Where Do Medical Transcriptionists Work?

One of the benefits to becoming a medical transcriptionist is that they are able to work in so many different areas.  Not only are medical transcriptionists in high demand at physician offices and hospitals, they are also employed by laboratories, medical research companies, veterinarians, x-ray facilities, and many other places that require transcriptions.  The medical transcriptionist is flexible and, if finding that he or she is burning out at their current job, can easily change to a different field.  This flexibility is one of the main attractions of becoming a medical transcriptionist.

People often picture a medical transcriptionist sitting in a cubicle in the hospital basement, typing away while listening to endless patient notes.  However, this is not the case anymore.  Many medical transcriptionists work from home, or at special companies who specialize in medical transcriptions of all kinds.  Also, patient visit notes are not all that medical transcriptionists work on.  Medical transcriptionists work with diagnostic test results, veterinarians, and many different specialties of medicine.

When a patient has an x-ray or other diagnostic scan, the radiologist often dictates a report on what the scan shows.  These reports are also typed up by medical transcriptionists.  When a patient is transferred from one facility to another, the medical records department will compile a patient history report.  This multiple page report, covering all the lab tests, x-rays, scans, and other diagnostic information, is typed up and sent with the patient to the new facility.  Also, different laboratory tests also require reports to be transcribed.  Whether the report is dealing with a complicated blood test, or perhaps a pathology report on a surgical specimen, the medical transcriptionist is able to type up the report on the results so that the ordering physician can easily understand the test results.

Veterinarians are also coming to rely on medical transcriptionists more and more.  Whether they are dictating the results of a normal yearly physical exam and rabies vaccination, or detailing the intricate steps of a difficult surgery, medical transcriptionists make all these notes easy to read and access by typing them.  With the advent of pet health insurance, having clear, easy to read veterinary visit notes is extremely helpful in getting the pet insurance companies to reimburse the veterinarian.  More and more medical transcriptionists are finding terrific jobs working for veterinarians rather than hospitals or physicians.

If the medical transcriptionist cannot choose between all these interesting fields, working at a transcription company might be the ideal employer.  Medical transcription companies are businesses that specialize in medical transcriptions of all kinds.  Physicians, laboratories, veterinarians, hospitals, and radiology departments will contract with these medical transcription companies to take care of all of their transcriptions. 

There is a great deal of variety of subjects when a transcriptionist works with one of these companies, and the work is never boring.  Working for a medical transcriptions company is also a great way for the medical transcriptionist to gain experience with many different kinds of medical fields before finding one that is most interesting to them.