Author: Stephanie (Page 6 of 9)

Why Go With Medical Transcriptionist Online Training Rather Than Your Local School?

January 17, 2011 / Stephanie

When you’re researching your educational options, you may notice a lot of medical transcriptionist online training courses, as well as local schools. Are there any good reasons to take a chance on an online training program rather than attend your local school, which you probably know more about?

There are many good reasons to prefer an online program. Here are just a few.

1. Online training is often self paced.

This is not true for absolutely every medical transcriptionist online training program out there, but it is true for quite a number. You decide what times and days you study, and for how long. It’s great if you have other work or family obligations to deal with. Your education works completely with your schedule.

Local schools need you to keep to their schedule. You have to attend classes when the professor can be there. You have to know what the lab hours are for your transcription practice if it’s not available to take home. You have to drive there. You have to arrange childcare if you have kids. Local just isn’t as convenient in many ways.

2. Online training is practice for working at home.

Not every medical transcriptionist works at home, but it’s a goal for many people who become interested in this career. Do your training online, and you learn how to cope with working from home. You have to set your own schedule, motivate yourself and even deal with the fact that you aren’t interacting with your classmates in person. It’s not for everyone, and the sooner you find out if you like working that way, the better.

You should also have access to your teachers online or by phone, which is rather like having a supervisor available to you online or by phone when you’re working. You can ask your questions as they come up even though you aren’t sitting in a classroom. Emailed questions or questions asked on a forum may take a little time to be answered, but in many cases you will have faster ways to ask for help.

3. Great medical transcriptionist online training programs are available.

Some of the best programs are the online training programs. They’re familiar to more employers. They train a number of medical transcription students from across the country. The best online programs have great reputations.

4. Start when you’re ready.

Some medical transcriptionist online training programs have particular start dates for sessions, but many allow you to start when you’re ready. You decide it’s time for a new career and pick the school, they’re ready for you. No waiting for registration to open up for the next quarter or semester.

5. Student forums and resources to use after graduation.

Online training programs usually have student forums that are useful during your student days as well as after graduation. You can network with your fellow students to increase your chances of finding work later.

There may also be reference materials and job hunting tools that you can use after graduation. These are quite valuable to new transcriptionists. It takes time in a real job to get to where you aren’t having to look things up regularly.

Get free information from Career Step about their online medical transcriptionist training.

Can an Online Medical Transcriptionist Course Really Prepare You For Work or Are They a Waste?

January 16, 2011 / Stephanie

There’s one very important thing you want from any online medical transcriptionist course you might choose to take. You want it to prepare you to work in the real world, very possibly from home. Without that, you’ve just wasted your time and money.

Do online medical transcriptionist courses really provide that, or are they just one of those online fantasies?

You may be glad to hear that some of the best medical transcriptionist courses available are in fact available online. Some of the schools most trusted by medical transcription employers are online. Many of the programs approved by the AHDI are online.

That doesn’t mean every online medical transcriptionist course is a good one. Many aren’t. You really have to be picky about the program you choose. It’s very easy to set up a school online, or at least something that looks like one. You need to confirm that the course you’re considering is going to be worth the time, money and effort you put into it.

A simple check is to look for AHDI Approval. This means their curriculum has been reviewed and should be enough to train you up as a medical transcriptionist. An experienced medical transcriptionist must be involved. This isn’t a formal accreditation process, but it’s the nearest thing available that has industry acceptance.

You can also check with employers. Some have partnerships with certain schools, and that improves your chances of a job, should one be open, after graduation. Partnerships do not guarantee a position, but it is helpful to know when certain employers give extra consideration to graduates of a particular program.

The most important thing to consider is how you will treat your online course of study. Are you going to take it as seriously as you would if you had to attend classes in person? Online courses don’t work out for everyone. Some find it too difficult to take them as seriously as they know they should.

You must take your online studies seriously if you want to become a medical transcriptionist. This is your best chance to build your skills before you get a job. If you hope to work from home right from the start it becomes even more important, as you won’t have anyone right there to help you if you encounter a problem. You really need to know your job.

That’s another benefit to studying online if you want to work from home. It’s practice in self discipline. Want to know if you have what it takes to work from home? Set up your studies on a schedule as close as you can get it to what you would like to have if you were to work from home. By the time you’ve graduated, you’ll know if you can handle it or if you should search for an office based medical transcription job.

Get free information from Career Step about their online medical transcriptionist training.

What Do You Need to Know to Be a Medical Transcriptionist at Home?

