If you have an interest in the medical field and enjoy office work, youshould consider a career in medical transcription. Demand in this fieldcontinues to grow and each year there are more job opportunities.

Medical transcription clerks quickly and accurately transcribe medicalrecords that are dictated by doctors and other medical professionals. You willbe working with clinic notes, physical reports, office notes, consultationreports, operative reports, psychiatric evaluations, laboratory results,pathology reports, and x-ray results to name just some of the record types.

The clerk receives the information on a dictation tape which is thenlistened to using a Dictaphone machine and transcribed into a word processingprogram. Different doctors use different word processing software but all havemedical dictionaries. There are several that are required includingmedications, medical definitions, and abbreviations.

In order to do this job you must have good computer and language skills. Youmust also be well versed in medical terminology, laboratory terms, surgicalterms, procedures, and abbreviations. Medical transcription clerks must beaccurate as they are responsible for correctly transcribing patient medicalrecords.

You can complete a Medical Transcription certification program online. Thelength of programs varies depending on the level of training you undertake, buton average they take anywhere from 6 months to 9 months to complete.

You will then be qualified to work in a hospital or medical office as atranscriptionist. There are also job opportunities in the field becomingavailable online. In the United States you can expect to earn around $10.00 perhour to start, and with just a few years experience this can jump to $20.00 perhour or more. National transcription companies require 2-5 years of hospitalexperience, but they pay substantially better! Online, in a self employedenvironment, you can earn up to $40.00 per hour.

Although membership in a professional association is not required, it isrecommended. The AAMT, The American Association for Medical Transcription, wasfounded in 1978 and provides you with the bimonthly Journal of the Associationfor American Medical Transcription, discounts on professional services andproducts, access to educational conferences and seminars, access to AAMTprofessional staff, and the opportunity to become a Certified MedicalTranscriptionist.

If a career in medical transcription is for you, check with the many onlineuniversities about their program requirements.