Information On Medical Transcription Reports

By Kathleen Clark


Transcription is whole sub-field within the profession of medicine that deals with converting dictated notes into written form. The notes are usually dictated by medical practitioner such as physicians or doctors. The person doing the conversion produces medical transcription reports from the voice-recorded reports for use in the future. The information may be hand-written or it may be typed.

The maintenance of medical record is something that began a very long ago when man started to learn how to write. Historical evidence in the form of cave writings exist to support the idea that the ancient man maintained health records. The modern version of this field has its origin in the 20th century due to need for standardizing medical data for purposes of research. Doctors dictated information to stenographers who made shorthand notes.

People who specialize in this profession are referred to as transcriptionists. Over the years, the profession along with the equipment used have evolved a lot. Previously, manual typewriters dominated the field but today they have been replaced with electric typewriters. Later, electric typewriters were replaced with word processors and then computers. Today, speech recognition, abbreviated as SR and also referred to as continuous speech recognition is being adopted at a high rate.

The term medical language specialists is the other name for transcriptionists, often shortened to MLS. The equipment used for the work is called a medical transcriber. A transcriber can be any machine or equipment. Certificate, degree, and diploma courses are available for qualifying as a transcriptionist. Most learning institutions are also incorporating distance learning in their curricular.

Transcriptionists gain enormous training and mastery of skills in performing simultaneous tasks. They master health terminology and are able to edit, listen, and type transcripts at the same time. Some of the courses that learner take include health terminology, grammar, punctuation, anatomy, editing, record types, typing, anatomy, record formats, and health documentation. In most countries, registration and certification is not usually mandatory, but most transcriptions are usually registered or certified.

Being successful as a transcriptionist takes certain abilities and skills. These skills come in handy in tackling the many responsibilities and duties that transcriptionists are required to handle. Some of the abilities include above-average memory, grammar, communication, and spelling skills. Besides that, they need to be able to check, sort, verify, and count numbers with accuracy. Ability to precisely follow both written and verbal instructions is mandatory because there are a lot of instructions that need to be followed in the profession.

Doctors usually dictate very fast, which makes fast typing skills very necessary. The transcripts are kept safely for future references. Therefore, transcribers need to have good skills in record maintenance for the transcripts. It is also crucial to have skills and knowledge in operating computers and other computing gadgets.

The need to have all health records documented in on the rise. Thus, countries in shortage of transcriptionists are outsourcing labor from foreign countries to fill the gap. As of 2012, the transcribing industry was worth 41.4 million United States Dollars. Its growth rate will be 5.6 percent up to 2019 according to statistics found.




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