This blog is part of a series on transcription. If you haven’t read the other blogs in this series, make sure to check out the summary page for a listing of all transcription blogs.
I just discussed how medical transcription work is primarily done at home, and I wanted to focus on how you actually do the job at home, how everything works together, and what an MT company requires of you.
The most common scenario is this: A doctor sees a patient and after the patient leaves, the doctor dictates into a handheld digital recorder everything that was said and done. The hospital then takes that digital recorder and connects it to a computer which pulls the digital files off the recorder and uploads those files into their database. The MT company pulls those files off the hospital computers and puts them into a pool, basically, where any MT who is signed onto the system can download that file onto their computer to listen to it and transcribe it. This part can be done a multitude of ways, but the most common ways are either using an FTP program to download it, or just accessing it on the company’s site using their program.
Once the transcriptionist has finished the file, they either upload the file back onto the MT company’s website or they simply hit save if they were using the company’s program all along. Smaller MT companies tend to have their MTs use FTP programs and Word to type the documents in; larger companies tend to have paid for a custom program to be built for their MTs to use, where they just have to log on to do all of the work inside of that program, and log off when they’re done. The custom programs usually have bells and whistles to make the MTs life easier, although sometimes the program isn’t well built and it can end up making the MTs life harder. This can really go one way or the other, depending on the quality of that custom-built program.
Because your computer is so important, some really large MT companies will send you a computer to use while transcribing for them, but you cannot use it for anything else (meaning, you cannot install your own personal programs onto it.) Other MT companies will have the MTs use their own computers, but will insist that the MTs use certain anti-virus programs, that they run scans every week (or whatever), and that the computer be up to their standards (run Windows XP Professional, be three years old or newer, have a 17 inch monitor, have high speed Internet, things like that.)
This may seem unfair to some applicants (I can do the job even if I don’t have a big enough hard drive!) but because the MT companies are not required to hire an applicant, they can stipulate anything they want to. If you can’t meet their requirements, you either have to buy a new computer or apply at a different company. MT companies almost never, ever, ever bend on their computer requirements, so don’t bother asking–they won’t be happy with you if you do and won’t hire you regardless.
Now that you know how the technical aspect of working at home works, read on to where I discuss the two years of experience requirement that you see so often in job ads.