Ten Keys to Career Success in Medical Transcription
Desire and determination underlie every successful medical transcription (MT) career, but it doesn’t hurt to have a few guiding principles handy too. Here are ten of them to help you build a satisfying and enduring career in medical transcription.
Use the right medical transcription tools
You wouldn’t try to mow a lawn with a pair of scissors. If you try to transcribe on a laptop at the dining room table with the Internet as your only reference, you’re pretty much attempting the same thing. You can equip yourself with the tools of the trade without breaking the bank.
A solid reference library and a well set-up work area aren’t “nice to have” — they’re required. The investment you make in them will pay off many times over.
If your budget is tight or you just enjoy being frugal, pick up as much as you can used from sources like Amazon.com and eBay. A drug reference such as the Quick Look Drug Book (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins) needs to be the latest version available. A medical dictionary, such as Stedman’s or Dorland’s, doesn’t have to be up to the minute to be incredibly useful, as long as it’s recent.
Craft a regular work routine and stick to it
The familiar saying, “Failing to plan is planning to fail,” is right on the mark for home-based medical transcriptionists. Determine what your work schedule needs to be, and adhere to it just as if you were going to an office each day.
If you’re employment arrangement allows it, pick a structure and work hours that leverage your personal strengths. If you’re most productive first thing in the morning, start work at the crack of dawn. If you’re a night owl, schedule yourself to hit the keyboard when others are hitting the sack.
If you don’t want to or can’t complete your work in a single sitting, divide your workday hours into two sessions with a break in the middle. Whatever schedule you come up with, stick to it. This can require major self-discipline but brings multiple payoffs.
Become a master of faster
Love it or hate it, medical transcription is a pay-for-production proposition. You have to be quick and efficient to earn a living in this profession. To crack the upper echelons of medical transcriptionist income, you’ll need to be faster still, without sacrificing accuracy.
This isn’t just a matter of increasing your keyboarding speed, although that matters; it’s about employing proven techniques to elevate your production far above the simply fast fingered.
Mind your body in medical transcription
Take ergonomics seriously from day one; don’t wait until you start getting aches and pains from spending long hours at a desk. Although you can get away with ignoring ergonomics for a while, it will catch up with you.
At the very least, you’ll end up uncomfortable, but that can progress to a debilitating condition such as carpal tunnel syndrome that could put your medical transcriptionist career on hold or end it entirely.
Project professionalism
Don’t let a casual work environment trigger a casual attitude. Whether you’re wearing your pajamas and slippers or dressed to impress, be sure to don the hat of professionalism every day. As a remote worker, how you look is irrelevant, but how you come across in e-mail and phone calls becomes more important than ever.
Above all, be dependable and responsible, and always deliver work that you can take pride in.
Get a medical transcriptionist mentor
Support and advice from a trusted advisor is valuable in any profession. For medical transcriptionists who work independently, it’s a major leg up. Seek out an experienced medical transcriptionist who is willing to answer your questions and provide support and guidance.
The best way to find a mentor is to ask other medical transcriptionists you know and respect if they would be willing to serve as a mentor or can suggest a colleague. If you don’t know any working medical transcriptionists yet, seek out earlier graduates from the program you attended.
Tune in to the medical transcriptionist network
Working from home can be fantastically freeing, but at times it may leave you feeling isolated. If there is no co-worker beside you, who do you turn to for opinions on professional issues? How do you stay attuned to what’s happening in your field?
The answer to both questions is to join the vibrant online community of home-based medical transcriptionists. You’ll be able to meet other medical transcriptionists, learn about new references and resources, and keep abreast of industry news such as which companies are acquiring, hiring, or laying off.
Keep your work/life balance
Most people view their work schedules from the perspective of when they’ll work, not when they won’t. It’s more beneficial to instead look at it as both a framework to ensure you work and a container to keep work in its place.
With your office just a few steps away and the potential to earn more if you work more, that desk can pull on you like a magnet. If you’re not careful, one day you may wake up and realize you’re spending a lot more time there than you ever intended, and the rest of your life is paying the price.
Work will expand to fill all available time if you let it, and more. You won’t be happy, your family won’t be happy, and physical and mental burnout are likely imminent.
Don’t get sucked into a negativity vortex
It’s human nature to get frustrated with your job from time to time, no matter what it is. It’s also human nature to seek out confirmation and support when that happens. But what do you do if you work from home and there’s no one around to discuss it with?
A lot of people go to an online medical transcriptionist community and air their grievances there. People who are happy and doing well rarely go online and post about it, but for someone who is frustrated, discouraged, or lonely, the opportunity to complain publicly yet anonymously can be enormously attractive. As a result, negative opinions and events appear much more prevalent than they actually are.