January 14, 2011 / Stephanie

Deciding to be a medical transcriptionist at home is a great career choice. It’s challenging and the pay is pretty decent. You have to know quite a bit before you can become a medical transcriptionist at home, however.

This is not something to do on your own. While you can study up on the skills you’d need on your own, you’re better off going through a good quality online medical transcriptionist training course. That way you won’t be missing out on some of the skills you didn’t realize you’d need.

These are the skills you need and that you need to be certain your medical transcriptionist training course will provide to you.

1. Knowledge of medical terminology.

This one should be obvious. You can’t transcribe medical reports if you don’t know the terminology and know it well.

2. Grammar and style.

You should have excellent grammar if you’re even considering medical transcriptionist training. The time you’re spending on your formal training is no time to be reviewing grammar basics.

You will need to learn about the style of the different types of medical reports and documents. They’re done in a certain way to make it easier for doctors and other medical personnel to find the information they need about a particular patient.

3. Anatomy and physiology.

How much do you know about the human body? You need to learn more.

This is a vital skill. It will help you to understand what the doctor is talking about, especially when you’re dealing with two completely different things that sound very similar. When you know the part of the body being discussed, you usually know which word is being said, even when they have similar roots.

4. Pharmacology.

You’re going to learn a ton about medications that may be prescribed. You’ll especially need to know the difference between the brand name and generic names of drugs, as the difference can be important. This is one of the areas where you need to keep up as well, as new medications come out all the time.

5. Disease processes.

What are the different stages to various diseases. The ability to understand what the doctor is talking about once again comes in very useful.

6. Transcription technology and practice.

Lots and lots of practice. Any course worth the money will require you to complete many hours of real doctor dictation. This is one of the big steps in getting the skills that will make you a productive medical transcriptionist. Without it, there’s no way you’ll earn a living wage, maybe not even minimum wage.

7. Privacy and legal issues.

Patient privacy is a huge deal, and there are laws you need to be aware of as a medical transcriptionist at home.

Beyond these concerns, I like to recommend self paced, online medical transcriptionist courses. These make it easier to continue working at your current position as you train for your new career, or you can go through the work as fast as you can learn it if you aren’t already working or otherwise occupied. It’s nice to not be slowed down by those who aren’t learning as fast as you are, or pushed to hurry up when you need a little more time.

Get free information from Career Step about their online medical transcriptionist training.

Can You Really Make Money Working From Home With Medical Transcription?

January 13, 2011 / Stephanie

Medical transcription is one of those jobs many people first hear about when they research ways to make money working from home. It sounds great. A real job in the medical industry that can be done from home, and the pay is pretty decent too. It’s no wonder working from home in medical transcription is such a popular option.

Is the money really there? Can you make what they say you can?

That depends on a few factors.

1. What do “they” say?

The ability to make the money you’re expecting depends in part on what you’ve been told to expect. If the claims are out of line with reality then no, you aren’t going to make the money you thought you would.

If you’re expecting around $30-40,000 a year, that’s about right, once you bring your skills up. Most won’t do that right out of the gate, but build your skills, work full time and sure, it’s possible and reasonable.

2. How well trained are you?

Not trained at all? Time to choose an online medical transcriptionist course and get trained. You need great training in order to earn good money working from home with medical transcription. It’s tough work.

Go for a good quality program. You don’t want one that promises extreme speed – eight weeks is too fast. Four months is pretty fast, but if you’re capable of finishing a self paced course in that time and really learning the skills a medical transcriptionist needs, it is possible. Don’t be surprised if your personal skills make it take longer.

3. Got experience?

The lack of experience is the bane of anyone trying to start a new career and it can be quite problematic for new medical transcriptionists. It seems as though everyone wants employees with at least two years of experience.

All is not lost if you get good quality training. Some employers partner with the better schools, so you have a better chance at being hired by one of them. No guarantees, as it’s still up to you to prove you gained the skills, but any foot in the door is a help.

Overall, medical transcription is just like any other job you hear about. The income you hear about people earning isn’t usually the one you get when you’re an entry level worker. It’s more common for people who know the job a little better, but it’s not out of reach at all for those committed to the career.

Early on, you probably won’t earn quite what you expect. It takes time to bring your skills up to where you have the speed needed to earn the money you hear about. Most medical transcriptionists are paid on production when they work from home. The more you improve your skills, the more you can earn.

Get free information from Career Step about their online medical transcriptionist training.

Which Medical Transcriptionist Online Course Should You Avoid?

January 12, 2011 / Stephanie

If you’ve looked at medical transcriptionist online courses much at all, you know there are a lot of them available. There’s a lot of information out there, and it’s hard to sort through it all to decide what’s worth signing up for and what’s going to waste your money.

