Explore a Career in Medical Transcription

Learn how to transcribe the most common medical reports used in both inpatient and outpatient settings. This course contains grammar review, as well as important clinical knowledge of major disease processes that are essential to enhancing your skills as a medical documentation specialist.

6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs

Starting December 13, 2023

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Learning method

Self-paced

$190

No instructor. Study on your own schedule

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Instructor-led

$175

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Starting December 13 | January 17

Details + Objectives

Course code: mt1

In this course, you will learn how to transcribe the most common medical reports used in both inpatient and outpatient settings. This knowledge will help prepare you to work almost anywhere in the medical field—doctors' offices, clinics, public health facilities, and hospitals. With this foundation, you will be set to advance your education so you can work as a subcontractor for a company that outsources transcription, or you can eventually even take on your own clients—all from the comfort of your own home.

You will go through each of the nine main report types—their formatting requirements, the components of each one, and how they are used in the clinical setting. Every lesson will include a grammar review, pointing out important elements that will make your reports perfect. You will also gain important clinical knowledge of major disease processes that are essential to enhance your skill as a medical documentation specialist.

Along the way, you will download a free transcriber to listen to dictation and produce reports. These hands-on exercises will give you the practice you will need to determine if this field is for you. You will also go through your current options and in the future by developing the skills of a medical transcriptionist. By the end of this course, you will know the basic report types, have clinical knowledge of major diseases, be able to correct grammar from dictated reports on the fly, and know the next steps you will need to take!

What you will learn

Discover the opportunities and career options associated with medical transcription
Acquire the grammar, formatting, and editing skills you need to be successful in the field
Examine the common types of medical reports and practice with a variety of possible challenges

How you will benefit

Gain the skills and confidence you need for successful entry into a growing set of career options
Learn the secrets to being an active listener and develop a number of skills useful in almost any field of work
Acquire helpful clinical and medical terminology that will serve as the foundation for a number of lucrative careers in the healthcare industry

How the course is taught

Instructor-led or self-paced online course
6 Weeks or 3 Months access
24 course hours

Outline

This first lesson looks at the history of medical transcription as a career. You will find out how the field has evolved into its modern form, and you will explore the various skills and aptitudes that you will need to succeed as a professional medical transcriptionist. You will examine the type of work MTs produce, where you might work, and what might be in store for those working in this career field.

This lesson focuses on the tools of the trade. You will review a few of the reference books and examine the types of websites that MTs use for research. Then, you will learn about the hardware and software that MTs use on the job. By the end of this lesson, you will be sitting at your computer, listening to a real medical dictation audio file and looking at the Express Scribe software on your screen. As you listen to the medical report, you will practice starting, pausing, and rewinding the audio as you tap away on the keyboard.

There are nine report types that medical professionals use most often in both hospitals and clinics. Medical letters aren't much different from traditional letters, but since you might not have typed a traditional letter in a while, you might need a refresher. You will finish the lesson with some specific tips about pathology reports and how to handle numbers and measurements. Then you will practice transcribing a medical letter and a pathology report.

This lesson goes over how to listen effectively, discussing the difference between hearing and active listening. It will also discuss the many issues that keep voice recognition systems from replacing humans (for now), including homonyms, synonyms, and antonyms. You will learn how to use phonetics, vowel sounds, and context to figure out a word or phrase in a muddled recording. Next, you will learn about radiology reports and finish up by practicing transcribing one.

This lesson covers some subjects that might make you cringe a little: grammar, sentence structure, and punctuation. But this will be a painless, maybe even enjoyable, journey through some of the basic principles of writing that will help you become a better MT. Then, in your Practice Corner, you will learn about SOAP notes and then turn your attention to infectious diseases and medications. You will also have the chance to transcribe a SOAP note and a radiology report in the assignment that accompanies the lesson.

This lesson explores writing and talks about style from the MT's perspective. When you're transcribing, you must follow editorial directions in spelling, capitalization, and typographical display. And it's those directions that are the style MTs need to be concerned about. You may be surprised at how many different ways you can treat a single word. Should it be capitalized or lowercased? Should you abbreviate it, or should you spell it out? Should your numbers be in digit form or word form? Finally, in your Practice Corner, you will focus on the H&P report and practice transcribing one.

No matter what you transcribe, one thing is a given: Medical terminology will be a huge part of it. One thing to remember is that dictators aren't perfect. They might say one word when they actually mean another. Or they might say a word that has a sound-alike word, like cystitome and cystotome. If you have a good understanding of medical terminology, you can pinpoint the correct word to make sure your transcription is accurate. Then, in your Practice Corner, you will review the basic nature of heart disease and its treatment.

A critical component of the MT's work is the way you put your reports together. This lesson focuses on breaking your reports into sections with headings, subheadings, special line spacing, page breaks, and other formatting niceties. You will also take a closer look at ways to make your work easier with word processing shortcuts, AutoText, macros, and templates. Mastering them will make you a faster and more efficient MT! This lesson's Practice Corner focuses on surgical reports. Surgical terminology is important to know, and it's also fascinating to take an inside look at what goes on in the operating room.

