Medical Transcription Philippines

Medical transcription (MT) is the process by which medical records – such as patient history, consultation notes, lab reports, and pathology reports – dictated by doctors and other medical professionals are transcribed from audio to text format. The medical transcriptionist is the person who transforms audio medical reports from the original dictated form to the written form to be produced either as a hard copy or to be stored in a computer system.

Job profile

The primary task of the medical transcriptionist is to transcribe, format and proofread medical records. Medical records for transcription are primarily sourced from the USA. They are outsourced for transcription from a variety of healthcare settings including doctor’s offices, private/public hospitals, clinics, laboratories, legal offices, veterinary and medical clinics, research centres. Dictations are done not only by doctors but also by surgeons, nurses pharmacists, therapists, nurses and other paramedical staff. Medical transcriptionists receive the doctor’s dictation by tape, digital systems or as a voice data file. Digitised data through the Internet is the most common means of receiving medical data from the USA.

The local transcription company receives the data and they uncompress it. At this point, the medical transcriptionist takes over. Using a suitable word processing programme/application the audio file is transcribed and edited. There are two stages in MT. The first is the actual process of transcription by a medical transcriptionist. This is followed by proofreading and editing. The MT industry employs a number of proofreaders, junior and senior editors as well. Proofreaders and editors perform the following functions:

• Visual proofreading
• Electronic spellcheck
• Grammar check
• Checking for medical inconsistencies and inaccuracies

The medical record – now in text form – is then routed back to the concerned doctor or hospital.

Hierarchy

A typical MT firm is structured as follows:

• Trained medical transcriptionists
• Senior medical transcriptionists
• Proofreaders
• Sub editors
• Editors
• Supervisor
• Manager

Remuneration

At the entry level trained medical transcriptionists earn around Php 10,000-15,000 per month. With a minimum of six months experience medical transcriptionists can expect to earn Php 18,000 per month.

Essential Attributes

Medical transcriptonists must possess the following essential attributes:

• Familiarity with medical jargon
• Good typing skills
• Excellent listening skills
• Excellent command over English
• Ability to adjust to different accents and diction
• Ability to deduct medical inconsistencies in dictation
• Ability to work long hours
• High level of concentration over long periods of time

Training

MT schools offer certificate courses in transcription. Fees for short term (3-6 months) courses range from Ppp 20,000-35,000. In-house training programes are also offered by transcription firms that hire freshers.

Medical transcription training modules cover the following subjects:

• English grammar
• Medical terminology
• Human anatomy
• American English

Medical Transcription Course Outline

Related areas of workMedical transcriptionists can diversify into the areas of legal and entertainment (podcasting) transcription works.

source: www.hindustanlink.com, photo from dabcc.nmsu.edu