Going Back To Basics: What Is Medical Transcription? By: Myla Rose Mundo-Reyes A lot of hype is being done to promote medical transcription as a sunshine industry all over the country and as a sector that promises jobs to potentially hundreds of thousands of Filipinos by 2010. I have been invited to speak in different conventions in various regions and provinces in the country on my advocacy work to promote the career and educate investors, school owners, and even individuals who wish to penetrate this industry through business enterprise, training and employment generation. Of course, before anything else, one must understand what medical transcription is in order to fully appreciate the beauty of this industry. Let me provide some basic and background information about it. Definition: In the broadest sense, it is the act of translating from oral into printed form (on paper or electronically) the record of a patient’s medical history and treatment. Why haven’t I heard of it before? I don’t want to bore you with history but everyone must know that medical transcription has existed since the 1950s when machine dictation came into its own utilizing wax cylinders and vinyl disks as recording media, and transcription was done using manual typewriters. The technology evolved into using self-correcting electric typewriters, cassette tapes and magnetic tapes. In the 1980s, transcription developed to use a more sophisticated technology and started working in computers and PC-based recording. Now, medical transcription has truly progressed as technology advances are being made. The Internet and digital technology created an endless boundary for medical transcription. Distance is no longer an issue as the world becomes a leveled plane and the exchange of information is much faster as time element rapidly becomes extinct. The world now becomes a multi-polar environment as the age of information technology matures. What is a Medical Transcriptionist? Medical Transcriptionist (MT) is a language specialist who translates the audio dictation into a health record on paper or electronic format. Medical secretary, stenographer, typist and word processor were the usual job titles used to denote a medical transcriptionist, and this proves to be incorrect. One must understand that medical transcription requires language skills, and not just keyboarding skills. What is the purpose of medical transcription and how did this evolve as a job? As the transcriptionist converts the audio file into an electronic record, the dictation now becomes a Health Record, which is a chronological, documented evidence of a patient’s medical treatment. The patient’s health record is a “proof of work” done to meet federal, state and other standards and regulations in the United States. The health record serves several purposes besides its being utilized by doctors in managing patient care and treatment. The health record is being used as basis for insurance claims, legal proof, research and statistical studies, as well as for continuing education. The common types of health record include the following: - History and Physical Reports - Chart Notes - Initial Office Evaluation - Consultation and Letters - Emergency Room Reports - Operative Reports - Discharge Summaries - Radiology and other medical procedures being done on a patient. Since documentation of health record is prescribed by the US federal and state government, physicians are required to comply and create a report for each and every medical transaction and patient encounter; thus, the demand for medical transcription. Outsourcing this task to qualified people creates more value for the physicians spending more of their time seeing patients rather than doing the medical documentation themselves. Now, what? So, the next time you heard of medical transcription, take note that this is not just a typing job. It takes significant skills to transcribe a medical report, especially when the dictation is not perfect due to mumbling, difficult accents and extraneous sounds aside from the English and medical terminology. This is the reason why local companies are hiring people with prior medical transcription training. The Philippines is preparing for its exponential growth, and we need to be ready with sufficient qualified transcriptionists to do the job. Once this comes into full realization, we hope to reduce under- and unemployment percentage. Since medical transcription is an IT-enabled service, business locators can move outside of Metro Manila and expand in the provinces, for as long as talents and reliable telecoms infrastructure are present.