Medical transcription is the process whereby verbal reports recorded by doctors following patient visits are changed to a written text. Transcription of a doctor's verbal reports is critical in ensuring that the information is accurate and standardized for current and future doctors accessing a patient's medical record.
Imagine, for example, that a particular doctor's comments are not understandable. Due to lack of transcription, it's quite possible that that patient receives maltreatment in a subsequent visit. The impact of medical transcription is far reaching.
The most important impact of medical transcription is the formation of an official medical record. These records, made up of prescriptions, doctor reports, etc. forms a set of legal documents. Medical record can be used not only for doctors to reference in making diagnoses, or signing prescriptions, but also in screening for certain professions, e.g. the military. Since these histories become legal documents, it's important that transcriptionists perform their job accurately.
Transcriptionists have various tools at their disposal in order to perform their job. The advent of digital media makes it possible to use even iPods in the transcription process. While this is not likely for medical transcription, the process of using digital devices in transcription remains the same - regardless of what device was used to record the doctor's report.
The Process of transcription is fairly straight forward: first, using a digital recording device the doctor records comments after they've finished their appointment with the patient (again, it should be noted that not all doctors may use digital media, rather this is meant as an example of what happens with digital media). Next, the doctor sends the file to a central server, to their in-house transcriptionists for processing, or perhaps even to a contracted third party. Third, the file then gets transcribed. After transcription the record is submitted to the patient's chart (a way of referring to all their transcribed medical appointments). Ensuring accuracy of transcription can be difficult.
Medical transcription requires that transcriptionists have exceptional memory skills. Often times the transcription process requires that the transcriptionist review the same recording multiple times in order to ensure accuracy. Things like rate of speech, regional accents and possibly even background noise can all affect the quality of audio recording. This in turn makes careful editing of transcribed text a requirement for all medical transcriptionists.
While perhaps not always noted in a list of desired skills for a medical transcriptionist, patience is a must as the tedious nature of the work necessitates the ability to work without getting frustrated at the task, or at least enough patience to manage to the frustration.