Be adaptable, embrace change, nourish your career
Medical transcriptionists must continuously learn new terminology, new technologies, and new ways of working, something that most accomplish with pleasure and no small amount of pride. The pace of technological change has picked up considerably in recent years, and the changes are coming larger and faster.
If you’re going to surf instead of sink, start by sizing up the incoming wave and the angles you might take. Right now, that means keeping a close eye on the migration to electronic health records (EHR) and changes to healthcare documentation regulations, and envisioning your place within them.
Careers Glossary
academic curriculum vitae resume
A resume format that includes a comprehensive biographical statement of three to ten pages. This resume format emphasizes professional qualifications and activities.
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accomplishment resume
A variation of the hybrid resume that includes qualifications and accomplishments.
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Americans with Disabilities Act; ADA
A document signed into law that makes it illegal for an employer to discriminate against (or refuse to hire) a person simply because that person has one or more disabilities.
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applicant tracking system
A software application that helps a company recruit employees more efficiently. Includes features to post job openings online, screen resumes, acknowledge the receipt of resumes, and generate interview requests.
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behavior-based interview
A type of job interview in which candidates are asked what kinds of behaviors they have used in the past to handle certain situations and solve problems.
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blog
A Web-based journal that is written and updated by one or more blog writers, or bloggers. Today's more sophisticated versions read like media stories and columns.
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branding statement
A marketing tool for job seekers consisting of a brief statement that communicates who you are in the workplace; typically used in resumes and job interviews. Also sometimes called a branding brief.
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broadcast letters
Self-marketing letters that a job seeker sends to a large but carefully targeted list of potential employers. These letters are designed to uncover an opportunity in the hidden (unadvertised) job market.
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career management documents
A family of job letters that are self-marketing tools for people who want to be hired for the best jobs. Includes job ad reply letters, broadcast and prospecting letters, resume letters, follow-up letters, and e-mail cover notes.
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competency-based approach
A resume style that focuses on the skills and talents needed to be able to perform a particular task to a certain standard. Connects your behaviors with your accomplishments.
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core resume
A starting resume that you use as a base or template to spin off targeted versions of your resume (for specific positions) when you must move quickly.
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cover letter
A self-marketing document designed to sell yourself and get an interview for a specific job; typically accompanies a resume.
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credit histories; consumer reports
Reports that contain your payment history to creditors. These reports may also include names of previous employers, residential stability data, divorce information, and estimated prior earnings.
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directive interview
A type of job interview in which the interviewer maintains complete control and walks you through the discussion to uncover what he or she wants to know.
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EEOC
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC is a U.S. federal agency that investigates discrimination complaints.
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e-mail cover note
An e-mail message that introduces a resume that you distribute online. Typically, a shortened and more informal version of a cover letter.
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e-resumes
Electronic resumes. Resumes that you distribute online.
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font
A complete character set comprised of a single size and typeface, such as 12-point Helvetica.
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font size
The height of the characters in a font set, measured in points, such as 10-point or 14-point. One point is equal to 1/72 of an inch.
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foundation skills
A skills language used in cover letters to communicate your expertise in fundamental job skills — includes basic skills, people skills, thinking skills, and personal qualities.
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functional resume
A resume format that focuses on portable skills or functional areas and ignores chronological order. This resume format works well for career changers, new graduates, ex-military personnel, work-history gaps, or special-issue problems.
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hybrid resume
A resume format that is a combination of the reverse chronological resume format and the functional resume format.
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instant messaging; IM
A real-time form of communication between two or more people online, who type messages back and forth in a window. Job seekers can attach resumes to messages.
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integrity test
A test administered by a potential employer during the interviewing process that rates honesty, responsibility, and reliability for the job.
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intellectual property
Work samples that you submit to a potential employer during the job interview process, such as portfolios, project materials, and proposals.
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international curriculum vitae resume
An excruciatingly detailed resume format used to apply for international jobs. This resume style is typically six to eight pages long and often uses the reverse chronological format.
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job ad reply letter
A letter that is written in reaction to a published job opening in print or online.
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job board
A Web site that posts general or specialized job listings, such as CareerBuilder.com and Monster.com.
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keyword resume
A resume format that places a profile of keywords at the top of a document. This resume format is not in common use today because current resume search databases can pick up keywords anywhere in a resume, not just at the beginning of a document.
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keywords
Internet search words (generally nouns and short phrases) that identify your qualifications. Employers use keywords to search and retrieve e-resumes in databases for available job positions.
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linear resume
A resume format that flows one line at a time and relates achievements, winning moves, and star points in short, quick spurts; designed to attract the eyes of busy readers.
