Speaker 1: Hey everyone, this is Ben with RegisteredNurseRN.com and in this video I'm going to talk about medical transcriptionists and I'm going to give you the job overview, the education requirements, some of the likes and the dislikes of this profession, and detailed salary statistics so you can know exactly how much money these individuals make on average. So let's get started. So what exactly does a medical transcriptionist do? Well, these individuals listen to voice recordings from physicians and other healthcare professionals and then they turn them into written reports. Some of the specific duties that a medical transcriptionist will do on a daily basis includes listening to recorded dictations, again from physicians and other healthcare professionals. They will then transcribe and interpret it into test results, reports, referral letters, and different things like that. They will also review drafts prepared by speech recognition software. A lot of technology is being used now where physicians will actually just dictate the information that will then be converted by the software and these individuals will look it over and correct minor errors. They will translate medical abbreviations into the proper longer format. They will identify any errors in the reports. They will follow up with healthcare providers and enter medical reports into electronic health records systems. So those are some of the duties that a medical transcriptionist will do. What about the education requirements? Well, you typically have to have a few traits before you go into this profession. First of all, you need to have good typing skills. You also need to have good spelling and grammar and things like that. That's just one of those necessary tools. It takes about one to two years depending on what type of program you go to. In some areas, you can do it in about one year through a certificate program. Other areas, you can do it through a two-year program at maybe an associate's degree program at a community college or technical school. Now, once you do that, you will typically have supervised on-the-job training to make sure that you settle into the job and that you have the proper training before you just go out on your own. You can obtain certification in this field. One is the RHDS, which is the Registered Healthcare Documentation Specialist. The other is the CHDS, which is the Certified Healthcare Documentation Specialist. What's the difference? Well, the RHDS, typically you get that if you have less than two years experience and only one specialty focus, whereas the CHDS, you usually get that if you have more than two years of experience and multiple specialty focuses. Now, let's talk about some of the likes and the dislikes of this profession. One thing that people tend to like is that they have a lot of independence. This is especially true for those who work in this field as independent contractors. They can work when they want to work. Some work from home and so forth. Another thing is, like I just said, some do work at home. Now, there are a lot of work-at-home scams out there. You always have to be leery of those, but yes, some people do still work at home through medical transcription. And another thing is that it's not a terribly physically demanding job. You're mostly sitting at a computer listening to audio recordings and so forth, so it doesn't wear you down physically. Another plus is that you can have somewhat flexible hours if you choose to work when you want to work and so forth. Now, what are some of the dislikes of it? One thing is that when you do work, you will have to sometimes sit for long hours, maybe look at a computer screen, listen to a lot of recordings. Another thing is that technology is constantly changing. And so, like I said before, the speech recognition software is something that was a big change in this industry, and it's a little uncertain how technology may progress. I mean, some of these jobs may become obsolete if they have some health care law changes and some more technology comes on board. So, that's one concern a lot of people have is they're a little uncertain about the future of the technology and so forth. Another thing is that they will sometimes complain about the doctor's accent or they may speak gibberish or use slang or something like that. And so, that can be frustrating as they're trying to listen and then write up a written report based off of that recording. And it can be somewhat stressful at times. And the big key here is that there are a lot of people in medical transcription that love their jobs, but it is a little bit uncertain. There's some scams out there trying to offer you some expensive programs or trying to tell you that you're going to live your dream. And a lot of people do find that this is a great career, but just watch out for the scams. Now, let's talk about the future job outlook for medical transcriptionists. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is the government organization that collects and compiles jobs data, projects an 8% increase in jobs from the years 2012 to 2022. That is about average in terms of growth. Some of the other health care professions I've covered in this series are growing quicker. Some are not. It just depends. But 8% is about average. So, there will be some jobs projected, but it's not going to be an explosive growth. Another thing is what about the income? Well, the average hourly wage was $17.11. This is the average for the entire United States. The average annual salary was $35,580. Now, again, you have to keep in mind those numbers are only averages. You may make more or less depending on the state in which you live, depending on your certification, depending on the industry in which you work. And I'm going to talk about some of those factors really quickly. What about the industry with the highest level of employment for this profession? Well, general medical and surgical hospitals had the most. $38,050 was the average salary there. Offices of physicians came in at number two. $35,440 was the average salary for that industry. And then business support services came in at number three. $32,200 was the average there. What were the top paying industries for this profession? Well, specialty hospitals came in at number one. $39,690. Home health care services came in at number two. $39,040. And then medical and diagnostic laboratories, number three. $38,940 on average. What about the top paying states? Well, Massachusetts came in at number one. $47,290 was the average there. District of Columbia, number two. $46,610. And then California came in at number three. $45,060 was the average there. What about the lowest paying states? Well, Utah came in at number one. $29,770 was the average there. Louisiana came in at number two. $30,120. And then South Dakota, number three. $30,160 was the average salary there. And this is a continuation of a whole series I'm doing here on YouTube on health care salaries. I talk about nursing, doctors, all kinds of health care professions. I'll put a link to that playlist in the description of the video below if you want to check those out. Thank you so much for watching. Please consider subscribing to our YouTube channel and have a great day.