The link between medical professionals and the rest of the world interested in healthcare information – patients to health insurance systems – is the professional called a medical transcriptionist. With highly trained listening skills and excellent grasp of the medical jargon, these professionals transcribe audio recordings or dictations from doctors to create tangible copies, either in soft or hard forms, of your medical files.

Today, the medical transcriptionist is but one in a team of experts that process a doctor’s audio recordings to make sure the transcribed versions are as accurate as possible. Since the passage of the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act in 1996 and the current trend toward atomizing medical records, the medical transcriptionist’s role has become even more important in the healthcare industry at large.

Information being the most sought-after commodity in the world today, the medical transcriptionist is expected to adhere to the highest standards of performance and is expected to keep the integrity of the transcriptions as best as possible.

While that may sound a tall order, more than a select few can actually be good medical transcriptionists. Besides dedication and hard work, you need to acquire the skills and technical requirements to become successful at it.

An excellent medical transcriptionist is expected to have a highly-developed auditory skill. Listening is a skill. Especially in English where homonyms – words that sound alike but spelled differently and mean different things – are plenty, it is quite imperative for a medical transcriptionist to know what word is exactly being dictated according to the context.

They should have a good grasp of the jargon in the medical profession and an excellent command of English. English is the language of business and is used in official documents/record the world over. A transcriptionist has to be thoroughly immersed in the various cultures that use English as a native language to be very proficient with it. An excellent command of English makes listening a whole lot easier to do.

They should have satisfactorily completed required trainings and gained appropriate certifications. As in every other profession, the medical transcription industry is a specialized business and people who work within the industry are admitted to it after satisfactory completion of necessary trainings and acquisition of relevant technical skills.

They should have a reasonably good typing speed. A medical transcriptionist’s fingers should match the speed at which his or her ears can discern the words on dictation. It is important for them to catch everything spoken and type the transcription.

A good medical transcriptionist is very good in spelling, in oral communication, and has high retention memory. He is also very adept in using the computer, especially in typing, since he is gathering a lot of information all the time. He is also very good in listening and following instructions of the higher in command.

A lot of people get attracted into the industry and would like to become a medical transcriptionist because it is one of the most rewarding careers you can actually do from home. The profession is luring those who prefer to work from home.