ADVERTISEMENT
a medical transcriptionist typing up a report on a computer

Important Job Duties as a Medical Transcriptionist

Careers in the medical field are rewarding and plentiful in many areas of the country. Some medical careers take years of study, but other areas are easier to complete and still provide great job security and a rewarding career. A career as a medical transcriptionist allows someone to be involved in the medical field without going to years of school.

Recording Information

Medical transcriptionists have many roles, one of which involves recording medical information. Medical transcriptionists do this with transcribing machines that have headsets and foot pedals to record information as the doctor explains it. Patient information needs to be recorded in every area of a medical setting, including emergency room visits, operations, chart reviews, diagnostic imaging studies, and final summaries of a patient's visit to the hospital or doctor's office.

Distinguish Between Confusing Information

Medical reports have to be clear and easy to understand. One duty of a medical transcriptionist might be to reread medical reports for homonyms, mistakes and inconsistencies with medical terminology, and mistakes with terminology in the areas of anatomy, medicine, drug references, and physiology.

Identifying Mistakes

Another job of a medical transcriptionist is to identify mistakes in reports. This involves talking with doctors to get the correct information and changing the information. In some cases, a medical transcriptionist might just be correcting grammar or spelling mistakes, while other times they might be correcting mistakes in a patient's diagnosis, the medicine or drugs they were given, or other mistakes associated with their visit.

Data Entry and Data Retrieval

Medical transcriptionists also preform a lot of data entry. Medical reports have to be entered into computers after each report is completed. Medical transcriptionists also retrieve data for doctors about specific patients and update reports on patients as needed.

Produce Medical Reports

Medical transcriptionists also type up medical reports and patient care information after each visit. They update medical records for different patients as well as records for the entire hospital or doctor's office, such as statistics on how many patients the medical center sees or what kind of medical issues the center sees the most. Medical transcriptionists also complete final medical reports on patients and return these reports to doctors for their final review and signature.

Medical transcriptionists have an important job in the medical field. They transcribe important medical reports on patients in many different areas of the medical field, and they check reports for mistakes and inconsistencies that can impact the health of patients. A career as a medical transcriptionist can be a very rewarding career as well as a way to work in the medical field without spending years in school.

Last Updated: April 15, 2015