What is Medical Transcription?

You may think that all transcription is the same, you would be wrong; there are many different types of transcription which all require different skills.

So here is a detailed description of what medical transcription is all about.

When medical professionals examine patients they often dictate important information about the meeting including; patient history, tests, physical examination and diagnoses.  They use medical terminology and can often speak so quickly. This dictation is then usually included in a medical report about the patient.

Doctors do not dictate as if they are a business manager who is dictating a letter to his secretary, they often talk very quickly, use medical terminology and slang, which they expect the medical transcriptionist to know the spelling and what they mean by their shorthand language.

As you can imagine the Doctors are likely to be surrounded by other medical professionals and could be having conversations whilst they are dictating, so the transcriptionist needs to be able to decipher what should be included in the report and what should be omitted.  We use judgment in deciding what to include and what not to include.

What skills do you need to be a Medical Transcriptionist?

It is often mistaken that as a medical transcriptionist you will need to have rapid typing skills, while keep a consistent speed is important, the most important factor in medical transcription is that you have good medical knowledge good judgement and logic, as I explained previously all aspects of the medical professionals conversation is recorded, including chatter about things completely unrelated to the patient.

What qualifications do you need to be a Medical Transcriptionist?

All Medical Transcriptionists’ and Medical Secretaries are required to undertake a City and Guilds Level 3 AMSPAR Certificate in Medical Audio Transcription. This course is available at the British Society of Medical Secretaries and Administrators (BSMA).

Here at Fingertips Typing Services we have a team of highly skilled Medical Transcriptionists, if you would like more information on this service please email: info@www.fingertipstyping.co.uk