Only a sharp Medical Transcriptionist can remain undaunted by the word bugs. It is not achieved over a night. It requires keen listening, logical reasoning, and excellent vocabulary. As mentioned in the previous blog, homophones can cause serious damage to the sentence than homograph. Homophone is a word that sounds the same as another word, which has different meaning and/or spelling.
The patient is not sure whether it is the weather that causes the itching. We can’t imagine a sentence with words italicized used one for the other, or even worse, with words “wether or wither” instead of “whether or weather”.
Fortunately or unfortunately, every language has homonyms and homophones. To a great extent, they contribute to the richness of a language. Any Medical Transcriptionists, especially the beginners, will find it a nightmare if their vocabulary, whether English or Medical, is very much limited.
Homonyms have same spelling and often have same pronunciation, but have different meaning, mostly depending on the parts of speech. In medical transcription, as long as the spelling is right, it might not cause any problem. This is not the case with homophones. Homophones or sound-alike words differ in meaning, origin, and spelling.
For example, the patient, accompanied by his niece, comes in complaining of pain in his knees
Healthcare Industry is undergoing rapid technological advancements. However, a skilled Medical Transcriptionist need not be apprehensive about the future as there will be tons of work with the clinics and hospitals. With the emergence of speech recognition software and other related technologies, never think that the future of Medical Transcriptionists is on the verge of sinking. On the other hand, as the speech recognition software has many inherent limitations, it increases the scope for the Professional Medical Transcriptionists. No software can excel the cognitive and analytic potentials of man.
A well-read, well-informed, ahead-of-time professional is already part of this evolution and will continue to evolve because he is willing and even eager to make changes and keep abreast with the advancements in the industry. Make sure you get full leverage from the company you work to catch up with advancements.
Career growth of a medical transcriptionist depends on many factors. One’s experience, accuracy, speed, language fluency, and deductive thinking are but a few considerable aspects. From the position of an MT, you can be promoted to Senior MT or Editor whose task is to verify the documents produced by the transcribers.
The next level is that of a Reviewer who double checks the quality of the documents before sending them to the client. Your consistency, determination, and perseverance will further take you to the position of the Production Manager or even Quality Controller or Quality Analyst.
Despite the testimonials of many in the medical transcription service and their proven track record and professionalism, there are many aspiring candidates who come up with so many doubts regarding the benefits. One of the most significant benefits is that you are the master your job. It is you who decide the volume of the work, income, and timings.
Another benefit is the environment of this profession. It is selective. You can work either from home or from the office, according to your convenience. Of course, every company has its own target policy and pattern, and once you have decided, you are to abide by the same.
You will have ample opportunity to develop your language as you come upon various physicians with different accents and styles. It will obviously improve your language fluency, power of communication, and pronunciation.