The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Working In Medical Transcription

For the right person, being a medical transcriptionist is a great job

. For the wrong person it's tedious work. You need to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the job before you pay for your training.

The Advantages

Flexibility has to be considered one of the major advantages to working as a medical transcriptionist. Many jobs are at home and allow you to set your own schedule. You may have to follow that schedule as well as possible once it's set, but in most cases you can change it fairly easily.

The pay is also pretty good once you get going. At home employees and contractors are typically paid per line not per hour, so it really does depend on your skills. But http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos271.htm lists the median hourly rate for medical transcriptionists at $15.41 as of this writing. That's not bad for a job you don't need to commute to, and it is very possible to earn more.

The work can be fascinating if you enjoy learning about medical issues. You will hear about some very interesting situations.

It's also fun if you enjoy improving your vocabulary. No matter how well you learn your terminology in training, at some point a doctor will throw something unfamiliar at you in a dictation and you'll have to figure out what it is.

The Disadvantages

Many of the advantages can also be disadvantages. Flexibility doesn't work out well for everyone in a job. Some people simply do not do well when they supervise themselves and truly thrive better in an office that they have to go to. That's not a failing. It may just be who you are.

If you turn green just listening to family members talk about medical issues, you aren't going to like this job.

And if you struggle with spelling and people often confuse you with unfamiliar terms, you really would struggle as a transcriptionist. I'm not saying you can't do it, but if you don't love the language now, you'll need to work a lot harder.

You can also develop your own health issues as a medical transcriptionist if you aren't careful. Carpal tunnel and other repetitive motion injuries are a common problem. You will want to learn about ergonomics if you plan on spending so many hours typing at a computer.

The doctors themselves can be a disadvantage also. It's not just accents. It's doctors who dictate too fast. Doctors who eat while dictating. Doctors who participate in other conversations while dictating. Doctors can make this job incredibly pleasant or incredibly frustrating just in how they do their dictations. You'll have to deal with both types.

The cost of quality training is a disadvantage too, if you aren't prepared to deal with it. Some programs do offer payment programs so that you can ease the strain. But don't go for the cheapest program you can find out there. Too many really don't prepare you to work and employers know which schools those are after a time. You don't want to lose all chances at work just because you made a poor choice in the training program you went through.

by: Stephanie Foster

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