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.
One of the biggest reasons to go into medical transcription work is the ability to start up and run a successful business off a shoestring budget. Most jobs require you to have a four-year Bachelor’s degree–medical transcription only requires a certificate of completion after finishing a specialized course dedicated to just MT work. You don’t have to take Psychology 101 or Advanced Physics, just courses dedicated to MT work. That translates into a much lower cost for schooling.
The other thing that makes MT work possible on a shoestring budget is the fact that you only need the bare minimum to get started. You don’t need a store full of inventory, you don’t have to make a bunch of crafts and hope they sell, you don’t have to employ other people right off the bat when you have no income yourself…You just need what I listed here (computer and high speed Internet) and also a footpedal and headphones.
A footpedal usually comes with an MT course but only costs $60 – $80 otherwise. There are different kinds of footpedals out there and some only work with certain programs, so make sure that when you buy a footpedal, you are getting the one you actually need.
And as for the headphones, you can get away with using those free headphones you got with your Walkman or iPod player. If you don’t happen to have a cheap pair sitting around the house, you can buy some for $5 at Wal-Mart, and will be just fine.
If Word or Works didn’t come with your computer, feel free to use Open Office during the course, because many medical transcription companies have custom-built programs that their MTs must use while transcribing, so there is no use in spending money on Word if you aren’t going to use it in the workforce.
Some companies even give you a computer and keyboard to use while transcribing for them (these companies are only hiring employees, not independent contractors, obviously.) If your computer isn’t the latest and greatest, don’t worry about replacing it–you may get hired at a company that sends you the computer for free, and quite honestly, you don’t need the latest and the greatest to be a medical transcriptionist anyway. This is something you can put off buying until your paychecks start coming in, unless your computer is absolutely dead, in which case of course you have to buy another one. Typewriters are no longer used in medical transcription. 😉
So that’s it for the basics, but of course life is a lot easier when you have some of the bells and whistles–read on to my next blog, where I cover those bells and whistles.