There are many hints that you should avoid a particular medical transcriptionist online course. Some are in plain sight while others take a bit more research to figure out.

Sign 1: Extravagant Promises

What are they promising you when you graduate from their program? Do they go on and on about earning up to $50,00 a year as a medical transcriptionist without solid statistics to back that number up? Do they rave about the flexibility you will enjoy as you work from the comfort of your own home?

It’s true enough that some medical transcriptionists earn that much a year. Some. Big emphasis on some. Most by far do not.

That doesn’t mean you don’t earn good money. The pay is still pretty good, with the median hourly rate being about $15.

It’s also true enough that you may end up working a highly flexible position from the comfort of your own home. Many medical transcriptionists do. But you can’t always get a home based position right away, and even if you do, you will be expected by most employers to keep to the schedule you’ve written or to set deadlines.

I have to admit, the scheduling thing isn’t that bad. Just don’t think the life of a medical transcriptionist at home is one of near complete leisure with just a bit of work to do. You’ll probably be paid on production, and the work is not always all that easy. You may even need to pay for childcare if you have kids who are too distracting while you work. Sure nice to avoid the commute, though.

Sign 2: Cost of Your Education

A good education in medical transcription online isn’t going to be just a few hundred dollars. The education may be virtual, but any online course worth taking has experienced medical transcriptionists involved in the learning process. They have other expenses as well.

While costs do vary, expect a good program to run over $1500 at the very least. That’s not a bad cost at all if you think about it, and not too hard to make up once you get a job and really start working.

Never go for a free medical transcription course or with a company that promises on the job training if you’ll just buy their software. It’s not going to work out. These aren’t legitimate offers.

Sign 3: Accreditation

Many schools out there are accredited. That only means so much until you check them out. Not every accreditation is equal.

For medical transcription, the one that matters is AHDI Approval. That one is specific to medical transcriptionist training. It’s not a bad thing for a school to have other accreditation, but it doesn’t mean as much if the medical transcription course hasn’t been specifically reviewed.

A bit of caution goes a long way when you’re looking into becoming a medical transcriptionist. Don’t pay for an medical transcriptionist online course until you’re sure you’re picking a good one.

Get free information from Career Step about their online medical transcriptionist training.

Are Schools for Medical Transcription Honest About Your Chances of Working in Medical Transcription?

January 11, 2011 / Stephanie

You know that when you look at schools for medical transcription that they’re trying to sell you a service, that is, an education that will allow you to break into a new career. But are they honest about your chances of working in medical transcription and what the salary is like?

Some are, some aren’t.

If they’re being honest, the schools for medical transcription are probably using the data from the U.S. Department of Labor, which quotes job growth of 11% by 2018 for medical transcription. Ideally, they’ll link to that information as well on the Department of Labor’s website, so you can see it from the source yourself. That’s being honest.

Some schools will talk about how medical transcriptionists can earn up to $50,000 a year or so. It’s true enough that some medical transcriptionists earn that or even more, but most don’t. From that same Department of Labor report, the middle 50% of medical transcriptionists earn between $13.02 and $18.55 an hour. That comes out to under $40,000 a year even on that high side. Only the highest 10% earn more than 21.81 an hour.

In other words, don’t plan on a high income, especially right after graduation. You can hit the midrange if you really work at it and get a good job, but don’t be surprised to start on the lower side.

A part of this is due to how medical transcription salaries work. They aren’t usually based on hourly work, particularly for home based transcriptionists. Pay is often based on production.

That’s great once you get going. You can improve your pay rate by learning to work faster.

But most important right at the start are your chances of getting hired with training but no actual work experience. That’s the tough part, and no easily accessible outside statistics will tell you how good a chance you have of that. You have to look at the school itself and what it says.

Job placement rate is one factor to consider. If they’re placing a high percentage of graduates, you have a better chance of working in medical transcription after graduation. However, schools may count finding any work, whether it’s as a medical transcriptionist or not, as an employed graduate.

Better is to look at the trust medical transcription employers put in graduates of that program. What do they think? Will they hire new graduates who haven’t worked in the industry yet if they have done well at that school for medical transcription?

That’s what tells you a school may be worth attending when you want to become a medical transcriptionist. It’s a good hint that the program teaches you well enough to get a job if employers trust that school.

Get free information from Career Step about their online medical transcriptionist training.

Which Schools for Medical Transcriptionist Training Are Most Likely to Get You a Job After Graduation?

