on anatomy, diseases, standard nomenclature, transcribing from voice recordings of doctors for whom English is a second language, etc. - it’s similar to nursing courses except there’s no hands-on work. They typically also provide you with the software for transcribing, and a foot pedal for operating the audio player which you use to listen to the doctor’s voice recording while you transcribe. The course work will take anywhere from 6 months to 18 months to complete depending on your pace. There are tests involved, since the company in giving you a certificate is putting their reputation on the line. You need to be a relatively fast and accurate typist. To see more, you can check out the website of the company my wife is getting her certification from:
The site includes a self-test where you can see if you are a good candidate for the job. Good Luck to your dad!
One of my best friends is a medical transcriptionist. She did her certification through the local technical school (I think it was a four-semester course, but it might have just been a year). They did anatomy, physiology, medical terminology, worked with different software systems, learned about a gajillion different filing systems, and did an externship at the local hospital.
She worked free-lance for a while, transcribing for a couple of doctors in town, then did a stint in the hospital’s radiology department. Right now she’s working from home for MedQwest, the big healthcare/insurance conglomerate, and doing a little bit for a local gastroenterologist on the side.
When she signed on with MedQwest, they sent her all the software and hardware she needed to work within their system. She logs on to the system at whatever hours she and they have agreed on, pulls up her assignments online, does her work, and files it electronically. I believe they’ve got her transcribing for an ER in LA, but I’m not sure. I know it’s somewhere in California (she lives in Kentucky). I’m not sure how much she makes, but I do know when she was working hourly, she was making more per hour than I did. She gets paid by the line, now, but I’m sure she still makes more per hour than I do.
As cybersnark pointed out, you have to be a pretty good typist to be any good at this job. It’s not a prereq to get started, though, since speed and accuracy builds with practice. My friend went from about 40 wpm when she started her training to 80+ wpm the last time she tested (which was a couple years ago.)
I’ll see if she knows of any good resources for training and equipment.
Thanks for the info!
My sister does this as a business from home. It’s in Australia, so the laws are no doubt different. She is an extremely high speed and accurate typist, but as far as I know does not have any formal qualifications. I think years ago she did a medical reminology course, but she’s also learned on the job. She does, however, have years of experience in the state hospital system, and also in private clinics, and she’s well respected in the field. I’ll ask her for advice if it’ll help.
That should read “medical terminology course”.
I used to do a bit of MT. I worked for a company who had a contract with the state of Massachusetts. We transcribed doctor’s notes and social worker’s notes regarding people who were trying to get on disability. It was a hoot, lemme tellya.
We got paid by the hour, but IIRC most work-at-home MT’s get paid by the line, usually about 10 cents. Sometimes they get paid by the page.
'Round here, anyway, to do it at home you have to be damn good. Trying to transcribe foreign doctors is a bitch and American doctors aren’t a picnic either, lots of mumbling going on. I used to pray blessings upon doctors who spoke clearly and spelled really really hard medical terms every now and then.