The bid to go paperless is driven by a number of possible factors. Despite paper being a renewable resource, Mother Nature is experiencing challenges to keep up with the rate of trees being chopped down and turned into mulch. Paper also presents a tendency of getting misplaced as people are in the habit of using paper clips which drop needed pages whilst picking up unintended ones. Despite vehement denials, physicians' handwritten notes suffer the fate of being orphaned from their patient folders.
Medical transcription gains new standing and purpose in the compilation of medical records. Doctor's dictations become the norm as they supposedly save time and effort, allowing the doctor to move on to the next patient after a quick press of the record and stop buttons. Although challenges to decipher curlicues and personalized shorthand are overcome, next on the plate is the ability to understand what is being recorded. To avoid being stumped by a mounting media of mumbles, professionals trained to carry out the task of transforming voice into text have to be equally familiar with the context at hand. Terminology and nuances commonly used by medical professionals must be at one's finger tips as they dance across the keyboard. One can only hope for a reasonable level of diction as making sense of a doctor's dictation with a lisping or muttering characteristic easily causes bleeding in the ears.
Typing is obviously a mandatory skill set for anyone venturing into the profession of medical transcription. Not only does one have to be fast, one also needs to possess accuracy. With the advent of modern word processing software, an easy activation of speller and grammar checks brings forth green and red wiggly lines. Speedy corrective action is taken to weed out pesky errors. Installing medical lexicons associated with various branches of medicine also increases one's level of productivity.