Current Trends

Recent trends have had medical transcriptionists scrambling for other types of transcription work due to fear of medical transcription work drying up. It is true that voice recognition software is gaining in popularity, especially as its accuracy slowly but steadily improves. It is also true that the institution and expansion of use of electronic medical records has grown, especially with the aid and encouragement of things like government “stimulus” funds. Yet it is important to note that although these advancements have changed the face of medical transcription, they also have demonstrated a need for human intervention, i.e., medical transcriptionists also more and more commonly called medical language specialists.

Job boards and websites have seen a definite increase in the call for medical transcriptionists in recent months. As witness to recent demands, I am happy to report that I have actually turned away work that was simply more than I could handle. In one case, I was asked to recommend a medical transcriptionist to fill my shoes, but sadly I had no one in tow at that moment.

I applaud medical transcriptionists who stay active in the field. Those who specialize have a lot to offer. Those who branch out whether within the bounds of other medical specialties or outside of medical transcription and into other types of transcription work are to be commended.

Marketing experts advise that seeking new medical transcription work requires effort in good times and bad. They recommend repeated efforts. One mailing or phone call will generally not be sufficient. Allow time and put forth your best effort. Make your name, your business name, familiar. 

Medical transcription work is out there. Go for it!

Encouragement

While medical transcription job opportunities had slowed during the most recent economic recession, there appears now to be a change. Over the course of the past several months, more and more job openings have been posted on websites like craigslist and online transcription forums. I, too, am receiving more interest and questions from my own blog and website with increasing frequency. 

The following meical transcription job opportunity appeared on craigslist recently. Besides the growth experienced by the advertising transcription company, what is even more interesting is the highlighted quote from the American Medical Association. The medical community is undergoing change and the AMA is clearly recommending transcriptionists as the best way to ensure accurate medical records.

Medical Transcriptionists/Scribes (Home-based/Remote U.S.A./Canada)

Medical Transcription is not only ALIVE - but SKYROCKETING at InScribe! Come join the elite of the elite where we do nothing but GROW AND GROW AND GROW! We welcome NEW as well as excellent SEASONED transcriptionists - the "excellent" part is the key.

We are also growing our Remote Scribe program for physician clinics. The AMA said this past week that "Employing medical transcriptionists is the best way to adapt to the new EHR environment"... That means YOU! If you are both excellent and experienced in a particular specialty, we will teach you to become a Remote Scribe.

Medical transcription continues to evolve in an ever-changing world. The need for medical transcriptionists continues. What has been whispered to be a dying career has been resurrected.

Time Travel

The Day Lincoln Was Shot

Medical transcription has been around for many years. Many of today’s transcriptionists jokingly say they have been transcribing since the beginning of time. What follows is the actual transcribed medical report written by Dr. Charles A. Leale on April 14, 1865.

In searching the records of the Surgeon General in the National Archives in Washington, DC, researcher Helena Iles Papaioannou recently discovered a copy of a 21-page report written by Dr. Charles A. Leale, a 23-year-old army doctor who was the first to attend to President Lincoln in the Ford's Theater on that fateful day in 1865. The record that was found was a handwritten transcript of the hours between the time of the shooting and the time of President Lincoln’s death. This report is the collaborative effort between a treating physician and the medical transcriptionist.

• The complete handwritten transcript can be seen here.
• A typed transcript is also available here.