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marketing pitch
A personal commercial that you create to sell yourself during a job search. A marketing pitch should be about one to two minutes long.
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nondirective interview
A type of job interview where the interviewer's questions tend to be broad and general so that you can elaborate and tell stories about yourself and your qualifications.
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OFCCP
Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. The OFCCP is an agency that tracks the diversity hiring record of those applying for positions with federal contractors.
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online executive bio
A short profile (about 200 words or less) that is placed on social networking sites and job boards to advance employment or business objectives. Includes keywords and a link to a full resume.
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online profile
A lengthy multi-link document that appears on Internet networking and career sites such as LinkedIn.com and VisualCV.com.
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online referral service
An e-mail job distribution method paid for by employers. This service helps you identify which of your contacts may know people at companies where you would like to work.
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online screening program
A form of pre-employment screening that verifies that you are a good fit for the position and that you haven’t lied about your background. May include online tests, assessment instruments, and questionnaires.
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patterned interview
A type of job interview (also called a structured interview) in which the interviewer works from a written list of questions asked of all candidates and writes down your responses.
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personality test
A test administered by a potential employer during the interviewing process that measures choice, preference, values, behavior, decisions, attitudes, and job-related interests.
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podcast
A digital audio or video file that is available for downloading from a Web site. Usually available in a series that is often packaged like a daily newscast or commentary.
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podcasting
The process of creating and distributing audio and video feeds over the Internet. To make a podcast, you need a computer, microphone, Internet access, and recording software.
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portfolio
A collection of work samples often delivered as part of the job interview process for those in fields such as design, graphics, photography, architecture, advertising, public relations, marketing, education, and contracting.
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professional resume
A resume format that emphasizes professional qualifications and activities and is typically three to five pages long. This format is essentially a shortened version of the academic curriculum vitae resume format.
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prospecting letters
Self-marketing letters that a job seeker sends to a relatively small and select number of potential employers. These letters are designed to uncover an opportunity in the hidden (unadvertised) job market.
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recruiter; headhunter
An employers’ personal shopper, tasked with going into the marketplace and bringing back the best qualified candidates for the thriftiest prices.
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resume blasting services
A service that advertises their willingness to save you time and trouble by “blasting” your resume to thousands of recruiters and hiring managers all over the Internet — for a fee. These services are generally not recommended due to privacy and identity theft concerns.
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resume letter
A self-marketing document that combines a cover letter with a resume (the resume is not a separate document). This type of letter is typically two pages long, but can be one page.
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reverse chronological resume
A resume format that includes employment history from the most recent jobs working backwards, showing dates for employers and educational institutions. This resume format works well for those with a steady career progression.
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screener
An employee (typically an administrative assistant or HR specialist) who monitors phone calls for a company when you call their main telephone line.
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screening interview
A first-cut job interview that is used to weed out all applicants except those who are best qualified for the position.
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selection interview
A job interview in which you meet with a supervisor, department head, or another person who has the authority to hire you.
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SEO
An acronym for Search Engine Optimization. SEO is a method of using technical and strategic maneuvers to increase the traffic driven by search engines to a Web site.
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serial interview
A type of job interview in which you are typically passed from the initial screener to a line manager to a top manager — and perhaps a half-dozen people in between.
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social networking services
Web-based services — including discussion groups, message boards, e-mail, and blogs — that give users a way to find and interact with people who have similar interests. Some of this interactivity focuses on job search and recruiting.
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spiders
Automated programs (software) used by specialized search engines to scrape (crawl) the Web to find and haul in content, such as job postings. Also called robots or just 'bots.
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stress interview
A type of job interview in which the interviewer intentionally uses various intimidation tactics to attempt to put pressure on you.
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targeted resume
A resume that is customized for a specific employment goal or position in a job search.
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typeface
A specific family of fonts in a similar design style (including multiple sizes of that font), such as Arial or Times New Roman.
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vertical job search engines
Online search engines that search only for job listings, across multiple job sites at once. Examples include SimplyHired.com and Jobster.com. Also called verticals or aggregators.
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video resume
A canned video interview in which a candidate speaks about his or her qualifications, goals, and strengths; sometimes called a video podcast.
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watermark
A faint image ingrained in quality-stock paper. Resumes are commonly printed on paper stock that includes a watermark.
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Web 2.0
The second generation of Web design that uses sites in which people communicate and share information. Web 2.0 tools include blogs, instant messaging, podcasts, RSS feeds, and social networking services.
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Web resume
An electronic resume that you post on a personal Web site; also sometimes called an e-portfolio or HTML resume.
