In order to reinvent itself, the
industry has resolved to move beyond conventional Medical Transcription Services.
Medical Transcription, also known as MT, is an allied health
profession, which deals in the process of transcription i.e. converting
voice-recorded reports as dictated by physicians and other healthcare
professionals, into text format.
Medical Transcription is one of the fastest growing fields in health
care. Medical Transcriptionists are in demand in Western countries
especially in the US where the entire healthcare industry is based on
insurance, and detailed medical records are needed for processing
insurance claims. Medical transcription could be one of the speedy
growing IT enabled service in India also, with the rapid change in the
outlook in the Indian healthcare segment and privatization of the
insurance sector. India provides as an ideal location for conducting
medical transcription with the large population of educated English
speaking people and the comparative low cost which encourages companies
abroad to outsource their work to the
Indian Medical Transcription field.
Over a decade now, medical transcription has accelerated change to a
larger extent. However, transcription equipment has changed from
manual typewriters to electric typewriters to word processors to
computers and from plastic disks and magnetic belts to cassettes and
endless loops and digital recordings. Today, speech recognition (SR),
also known as continuous speech recognition (CSR), is increasingly being
used, with medical transcriptionists and “editors” providing
supplemental editorial services, although there are occasional instances
where SR fully replaces the MT.
MT As a Profession:
A Medical Transcriptionist is a person who assists physicians and
specialty surgeons usually by transcribing, formatting, and proof
reading their dictated medical oriented report of a patient’s health
history. This dictation covers pretty much everything that takes place
between the health care provider and the patient. An MT is also known as
a Medical Language Specialist or MLS. The equipment that a MT uses is called a medical transcribers.
Education and training can be obtained through certificate or diploma
programs, distance learning, and on-the-job training offered in some
hospitals. Medical transcription is an interesting and challenging
career. It is the process whereby one accurately and swiftly transcribes
medical records dictated by doctors and others, including history and
physical reports, clinic notes, office notes, operative reports,
consultation notes, discharge summaries, letters, psychiatric
evaluations, laboratory reports, x-ray reports and pathology reports.
Duties as an MT:
Medical Transcription Scope in India:
In India there was a boom in this industry couple of years back with a
lot of companies and training institutes entering this field. Most
companies except a few could not survive due to lack of proper training
and understanding of this comparatively new concept in India. By
improving the work standards and quality of service, India has a wide
scope for capturing the huge clientele in the US and provides employment
opportunities to the huge mass of English speaking and computer
literate people in the country. The success of the surviving companies
proves that Medical Transcription Services can hold a vital link in altering the Indian job scenario.