"Medical Transcription? any of you do this for a living?

I have been working as a medical transcriptionist for over six years now. I am admittedly one of the youngest in the field, as the majority seem to be in their 40s, and perhaps late 30s. There are many valuable resources on the web. Look into a website .. www.mtstarts.com I have found this to be an invaluable resource. Also, if you have yahoo, there are several groups on yahoo!groups that are very helpful. What you need to be aware of is that you will not get rich doing this work. I earn a decent living, but I have made many lifestyle sacrifices to do so. I love every minute of the work I do, and to me it is very rewarding and fulfulling. But, it is not for everyone. Being a medical transcriptionist requires a great deal of dedication and perseverence. One needs to be able to work independently and with little supervision. One needs to be highly motivated and able to grasp new ideas and concepts easily. It is very similar to learning a new language. Indeed, medical language is a language in and of itself that is vastly more complex than any other. You will get out of it what you put in. If you only want to work for an hour or two a day, a couple of days a week, and be able to work just when you feel like it, this is not the career choice for you. You often work seven days a week, 365 days a year, as illness and injury do not take vacations and do not recognize holidays. Some days it is a thankless job and you wonder why you try so hard. There are parts of this career that cannot be taught. The mindset that one must have is very difficult sometimes. You have to be able to tune out extraneous stimuli and not be easily distracted. Distraction is the bane of this field. If you are easily distracted, you will be less productive and make less money. I wish you a great deal of luck in your endeavor, and should you need any additional advice, do not hesistate to contact me. I will offer whatever I can.

hi! i was a medical transcriptionist for almost 2 years and I found transcription very fun though tiring at times especially if you are transcribing 15 or more reports in an 8-hour shift but trust me, you can learn a lot of new things especially if you have a medical background because you can relate to what the physicians are talking about and say "that's what we were discussing at school way back in college" or "so..that's what this laboratory test is all about"and etc.. You can enhance your medical knowledge more and not be stagnant because it is not a routinary work, you know, you transcribe different kinds of reports like emergency room notes, operative notes (where you can really feel that you are the one performing the operation because of the detailed words, even the brand names of different kinds of sutures, packing, needles, etc.), consultation note, discharge summary, etc.. as I was saying, it can make you more knowledgeable about medical field. well,those are the pros. the cons are,well, for me it is when you have what they call ESL doctors. ESL means English as second language,usually these doctors are Arabs and I tell you, I almost would like to enter my head set and tell the doctor "would you like to speak CLEARLY??? coz you're giving me a REAL HARD TIME!" grrrrr!!!! plus, sometimes doctors use their dictaphone and dictate when they are riding a train or in a bus etc. that's why the audio is not that good because you can hear a lot of background noise; sometimes they are eating, you can hear them chewing that's why the words are not pronounced that clearly..ugh! oh well,i guess it's part of being a medical transcriptionist and based on my experience, if you are transcribing reports from difficult dictator every day, 100% sure that you'll get use with the way of their dictation and/or the way they speak and one day you'll realize they are not that hard to transcribe :) I hope I have given you insights about medical transcription.

Wow, lots of valuable information in these posts, I decided to research this field here on mylot while I was reading and deciding whether I want to take the medical transcription course. I am hopeing I find a good school to get into and not get scammed as so many have said. I have a medical nursing background but due to my health i can no longer work 12 hour shifts on my feet so I am trying to research all my options of what is available in the medical field for me. I am thinking of signing up with careersteps and go for medical transcription in the days ahead. Thanks to all who have shared links and opinions, it is much appreciated.