I'm a medical transcriptionist - ama

I send dictations to transcriptionists often, so I'm curious what your pet peeves are. How do I make your job easier, but also dictate quickly and reliably?

Not sure if you're in medical field but for me my biggest pet peeve is the medicine list - speak slowly and clearly, MANY medicine (audibly point of view) sounds VERY similiar, you have no idea how many times I've gone "did they say Xanax or zantac? 50 or 350 mg?"

That's a great point, got it! Does it help to say both brand and generic?

I recommend: name of the medicine you want to prescribe, the dosage, how often, and what condition it's for. That way, if we didn't hear you right with the name, we can put context clues together

What exactly does the job entail and why is it a rare job in the field?

We type of the medical documentation for the doctors. It's for medical archival and billing purposes. Our documents are the ones that go to court too if patient Sues.

It's rare because most doctors do it themselves, have a nurse do it, or will rely on machines to do it (voice recognition).

I'm currently looking for employment and scribe work is something I've kind of considered. What exactly do you need to know before you commit to such a job? I've heard medical terminology is a must but other than an above average typing efficiency, is there anything you'd suggest I focus on? I have my BS in Biology, for what it's worth.

1. Be comfortable with medical terminology. This is an absolute must. Medication list not as much because there's Google.
2. Have at least a basic understanding of human anatomy. You don't need to know everything down to the microscopic level, but it helps make the job run smoothly
3. If you can, look up common diseases where the hospital is for where you're applying (smoking related conditions, high blood pressure, and diabetes are pretty common regardless of where you go), again it'll make the notes easier.
4. Be aware that the average pay for both transcriptionist and scribe is only between $10-16 per hour (many transcriptionist charge per line if they don't do hourly). It's a lot of work for honestly not fair compensation
5. Don't be afraid to ask doctors for clarification

Are you afraid your job will eventually be phased out? The reason why I ask is because I work in the hospital and doctors are using voice-to-text programs to get their MDMs into the computer.

Also, was your scribe company ScribeAmerica? Because screw that company.

I know it will due to voice recognition and doctor's not wanting to pay people to do this work. Not too worried though because I have a master's in public health and I'm trying to get a job more closely related to that

I agree, fuck scribeamerica

whats your wpm?

Last time I checked I think it was around 75-100 wpm 🤔

What is the most common procedure you had to transcribe ?
How was your workflow ? And what was the most random thing you had to transcribe ?

Most common diagnosis was by far opioid dependency and opioid abuse (since it's pain management).

On days I work, I wake up, get coffee, get myself comfortable on the couch, turn on the laptop, check proton mail (since that's how I get my work, must be HIPAA compliant), listen to the audio file, write it up, send it back to doctor over proton mail. Normally I work in the evening or late afternoon.

Most random - I can't think of something relating to the content of my work but I swear to God one time a doctor was in a concert hall or church because I heard a child's choir in the background of his audio 😂

How did you get into the industry of being a transcriptionist?

Go to local clinics and hospitals and ask if they need an in house Scribe or virtual Scribe.

I got employed via indeed for Scribe. I got terminated, had a medical crisis, then came into contact with one of the doctors I used to work with and got employed as their transcriptionist that way

Are you worried about your job getting outsourced overseas or for speech recognition to make your job obsolete? My mother did medical transcription for 15+ years but as time went on she kept losing jobs due to outsourcing.

It's happening. Good news is that the doctors I'm working with now are considered small town and are unlikely to switch

Funniest transcription you hypothetically came across?

This one I can actually be truthful on - part of the documentation process is saying patient's name, date of birth, and the date they saw the doctor - funniest thing I've heard had to transcribe was the doctor going "date of service... No freaking idea"

My wife has considered doing this. Any tips? Major pros and cons of the job so far?

A lot of transcriptionist are cranky about their job honestly 😂

Pros: I'm apart of the healthcare community and know my work is actively helping the patient, I get to work from home on days doctor doesn't want to see me in the hospital since one of his clinics is literally about a 20 minute drive from where I live (many transcriptionists don't see their employers, period, face to face), I have a good relationship with who I work with so it's not hard at all to ask questions or get clarification on something (this can be hard or intimidating if you don't have a good relationship with who you work for), I am exposed to a LOT of different medical circumstances (more so as a scribe since I worked 3 different niches but as a transcriptionist I still am exposed to many different circumstances regarding patients). As a scribe I saw, face to face, the healthcare system and learned basically the behind the scenes of treatment plans for patients. I saw doctors go into rooms and call lawyers and ask for advice for how to handle a situation. I saw nurses have breakdowns over different circumstances of different patients. I saw exhausted nurses basically tell patients "stop fighting me, this is the 6th time I've saved your life this week". I've seen patients (scribe and transcriptionist) be terrified of taking medications because of the financial burdens. If you work in a hospital or clinic (scribe or transcriptionist), sometimes a code will happen (it's a way of saying some kind of emergency is going on, like code pink is often used for child kidnapping or code blue for patient stopped breathing) and you'll see the entire staff (just about) run to where the incident is happening and deal with the aftermath of that (this is a pro because you see how the healthcare system actually works).

Cons - a lot of lay people don't respect what you do. They don't realize how meticulous you must be. The medication list is the worst part for being a transcriptionist (hated it as a scribe too but as a transcriptionist, it's ROUGH). Sometimes the audio files given to me by doctors just aren't good and I have to decipher what the hell they're trying to say. Sometimes (as both a scribe and transcriptionist) you hear really heartbreaking cases (once had a pediatric case as a scribe that got an STD/sti, was below the age of 2, didn't inherit it, we had to call CPS and everything) and need to power through it because if you take every case personally, you WILL burn out super fast. The average pay, if you're paid hourly, is only $10-16 per hour (scribe or transcriptionist), depending on experience and geographic location. I feel both should be payed closer to $14-18 considering the fact that our notes are the ones used for medical billing, medical archival, and lawsuit purposes.

