MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION - THE INDIAN SCENE:

BACKGROUND:

The medical transcription industry is relatively new in India. It started around the mid '90s and saw exceptional growth initially. However, due to inadequate knowledge of the field and what it entailed by the folks who started it - quality issues cropped up and the reputation of some Indian companies got hit pretty badly. As a result, by mid 2000, a lot of the smaller companies faded out and only the big players remained.

Since 2000, the Indian MT industry has rebounded with renewed vigour and has done pretty well since. Right now, its been touted as one of the more attractive career options - especially since it allows you flexibility to work from home at a later stage (after you've obtained the requisite experience and training).

Medical transcription work in India is outsourced either by US companies or US hospitals or clinics themselves. Some British and Australian providers outsource their work to Indian as well. The reason they outsource their work to India is primarily because of the lower cost they incur but also because of the faster TAT (turn around time), i.e. the time it takes from the point the doctor dictates to the time the finished report is sent back to the hospital.

INTRODUCTION TO MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION:

By now, you would wanna know what exactly medical transcription is - don't you? Well, it is basically listening to a doctor's audio dictation and transcribing or typing it out in a word document, using usually MS Word. The doctors are usually American (though they can be British or Australian too) and you get paid usually on a line-basis (i.e. for each line you type - you get paid at a particular rate). Some companies pay on minutes too. But, usually in India, its on a line-basis.

The rates could range from 70 paise per line to 1.7 Rs per line if you are able to send work directly to the client. Most medical transcriptionists (MTs) easily average around 500 lines per day. As an example, if you get paid at 1 Rs per line, for 26 days, at 500 lines/day, that works out to 13,000 Rs. Of course, this is just an average. There are in fact MTs who do 900+ lines per day (of course they have spent 5+ years in the industry and are well versed and fluent with the work). But, you can reach that level of competence too through hardwork and by learning shortcuts and word expander programs.

So, basically, the opportunities are limitless for a medical transcriptionist. How much he/she earns depends totally on his/her capabilities.

REQUIREMENTS AND ELIGIBILITY:

Anyone with a decent education can be a good medical transcriptionist in theory. You just have to have an aptitude for good written English skills and a flair for picking up foreign accents. If you are an English movie buff and can understand all of the dialogues spoken - you have an headstart in this profession. But, there have been individuals who've picked up the accents on-the-job too. So, ultimately its your capability to absorb new things and pick it up fast that would determine how you do in this profession.

Eligibility is nothing specific as such. You can be a high school dropout too (although most training institutes advertise graduation or diploma as the basic qualification). Basically, if you have a knack for this profession, you can make it despite your educational shortcomings. Age is no limiting factor as well. I've seen youngsters as young as 17 to folks nearing 60 doing medical transcription just as well. You can be retired or be a housewife, if you willing to put in hard work, you can make it as well.

Training costs: There are companies that give you free training but require that you work for them for a couple of years to recover the training costs. In such cases, a contract of some sort would be involved. Others may charge a flat fee at the beginning of the training program, which may range anywhere from 15,000 to 30,000 Rs. This can be looked as an initial investment to get started in the field. Most successful candidates are able to recover this initial cost within 3-6 months of working.

TRAINING DETAILS AND WHAT IT INVOLVES:

The training period may range anywhere from 5 to 7 months. Its basically decided by the company involved in the training. It may be shorter than the range mentioned too. On an average, it is usually 6 months. This is compulsory since this is a specialized field and there are a lot of things that must be taught. Medical language for one, body systems and words encountered in all those body systems, drug names, lab terms, grammar and punctuation skills. For those who've not done a typing program, there'd also be a typing program; this of course is an essential skill for medical transcriptionists. If you already have done a typing program, you have a headstart on others. Remember, in this profession, productivity is measured in terms of your typing speed. Accuracy of what is typed is the other critical criteria in assessing an MT's capability.

WHERE TRAINING IN MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION IS OFFERED:

All major metros & cities have medical transcription companies and training centers. Usually, established companies have a training program running to meet their requirements. They would basically train people and absorb them into their companies on successful completion of training. So, just seek them out and apply for a training program. Just search on Google for a medical transcription company or training center in your area and seek out the details.

STARTING SALARY FOR NEW MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTIONISTS:

Medical transcriptionists can earn anywhere from 5000 Rs. to 8000 Rs. per month on induction as a new medical transcriptionist - after successful completion of training. This of course would be just the beginning. As you gain more experience, you can expect raises and can expect to earn about 10,000 Rs. per month within a year of doing medical transcription as a full-time employee. In about 1-1/2 to 2 years, you can average 13,000 p.m. if you've done full justice to your talents.

The next level would be to graduate to the level of a Proof Reader or Editor or Team Leader. At this level, you'd basically be editing the work of other medical transcriptionists (not typing them yourself). You can expect to earn upwards of 20,000 p.m. at this level.

GROWTH PROSPECTS:

As stated above, you can graduate from a medical transcriptionist (who does the typing) to a Proof Reader or Editor who edits the lines typed by a medical transcriptionist. The Editor or Proof Reader is the person who checks for quality. It goes without saying that you need to be good at it, only then you get selected to do it.

The salary (as stated above) is very attractive for those who make the cut to the editor level. Anywhere from 15,000 p.m. to any amount (depending on the editor's productivity) - an average of approx 25,000 p.m.

You can also grow further to the level of a Team Leader or Production Manager.

THE HOME OPTION AND HARDWARE REQUIRED TO WORK FROM HOME:

At a later stage in your career (maybe with 2 years' experience), you can hope to work from home. This is of course an attractive option for many, as it offers them flexibility and independence. This is especially an attractive option for housewifes or folks who can't work 8 hours at a stretch. You'd have to speak to the company you work for, to let you work from home. The requirements for home transcription are as follows:

1. A good PC: Configuration and specifications will be given by the company you work for. A normal PC would suffice in most scenarios.

2. You would of course need a decent broadband connection for data transfer - uploading and downloading voice and text files.

3. You would need a foot pedal to pause / play / rewind / forward the audio dictation.

4. A good headset to hear the dictation.

5. Softwares like medical dictionaries and English dictionaries are usually provided by the company your work for. A fee may be charged for providing these softwares.

That's about all that you'd require for a home-based medical transcription career.

FUTURE OF MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION IN INDIA:

As stated above, medical transcription is now well established in India. India continues to be the preferred destination for outsourcing medical transcription work. India enjoys unique advantages over other competing countries and hence has retained its edge in the face of emerging alternatives like the Philippines.

There is a big medical transcription community in India comprising both home-based and office-based medical transcriptionists. Typing "medical transcription" in the search box on Orkut would show you a glimpse of the number of medical transcriptionists working in India.

The future of medical transcription in India looks promising. Companies continue to train people and hire people, so obviously there is a need for new manpower to fill in positions. On the negatives, there are concerns over offshoring expressed by the American MTs in particular. However, cost concerns are real for American companies and not outsourcing or offshoring would adversely impact their balance sheets. So, nobody is looking at outsourcing/offshoring stopping. Especially, since many American companies continue to profit from businesses in India and create jobs back in America coz of the demand for those American products in India. So, protectionist tendencies tend to cut both ways.

I believe this is a very good career option for most young graduates in India who are unable to find jobs. I know how the job environment is and how tough the competition is. So, folks why not give this a try? Those of you who are very good in English written skills, can understand foreign accents, pick up new things without much effort - this would be a career option you may wanna consider.

For those medical transcriptionists already in the field, here are a few useful websites to help you in your work.

http://sites.google.com/site/medicaltranscriptionsamples/

http://medicaltranscriptionwordhelp.synthasite.com/