A vital link in the healthcare system

The medical transcriptionist is the key person who transforms those reports from the dictated form to the written form, to be produced as hard copy or sent to storage in a computer system. These reports are then used as a ‘legal medical document’.

For medical transcriptionist jobs, understanding medical terminology is essential. Good listening skills are also necessary because some doctors and healthcare professionals speak English as a second language. A transcriptionist must know medical terminology thoroughly, must have a command over English grammar, and be efficient on the keyboard. The flow of work is continuous, round-the-clock, round the year.

The scope for such an industry is infinite. Reports keep coming in from the US all the time. It has to undergo several levels of editing before the final copy is produced to ensure there are no errors. Everything in this profession is performance-oriented. If you have it in you to excel in this field and your performance reflects this, then the sky is the limit.

This was one of the very few professions across the globe which was not hit by the recent global recession because medicine is an ever-expanding profession with the latest techniques and procedures getting introduced every day. This ensures that medical transcriptionists will always remain in great demand. This, in fact, is one profession where the demand for a good employee is constantly on the rise.

The future is even more exciting. With India’s plethora of professional talent, the day is not far off when the flow of work is going to increase by leaps and bounds. The availability of a huge English-speaking population in India, coupled with state-supported advancement in telecom infrastructure, makes this a promising career. Even today, jobs in this field are much more in excess of the people qualified to do them.

According to all estimates, the demand for medical transcriptionists in India is expected to rise in a manifold fashion in the coming years because more and more healthcare companies are looking to this country as a future destination. As per a NASSCOM survey, medical transcription has the potential to earn India an annual revenue of Rs 4,000 crore and generate employment for 50,000 people by 2008. The employment of medical transcriptionists is expected to grow faster than the national average through 2006.

Certainly, for young people in a quandary about their future, choosing a career as a medical transcriptionist is a worthy option to consider.