January 10, 2011 / Stephanie

When you’re looking at schools for medical transcriptionist training, it’s about more than getting an education. It’s about building the skills that will allow you to get a job after graduation. Medical transcription isn’t a skill people pick up as a hobby, after all.

Getting a job after graduation is all about your skills. You need training that is good enough to get you past that pesky two years of experience requirement most medical transcriptionist jobs have. That means the schools need to be good enough to gain the trust of potential employers. They need to consistently produce graduates who are ready to work.

Look for schools that can show employers trust them. They should be able to show that many medical transcription companies hire their graduates. There may even be a program in place for graduates from trusted schools to bypass the experience requirement and simply be tested for jobs when they’re available.

You do not want a school that offers you training that takes too little time. Medical transcriptionist training isn’t about getting through quickly, not if you want to work later. It’s about building the skills you will need. If you don’t build the skills and somehow get a job anyhow, you’ll quickly find that your lack of skills effects your income. Most at home medical transcriptionists are paid on production. Your skills really matter to your income.

That’s the big reason you need a good quality school to train you. It’s not just the ability to get the job. It’s the ability to earn a good income. The more skilled you are, the better you know your work, the more productive you can be, and the more you’ll probably earn each day you transcribe.

A school that is AHDI Approved is a good choice also. Schools that without that approval will still say they’re a good program, but how can you tell? AHDI is a good third party that checks the quality of programs to see if they’re giving medical transcriptionist training that should actually produce someone capable of working in this industry.

Never think that the school is solely responsible for the quality of your education. You’re even more responsible. If you aren’t making the effort in your studies, you aren’t going to get the benefit from even the best of schools.

That said, there are plenty of resources you should expect a good school for medical transcriptionists. They should have student forums, so you can talk things over with your fellow students. They should have highly accessible teachers, ideally by both phone and email.

What happens after you graduate a medical transcriptionist training program is up to you as well as the program you attended. Work hard through a good quality program, and you increase your odds that you will get a job after you graduate.

Get free information from Career Step about their online medical transcriptionist training.

What Kind of Medical Transcriptionist Schooling Do You Need to Get a Job?

January 9, 2011 / Stephanie

You quickly learn that medical transcriptionist schooling is required when you want to become a medical transcriptionist at home. There’s just no way around it. Employers want experienced or they want people who have gone through high quality medical transcriptionist schooling on their own to get the work.

When you start looking at medical transcription schools, you quickly realize there are a lot of them, and they all promise to give you the training you need in order to land a great job. The only problem is figuring out which ones will give you training that is really worth your time and money.

It’s not as bad as it looks at first. You just need to know how to figure out which ones have a good reputation.

Checking for AHDI Approval is one easy way. AHDI checks medical transcriptionist schools to see if they’re offering the kind of schooling needed to learn medical transcription. They only give approval to the schools which meet their fairly strict criteria.

Don’t confuse this with AHDI membership. Any school or individual can become a member. AHDI Approval is an entirely different matter. They review the school, make sure it has a solid curriculum, that there’s an experienced medical transcriptionist involved in the process, and many other criteria must be met.

You can also check to see if the school is partnered with potential employers. Career Step, the school I recommend, is partnered with my own former employer. Many other employers hire their graduates as well. That’s a good sign when you’re looking at a school.

There’s one more big thing you need to look at when you’re considering medical transcriptionist schooling.

Yourself. How committed are you to getting a great education?

Some students just want it all handed to them. It doesn’t matter how good the training is, however, if you don’t do the work. You’re the one who has to learn the information presented to you. If you just skim through, do the minimum to pass the tests, you aren’t going to get hired after graduation. That kind of attitude just does not produce a transcriptionist who knows his or her work.

It won’t matter how good the school was or which employers usually are willing to test graduates. If you didn’t learn all the things your school tried to teach you about becoming a medical transcriptionist, you aren’t going to get hired.

Combine good quality medical transcriptionist schooling with the determination to learn the job thoroughly, and you’re more likely to work after graduation. There are plenty of employers who hire medical transcriptionists. You just have to show them you’re the one they need.

Get free information from Career Step about their online medical transcriptionist training.

Medical Transcriptionist Training in Eight Weeks – Why You Won’t Learn Medical Transcription That Quickly

January 8, 2011 / Stephanie

Some ads promise medical transcriptionist training in as little as eight weeks. It sounds great. Right about two months and you’re ready for a great new career with good pay and good demand. Why not go for it?

I can give you one very good reason to not go for programs that promise that you can complete medical transcriptionist training in just eight weeks. They aren’t going to give you the training you need to land a job. Medical transcription takes more time than that to learn for most people.

