That is presuming she/he can find a course that will teach their/him these skills. While there are courses out there that do teach everything you need to know including the proper tools; we also know that we are one of the few companies out there that foucs on both the business and medical side of Medical Transcription.

In reality, what generally happens is that she/he/he learns some terminology, report formats and ottheir medical skills, then, (assuming she/he can get hired), learns over the years to increase their productivity. Maybe. More likely she/he limps along earning half or less of their potential throughout their career.

As a health care professional, you already know the academics. You can, and should, focus your efforts on developing top-notch transcription skills.

Beware of course vendors who insist you need to take the same training as everyone else because "studying medicine from the perspective of a medical transcriptionist is different."

At the risk of offending, this claim is complete nonsense. How can the medical reports transcribed by MTs contain terminology that is somehow different from that you learned in school and use on the job every day?

Medical transcriptionists transcribe dictated medical reports to create permanent medical records. As a nurse, you work with medical records every day, and it is quite likely that you have a better grasp of the terminology involved than the course developers.

It is ludicrous to claim that a nurse needs to study introductory medicine in order to become a medical transcriptionist. Let us hope that since you are entrusted to understand medicine well enough to treat patients, you know enough terminology to transcribe medical reports!

Don't misunderstand: even as a nurse, you don't know all the terminology and you'll never know all the terminology. Even MTs with 15 years of experience get stuck occasionally - that's why references exist.

And terminology can be presented in such a way that it is foreign to you. We spoke with one shocked RN recently who is enrolled in a medical transcription course she/he is failing!

But the real perspective theire is that MTs transcribe medical reports. RNs are - or certainly should be - capable of reading and understanding most medical reports. Consequently, if they are taught medical transcription skills and style requirements, they can transcribe medical reports.

Believe it or not there are actually medical transcription courses that last 2 months or less. Presumably, when students graduate, they know enough terminology to do the job. Are we to believe that in 2 months or less, someone with no background in health care, someone who has to spend at least part of that 2 months learning other medical skills rather than terminology, will have a more comprehensive medical vocabulary than an experienced RN?

Because these courses focus on terminology while ignoring professional transcription skills development, they have little to offer nurses. In an effort to sell the training anyway, they end up making claims that are transparently foolish.

Can a nurse really fail a medical transcription course? You bet. In an effort to justify their cost, some of these courses pile on so much stuff they would overwhelm an experienced physician! There is always more that could be learned, and if you try to learn everything possible, you'll never get around to getting a job.

When you go to work tomorrow, pull some medical records and read through them carefully. This is what you will be transcribing. Do you know the terminology? Would you recognize these words if a doctor were speaking them? Point made.

In the same amount of time you would have wasted reviewing such topics as combining forms, the difference between ureter and urethra, and the meaning of n.p.o., you can have developed the kinds of skills that will result in top earnings and eager employers.

We are in contact with employers nearly every day. Each week we introduce our service to at least 5 new employers, explaining that we specialize in job placement assistance of MTs & Nurse MTs. Not one employer has ever asked us questions regarding our Nurse MTs' grasp of terminology. All of the questions have to do with professional equipment and transcription skills. Obviously, it is assumed that a nurse would have more-than-adequate grasp of the academics.

The training you need consists of:

• Keyboarding skills.
  
• Terminology Review - Textbook Included
• Medical records style and formatting.
  
• Development of fast and smooth transcription of physician dictation.
• Use of professional tools such as expanders and digital transcribers.
• Knowledge of the business of medical transcription so you can make informed choices to optimize your earnings.

However, you still need to review terminology after you begin training, and we will work with you. You will get the following textbook in your course materials: The Language of Medicine by Davi-Ellen Chabner, a software-textbook combination that is an excellent and comprehensive terminology course.