Are you a stay-at-home mom, nursing mother or an unemployed graduate? Are you very much familiar with words and terms used in healthcare? Are your ears keen enough to pick up every detail in a video or audio clip? Then you can .
Medical transcription, also known as MT, involves transcribing video or audio reports as given by doctors and other healthcare professionals into text format. Medical transcription is an ideal way to have a stable and secured career that offers flexibility. While working as a medical transcriptionist, you can set your work hours and be there for your family whenever you need to.
Now what are the steps involved in becoming a medical transcriptionist? This very post answers the question in detail. Read on to learn all you need to know to get started in this lucrative work from home business.
How to Work From Home Doing Medical Transcription Jobs Online
1. Enroll in a medical transcription program
To hone your skills and get full understanding of medical transcription, you need to enroll in a medical transcription school. You can search the web for information on medical transcription schools around you. Better still, you can enroll with online medical transcription programs (search the web to find information about many available options).
Try to enroll with schools or programs that will help you find a job after you finish your program. Such schools or programs teach you how to create an effective resume, impress at a job interview, uncover job opportunities, and lot more.
2. Join a professional association
After completing your medical transcription program, it is advisable and mandatory that you join a professional association for healthcare professionals, such as the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI). This gives you the opportunity to connect with other professional medical transcriptionists, learn more about the profession, and learn how to find lucrative job opportunities.
3. Contact doctors around you
To understand exactly what doctors require for their medical transcriptionists, you can approach doctors in your area and ask if they outsource their medical transcription tasks. Ask if they require experience before they allow a medical transcriptionist to work from home. This way, you will learn what you need to do to establish a good working relationship with doctors around you and those in remote places.
4. Try to get experience
Hiring an inexperienced medical transcriptionist is a deadly risk that most doctors would never take. So, you need to get some work experience after completing your medical transcription program; or you won’t get a good job / contract.
To get some experience under your belt, you can contact a local doctor’s office and arrange to start an internship or offer to work at a discounted rate for few months. This would serve as a good path to your ideal work-from-home medical transcription job.
5. Bag a certificate
You will increase your chances of making more money as a medical transcriptionist by becoming certified. A widely acknowledged certification can add credentials to your resume and reflect your seriousness about your medical transcription career. Being certified can make you stand out and help you beat others to the most lucrative medical transcription jobs available.
6. Search for jobs
If you are unable to find medical transcription gigs even after approaching physicians and other healthcare professionals, you can take your search to the next level by checking out the healthcare jobs sections of job vacancy boards and local newspapers. Another way to find lucrative medical transcription jobs is to register with freelance outsourcing sites such as Elance and Odesk. These websites can help you connect with potential clients that may hire you on a long-term deal.
3 Additional tips to help you succeed as a medical transcriptionist
- Avoid training programs that promise overnight results. Becoming a medical transcriptionist takes work and dedication. Some medical transcription programs can take up to 18 months, while others may take less. But the average program takes at least 6-9 months. So, any program that promises something quicker won’t just cut it.
- Keep in mind that some clients and medical facilities would require at least six months of on-site work before allowing you to work from home. See this as an opportunity for you to learn more rather than a plot to make things difficult for you. So, don’t expect to start getting work-at-home gigs from day one.
- Never stop learning, always get yourself familiar with new medical terms every day. This will help improve your vocabulary and get you more familiar with words and terms commonly used by healthcare professionals. A good idea is to get a good medical dictionary.