Another essential step in transcription is editing and proofreading your work. This lesson starts off with editing do's and don'ts, as well as what to look for when you're proofreading. In your Practice Corner, you will be covering a disease process that has, in some way, touched virtually everyone: cancer. Once you have an overview of cancer, you will work on the consultation report. Physicians often ask specialists to further evaluate their patients, especially cancer patients. So, this is a common report that you're likely to transcribe regularly. The assignment for this lesson includes a consult report to transcribe, and you will also get to practice proofreading.

This will be a completely clinical lesson. You will learn about classification systems and their transcription foibles. And now that you have the bones of grammar and style down, you will learn about real bones. Finally, in your Practice Corner, you will learn about discharge and death summaries. They are very similar reports, but this lesson explains the subtle differences.

This lesson will be similar to the last in that it covers lots of clinical issues. It won't all be clinical, however. In your Practice Corner, you will see how everything you've learned can come together in an autopsy report. This is probably the longest, most comprehensive report you will ever come across. And, of course, you will have the chance to transcribe an autopsy report in the assignment!

By now you have the tools and the knowledge you need to dip your toe into the waters of medical transcription, but there are still some big questions to answer. This lesson will help you learn how to manage your workload, discover all of the different ways you can work as a medical transcriptionist, and give you tips on finding a job in the field. You will also learn about further training options and what it takes to begin your career in medical transcription.

Instructors & Support

Jennifer Della'Zanna

Jennifer Della'Zanna has more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, having worked as a medical transcriptionist, practice administrator, biller, and coding specialist. She writes courses and study guides on the use of technology in health care and regularly contributes to publications about health issues. Della'Zanna is a member of the American Academy of Professional Coders and the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Albright College.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Requirements

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites for this course. However, it is recommended that you have prior knowledge of medical terminology and touch-typing before enrolling in this course.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

PC: Windows 8 or later.
Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

FAQ

Instructor-Led: A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.

Self-Paced: Your course begins immediately after you enroll.

Instructor-Led: Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.

Self-Paced: You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.

Instructor-Led: The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.

Self-Paced: There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.

Instructor-Led: Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.

Self-Paced: Because this course is self-paced, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.

Reviews

This course exceeded my expectations. It was everything I was looking for and more. A++ for the instructor. I completed the Medical Secretary Training ( a 9-month course) at a technical college ~ 20 years ago and wanted to see how the industry changed, brush up my skills and decide if this was a career for me. Jennifer is so pleasantly willing to present a vast of array of resources, details, nuances, considerations, and experiences. I have taken a few on-line courses and this by far was the best one.

This course gave me information that I did not know even though I've been a medical transcriptionist for almost 9 years. I always learned something new in each lesson and was very informative. The resources given to you for future reference are very useful as well. I enjoyed taking this refresher course and would definitely recommend it to friends and family.

I've taken a few ed2go courses, and this has been my favorite one. More than in any of the other courses, each individual lesson felt like something really substantial that packed the maximum amount of information into a concise form. Jennifer Della'Zanna has a perfectly engaging writing style and manages to organize a pretty dense amount of data combining both a general purview of the medical field and the specifics of the transcriptionist's trade. The assignments that allow one to download audio dictation samples to work with also give a good feel for the demands of the profession right from the very beginning.

I really enjoyed this course. The instructor was very knowledgeable and informative. She made the material interesting and easy to digest. I particularly enjoyed the practice corners - information one can use in one's life whether working as an MT or not. I would recommend this course and instructor to anyone interested in this subject.

I have been a nurse for 24 years with previous MT training. This course is excellent! The information contained within will make your MT experience much easier, faster and so much more enjoyable.

Fantastic course and instructor! The content was so much more than just the mechanics of medical transcription. I feel like I got my money's worth ten times over from this class. Immensely educational and enjoyable - and you can't say that about too many classes.

I have been a nurse for 24 years with previous MT training. I found this course to be excellent! The information contained within will make your MT experience much easier, faster and so much more enjoyable.

I was truly very impressed with this course. Having a nursing background really helped because this course was quite challenging in a positive way. I really enjoyed the material, both the medical and grammar components. The computer formatting advice was greatly appreciated. I will definitely recommend this course and hope to continue with an advanced course, if it is available. It would be my greatest pleasure if I could find employment in this field. Thank you very much.

Two thumps up! Jennifer Della'Zanna was an excellent instructor who presented an excellent course. Her depth of knowledge in medical transcription as well as her knowledge of medical conditions...had me looking forward to Wednesdays and Fridays just so I could learn something new about the field of medical transcription. I have acquired enough information that will allow me to practice what I have learned long after this course ends.

This course was excellent! The best online course I've taken. It was extremely well organized and the information was presented in a very logical way that was easy to understand. The course gives you all the information you need to determine whether you want to pursue a job in the MT field. The links and resources are excellent. Thank you, Jennifer.

I have been a nurse for 24 years with previous MT training. This course is excellent! The information contained within will make your MT experience much easier, faster and so much more enjoyable.

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Explore a Career in Medical Transcription

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