This is the common setting when a medical trancriptionist is working. Looks very simple right? Sitting all day facing the computer and transcribing. But its not so simple if you ask me.
I came to hear about medical transcription from a friend online. I searched over the internet and I found that the requirements are very simple for a person who is in any medical related field. So I enrolled myself in a school and this month I would be getting my certificate. I am attracted to this because of a chance to work at home. But lately I realized that this profession is very demanding.
Why? Because it requires knowledge of human anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, medical terminology, laboratory results, and almost everything a doctor should know. Not only that you need to be very good with written English, and a high accuracy rate matched with a fast typing speed. I say it is demanding looking at the requirements. A common knowledge for doctors and a English proficiency of a English college teacher. And for what amount of pay? A few cents per line you transcribed or a few bucks per thousands of words? It looks very underpaid if you ask me. It is difficult to be an MT, especially if you just finished the course and found a job. Your lucky if you find a considerate dictator that speaks clearly and spells out uncommon terms or medicines.
I managed to find a friend who is doing MT homebased. She was able to let her client assess me and hire me on a trial basis. I was very happy. But then the rate is very low. I accepted it though considering I am a new and I am not yet very fast in typing. I just said to myself, there is no such thing as easy money and continued doing this. The doctor used to send me work once a week. But it has been over a week now and I have not heard anything from him although he replies to my email. I'm not sure where this will lead to. It would help if people were open to say things like "your fired" or "I can't send you work anymre" etc. Although I don't think that this is the reason in my case. Geez, I hate suspense. This is making me a little frustrated.