Based on your experience in the job, what weaknesses have you identified, or recommendations would you have, for doctors to improve their skills in documenting a case?

Speak slowly and clearly for vital information like medication and diagnosis lists. Don't be afraid to tell the worker "I don't know".

How the hell do you send electronic prescriptions? I'm of the school of thought that the sender literally runs their hand over a bunch of pregenerated phrases and hits send.

Take take 1 couch by mouth once twice daily a month. Do not take on mondays. Plz disconnect this prescription.

Electronic healthcare system

What lead you to pursue a career in transcribing? Currently studying a BS in Medical Science and love learning about how people in the medical field found their jobs 😁

Honestly it just kind of happened. I was a scribe for 10 months, got terminated, had a medical crisis, and happened to get back into contact with one of the doctors shortly after I was done with said crisis. He said he needed one and I said sure

Do you use anything like text to speech software to help or is it still best to just directly listen to it?

Just listen, I also use chrome os so I'm very limited on what programs I can use for anything, period

Do you know how much the company bills per minute of work (i.e. how much the hospital has to pay the company)?

No idea but transcriptionist and scribes, when pay hourly, normally only make $10-16 per hour

How many time have you had to type “pussy” because no one says purulent?

You have to put purulent, my doctor's have used said word so 💁

How much do errors in transcription lead to patient deaths or maimings?

I'd love to see the stats for this, I'm not sure myself

How did you get into that job? Is it part-time or piece work? I have a BSc in biology but have health problems, and thought that might be a way I could continue to work. Especially need flexibility as I'm not reliably healthy.

Go to local clinics and hospitals and ask if they need an in house Scribe or virtual Scribe.

I got employed via indeed for Scribe. I got terminated, had a medical crisis, then came into contact with one of the doctors I used to work with and got employed as their transcriptionist that way.

Can be part time or full time, depends on how much work is sent my way

I was a medical transcriptionist for 12 years. I worked both in-house at 2 different hospitals, as well as "outsourced" for a variety of companies (one of which was based in Florida).

How are you liking it so far? Do you feel like there's any sort of longevity in the job where you are?

Where I first started working, the provincial government decided to outsource our jobs in 2012 and so many of us were laid off (myself after 6 years of employment). That, unfortunately, is a continual trend here in Canada. Is that something similar where you are? Or are you already working for an "outsource" company (Nuance, MedQuist ((if they're still around)), etc)?

I'm considered an independent contractor for the doctors I work for 🙃 not looking forward to tax time, haha

I work for small town doctors as a transcriptionist, so no, I'm not worried about being outsourced as of now. Doctors gave me their word that this won't happen for the foreseeable future.

I've only been transcribing for about 2 months (I did 10 months of scribe work) but I love both jobs. I honestly liked scribing more (moreso because I was face to face with the patients I treated, I also miss the general work flow and company of hospital employees).

My current niche in transcriptionist work is pain management. We always have people in pain (from acute sources like trauma or chronic issues like fibromyalgia or hypermobility syndrome) so I'll always have work with this, theoretically speaking. A lot of Transcriptionists and scribes have lost their work to outsourcing sadly.

What role do you see medical transcriptionists doing as speech to text software becomes better?

Editors. There was a study that basically said that on average transcriptionist is 35% more accurate than voice recognition

Do you have a source for that study? I’m quite interested!

I'll have to find the exact study but this article points out some of the issues: https://medium.com/descript/comparing-the-accuracy-of-automatic-transcription-services-519fec134465

What's the worst that happens when you get something wrong or miss something? What's the worst that can happen?

I swore a patient had cancer, they had tell tale signs, had family history, and doctor didn't mention anything about cancer in their file. That was probably the hardest case for me since they're symptoms almost mirrored mine when I had cancer.

For what can go wrong with the process of it: Patient isn't satisfied with service doctor provided, doctor didn't bother checking the note before submitting it to the system, there's a bad error on the note (like wrong medication and/or dosage), patient wins court case against doctor, you're possibly terminated for now being a liability since your notes are the ones used in court.

Worst thing you can personally due, intentionally or not is violate HIPAA. You'll be terminated and blacklisted from healthcare field, unable to get any job related to the health care system and can't go to med school, nursing school, pharmacy school, etc. Not sure if vet school counts here

How long did you have to study to work as one? Is it hard to find jobs with no experience, just an associates degree? How's the pay like?

Thank you for your time! :)

Pay averages $10-16 per hour for Scribe or transcriptionist. As a Scribe they give you a crash course (company I worked) on basically how to be a doctor in 4-6 weeks (meet once or twice a week for about 4 hours, gives you homework and quizzes). Other places train you for Scribe work for a minimum of 60-120 hours if I remember right. Medical terminology and biology help a lot for both jobs.

If you can convince the interview person that you love the medical field and/or write well (but still at least curious about medicine or the human body) you can generally get yourself a job.

how do I become a transcriptionist? I always get rejected because of where I live

The best way is to approach local doctors and clinics and ask if they need an in house scribe or virtual Scribe. It definitely helps if you have ANY experience in the healthcare, preventative medicine (aka public health), or as an author (preferably medical writing but anything works really).

Hi gothicxtoy, your post has been removed because:

You have not provided adequate proof within a reasonable amount of time. Please see the /r/IAmA sidebar for posting guidelines. Thank you! Op, we need new proof with each IAMA, thank you.

Please contact the mods if you need further assistance

Any proof violates HIPAA so how am I supposed to provide "adequate proof" for a medical related job?

Is doctors handwriting really as bad as everyone says?

When I worked as a scribe I had to many times go to the doctor or nurse and ask for clarification 😂