You have to learn a lot to become a medical transcriptionist. It’s not all about the terminology. It’s not all about the transcription either. It’s about building the right combination of skills and learning to work effectively and accurately as a medical transcriber.

You can find good programs that will allow you to learn at your own pace. There’s nothing wrong with signing up for an online self paced medical transcriptionist training program. In fact, some of the online programs are the most reputable medical transcription training programs around. Employers know that their graduates will be ready to work.

That’s not true of any of the eight week programs, however.

A good training program can take as little as four months, but it’s not at all uncommon for a student to require nine months or even go over a year. It depends on how much time you spend on your studies, how hard you work on finishing things quickly.

If you already have a job and can only work a few hours, it’s going to take you longer to learn medical transcription than if you’re studying it full time.

It will also take you longer if you don’t already have the basic skills any transcriptionist needs. You must have excellent typing skills. You must have excellent grammar and language skills. Some schools test you in these areas before they’ll even admit you to their medical transcriptionist training program.

An eight week program will try to cram in a lot of information in that time. They’ll throw a bunch of medical terminology in, teach you about formatting, and maybe, just maybe, give you some dictation to practice your transcription skills.

It won’t be enough. Good schools require a lot of transcription practice from real doctor dictation. There will be many hours of dictation to transcribe before you graduate.

Think about it. How many professional level jobs can you learn in eight weeks? Many require years of training. Even many vocational programs take longer than that. It’s just not that simple to pick up the skills, not if you want to work.

That goes double for a career such as medical transcription, where you may be wanting to work at home. If you want to work at home, you have to show that you don’t need someone over your shoulder, and you don’t need someone right there to ask questions and train you on the job. You need to be ready to work with minimal help, just a little training on the particular systems used with the company you work for.

If you want to learn medical transcription quickly, don’t go for a program promising you results in eight weeks. Research and find a program that will let you pace yourself. Make sure the company has a reputation of training good medical transcriptionists. Make sure it has AHDI Approval. Then work hard on your education and see how long it takes you. It will probably be more than eight weeks, but you’ll know you’re spending the time more wisely.

Get free information from Career Step about their online medical transcriptionist training.

Why Should You Choose an AHDI Approved Medical Transcription School?

January 8, 2011 / Stephanie

One recommendation you will see sometimes in your search for a quality medical transcription school is to choose an accredited program. For many kinds of online education, that’s a good recommendation. For medical transcription, however, I recommend a different criteria. I recommend seeking out AHDI Approval.

Accreditation for an online school in general is a good thing, so long as it is legitimate. The trouble is that some schools set up their own accrediting agency to make themselves look legitimate.

You can solve this problem by checking to see if the accrediting agency itself is legitimate. Visit http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/Search.aspx to see if the agency is listed. This can help you to determine if the agency is legitimate or suspect.

Accreditation means that the school meets the criteria set forth by the accrediting agency. This can be important if you want your school credits to be transferrable to another college. But when you study medical transcription, your goals are a little different.

This is why I recommend AHDI. They don’t accredit schools. They make sure that they are offering high quality medical transcription training. The criteria they check are the exact ones you need for your future as a medical transcriptionist.

Regular accrediting programs don’t do this. They accredit the college as a whole, and there’s no focus on medical transcription. Some accredited online schools do a poor job of training medical transcriptionists. If this is the industry for you, you want to be certain that your training is good enough to get you a job, not just college credit.

AHDI is the largest professional society in the world for medical transcriptionists and others who work in clinical documentation.

AHDI Approval means the schools follow the AHDI Model Curriculum, provide at least 35 hours of real physician dictation, have at least one CMT involved, uses the AHDI Book of Style, must have existed for at least six months and have provided student placement statistics and must offer course instructors to students, as well as other criteria. This approval is well regarded by many medical transcription employers.

They don’t approve a lot of schools. I see 22 schools on their list as of this writing.

It is vital to note that AHDI Approval is a separate thing from AHDI membership. Don’t be fooled by schools simply claiming AHDI membership. Anyone can join AHDI. It has nothing to do with the quality of the educational program. You need to look for AHDI Approval.

You should also still do your research on approved schools, to be certain that it meets your needs before you apply to the school.

As you do your research, remember your goal in studying medical transcription. It’s not about college credit. It’s about qualifying for a career with good growth potential, flexibility and pay.

My personal preference out of the schools approved by AHDI is Career Step. The quality of their education is good, and they are partnered with some employers, giving you a good chance at finding work after graduation