Medical Transcription

• About Medical Transcription
• Admission Requirements
• AHDI
• Course Overviews
• Course Sequence - Fall
• Course Sequence - Spring
• Curriculum
• FAQs
• Information Packet
• Program Details

• Medical Transcription
• Seminole State Homepage

Want more info?

Health Career Programs
Altamonte Campus
850 South SR 434
Altamonte Springs 32714
407.404.6004
Fax: 407.404.6201
Office: ALT-106

e-mail Healthcare

General Contact Information

Did you know...

About Medical Transcription

Medical transcription is the process of accurately and rapidly converting medical data dictated by physicians and other medical personnel into a typed and printed document to be used as part of a patient's permanent medical record.

This data might include a patient's:

• History and physical reports.
• Office and consultation notes.
• Treatment plans, symptoms and diagnoses.
• Laboratory, X-ray and pathology reports.
• Operative reports and discharge summaries or clinical resumes.
• Specialty studies such as cardiac catheterizations or electroencephalograms.
• Psychiatric evaluations.

Transcribing medical records accurately is critical to a person's health because the information:

• Affects future diagnosis and treatment.
• Determines patient billing and accounts.
• Is used to obtain payment from insurance companies.
• Assists researchers with health surveys and studies.
• Is part of a legal document that records a patient's treatment.

To perform their duties, medical transcriptionists should:

• Be experts in medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, and disease concepts.
• Be able to type quickly and accurately.
• Have excellent spelling, proofreading and editing skills.
• Know how to operate computers.
• Be able to think critically.

Medical transcriptionists have the flexibility to work in different environments such as:

• Home-based offices.
• Clinics, hospitals and physician offices.
• Transcription service offices.

Medical transcriptionists often advance into:

• Supervisory or management positions.
• Teaching or consulting positions.
• Self-employment as medical transcription service owners.
• Editors of speech-recognized dictation.

Career Opportunities and Salary Ranges

According to the United States Department of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook, the employment opportunities for medical transcriptionists are projected to grow by 11 percent from 2008 to 2018, which is faster than the average for all occupations. Demand for medical transcription services will continue to be spurred by a growing and aging population. Older age groups receive proportionally greater numbers of medical tests, treatments and procedures that require documentation.

Contracting out transcription work overseas and advancements in speech recognition technology are not expected to significantly reduce the need for well-trained medical transcriptionists.

In 2010, the mean hourly wage for entry-level medical transcriptionists in Florida was $11.10 per hour. The average hourly wage for experienced medical transcriptionists in Central Florida was $16.48 per hour. Wages can vary based on education, experience, certification status and ability to produce high "line counts" of accurate transcription (Source: Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation's 2010 Labor Market Statistics).

The Occupational Outlook Handbook also notes that:

• Job opportunities will be good, especially for those who are certified.
• Employers prefer medical transcriptionists who have completed a post-secondary training program.
• Many medical transcriptionists telecommute from home-based offices.
• About 36 percent of medical transcriptionists work in hospitals, and 23 percent work in physician offices.