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Average Salary & Job Outlook
U.S. Minimum Wage
$10,712 Annually
Like almost every position in the medical field, the aging
and retiring of the baby boomer generation is placing high
employment demands on the medical transcription industry.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that medical transcription workers had median annual earnings of
$32,900 in 2010 and transcriptionists that worked in general
medical and surgical hospitals earned approximately $34,970 annually. In other places, such as medical and diagnostic laboratories, medical transcriptionists earn $36,410 as a median salary.
Some medical transcription workers are paid based on the number
of hours they work or the number of lines they transcribe.
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What is a Medical Transcription Worker?
If you’re looking for a non-patient care career
in the medical field with a flexible schedule and
plenty of opportunity, a job as a medical transcription
worker would be a great choice.
Medical transcription workers record medical notes,
observations and patient histories into a tape recorder
to be transcribed into a hard copy at a later time
to facilitate the number of patients to be seen and
to move quickly in their profession.
What does a Medical Transcription Worker
do?
By using digital or analog tape playback equipment,
medical transcription workers enter the vocal recording
into a computer using word processing software. A
foot pedal controls the speed of playback and can
pause or rewind the recording. The medical
transcription worker will edit for clarity and grammar. They
produce such documents as patient history, examination
reports, discharge summaries, autopsy reports and
referral letters to specialists or other facilities.
It is necessary for a medical transcription worker
to have knowledge of medical terminology, anatomy,
physiology, assessments and more since they may have
to clarify inconsistencies in the report. The best
way to do this is to become a Certified Medical Transcriptionist
through two year training programs or by getting an
associates degree in a medical field. A degree is not
necessary, but possessing the certification credential can
boost employment prospects.
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