Medical transcription jobs can often be conducted from home.
If you have a talent for typing and want to work in the medical field, then the medical transcriptionist's career may be for you. Medical transcriptionists transcribe audio voice recordings made by doctors, nurses and other medical professionals into medical reports, medical histories, correspondence and other typed materials associated with medicine and medical care. Some medical transcription (MT) jobs allow the transcriptionist to telecommute, or work from home. Experienced medical transcriptionists can expect to make an annual salary averaging $34,000 as of April 2011, according to Indeed.com.
Training in Medical Transcription
Training options are varied and many for prospective medical transcriptionists. Be careful of unaccredited, private training programs that offer to teach you to earn $20 or $30 per hour right off the bat. There are many programs in the MT field that equate to "Work at Home" scams, offering the moon but putting little effort into the solid training you will need to be successful in MT.
On the other hand, many community colleges, vocational schools, and online universities offer viable MT certificates and degrees. These are the programs that can teach you the basic skills, from grammar and software necessities to medical terms and jargon, that will help you be a success in your chosen field. Do your homework. Make sure your chosen program is well reviewed, has a high placement rate after graduation and is accredited.
MT Specialization
Many transcription training programs, especially full degrees, offer areas of specialization. These can prepare you to manage the jargon inherent in particular medical fields, such as ontology, osteology, audiology, enterology, psychology or family medicine. A medical transcriptionist with specialized experience can often ask for and receive higher rates of pay within their chosen area(s) of specialty.
Finding Employment
Once you have completed your training, you have two options --- working with an established company or starting your own business.
Working full-time with an established company can give you more stability and the possibility of benefits such as health insurance or a 401(k). This could be with a doctor's office, a dentist's office, a hospital or a third-party company that specializes in offering medical transcription services to institutions and businesses that need such services. If working from home is important to you, you'll need to find a company that is amenable to working with a medical transcriptionist who telecommutes.
Your second option as a medical transcriptionist is to start your own business and freelance. This option gives you the flexibility to offer your services to multiple businesses, and can allow you more flexibility to set your own hours. However, your options are more limited for health insurance and retirement funding.
Successfully Working from Home
Whether working for a third party or for your own business as an entrepreneur, you must be driven and consistent in order to succeed in a work-at-home environment. Only you will set your hours, meet your deadlines and do your taxes. With the flexibility to make your own hours comes the responsibility to meet your own deadlines. MT can be a lucrative and satisfying work-at-home career, but you must be a self-starter with attention to detail and high standards in order to succeed.
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