| When considering your options for a good medical | | | | overemphasize this. This is the most common reason |
| transcription training program, you will find that the two | | | | for failure in a training program. Compare it to a |
| predominant alternatives are a traditional "brick and | | | | learning foreign language. You can learn to conjugate a |
| mortar" education through a local community college, or | | | | hundred verbs, but until you go speak with the natives |
| an online training program. Many community colleges | | | | for some significant period of time, you will never |
| do a really great job of teaching the fundamentals of | | | | become fluent. Learning to recognize a medical term |
| transcription: things like terminology and human | | | | you see in a book is insufficient. You must have the |
| anatomy. You will also tend to move through a college | | | | practice to go along with it - to hear it in context and |
| program in a cohort group. Many people like the idea | | | | recognize it. Similarly, learning to recognize the notes on |
| of progressing in concert with a class of like-minded | | | | a page will not sufficiently prepare you to play a |
| students. Another advantage is access to a full or part | | | | clarinet. You have to go through the actual practice - |
| time instructor. The primary drawback of a community | | | | and the more the better. |
| college MT education is that most of these programs | | | | 3. Most community college programs will not have the |
| generally lack several elements that are important to | | | | deep placement and employment connections with |
| the medical transcription training process. For example: | | | | national transcription employers to ensure your smooth |
| 1. Most community college programs "borrow" as much | | | | transition to your first medical transcription job. This |
| program curriculum as possible from other | | | | cannot be overemphasized. At the end of the day |
| departments. In other words you may be sitting | | | | your training will only be as good as the introductions |
| through a human anatomy class that is designed for a | | | | you will receive to prospective employers and the |
| nursing program. And while this is not the worst thing in | | | | credibility they assign to your program. Most |
| the world, you will not be focusing on the aspects of | | | | community college programs are small and |
| anatomy that are most needed for medical | | | | inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. It is hard |
| transcription. You may end up studying a lot of content | | | | for them to gain traction in the placement market |
| that is not terribly relevant to an MT career and you | | | | because they simply don't graduate enough people |
| may not pay enough attention to the things that are | | | | through their training program each year to warrant a |
| important for a transcriptionist to know, such as spelling | | | | lot of attention from large national employers who |
| and context. | | | | employ thousands of transcriptionists. |
| You may also find yourself enrolled in a traditional | | | | For these reasons, I would recommend an online |
| English grammar class to fill a requirement when if you | | | | medical transcription training program that has a |
| had spent the same amount of time in a grammar | | | | practicum rich curriculum and deep industry |
| class that was designed for transcriptionists you would | | | | relationships with employers. It is an unusual bonus that |
| be so much further ahead. In other words, an MT | | | | these programs tend to be priced significantly less than |
| grammar class will expose you to grammar terms in | | | | the average brick and mortar community college |
| the context of medical language. All the examples of | | | | program. This is owing in large measure to the scalable |
| grammar rules, punctuation, and sentence structure will | | | | format of the online educational model and the lower |
| be taught with a medical language focus so that you | | | | overhead required to support these programs. Further, |
| are advancing your transcription skills at the same time | | | | the online format more closely approximates the real |
| you are learning or reviewing the basic rules of | | | | world work environment that you will experience as a |
| grammar. | | | | work at home transcriptionist once you graduate. The |
| 2. Most community college MT training programs lack a | | | | opportunities in this career field are still exceptional. |
| comprehensive practicum. If you are to succeed in | | | | There is a growing demand, being fueled in large part |
| your quest to become a transcriptionist, it is imperative | | | | by the national demographic trends of a rapidly aging |
| that you spend at least 50% of your training time on | | | | population. There has never been a better time to |
| real physician dictated practice transcription. I cannot | | | | enter this exciting field. |