Medical Transcription Schools

I am looking to take an online course to get a certificate in Medical Transcription and I was wondering what everyone thought the best schools were to get the certificate at? Thanks.

I am currently taking an MT course through At-Home Professions in Ft. Collins, CO
I am able to work at my own pace. I am enjoying it very much. I checked out a local college (Kaplan)and they charge an enormous amount for each credit hour. I am almost done with the program and have to change my thinking, perhaps I will have to work in an office to start out with. It may not be as easy as it has been made to sound to get the job and do it from home. Time will tell.

Diane Eickhoff in Lincoln, Nebraska said: I am currently taking an MT course through At-Home Professions in Ft. Collins, CO
I am able to work at my own pace. I am enjoying it very much. I checked out a local college (Kaplan)and they charge an enormous amount for each credit hour. I am almost done with the program and have to change my thinking, perhaps I will have to work in an office to start out with. It may not be as easy as it has been made to sound to get the job and do it from home. Time will tell.

I am thinking about signing up for this course today, have you been able to find work to do since your last post on here? They really make it sound great but I was wondering before I sign up to take it?

Please research numerous MT schools. Go to some of the big national transcription companies and see who they recommend, who they hire from. You need to make sure the school is approved from the AHDI (www.ahdionline.org). New graduates are getting jobs without the experience if they received quality training. It is very difficult to get a job when just starting out if you do not have researching skills, so please research all the schools and then decide which one is right for you.

I have been transcribing for 20 years. I could never find a dr to pay more than .09 a line. I now work for ortho dr and make $13.50 an hour. Is there any one who makes more than that around this area? It was hard to work from home for me any way, I tried to do too many other things in the house and then had to cram typing in at night.

I'd go with either Andrews or M-Tec.

No, I don't need schooling, I already have 20 years experience in transcription. I was just wondering what kind of pay you all were getting either salary by line count or hourly. Like I said, I work in an ortho surg group and make $13.50 an hour. Does this sound about right? Any answers would be great.

J

I took a course through a local technical college (about $200, plus $115 for book with CD). The course was offered as an independent study. This beats the higher costs of online/other independent courses.

You know what, I wish I had gone into legal, my sister in law is a legal sec and she makes $20 an hour! Beats my $13.50 and probably .23 an hour raise in November!!! Some of the gals I work with in my office think transcription will be obsolete a few years from now except for proofers for voice reg or if the docs type their own in a template.

Sonja in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina said: I took a course through a local technical college (about $200, plus $115 for book with CD). The course was offered as an independent study. This beats the higher costs of online/other independent courses.

wow!!dat sounds pretty reasonable ...can u help me with more details about the college??wat are you doing dese days??did u get ne job till now??

4hambonesw in Peoria, Illinois said: No, I don't need schooling, I already have 20 years experience in transcription. I was just wondering what kind of pay you all were getting either salary by line count or hourly. Like I said, I work in an ortho surg group and make $13.50 an hour. Does this sound about right? Any answers would be great.

J

Hi J,

I live in Georgia, near Atlanta and worked for a laboratory that paid me $16.25/hr so maybe you could try that. I have 18 years experience myself.

I took a course at a Community College and learned that the online courses are nice, but depending on where you want to work, an actual college certificate seems to be more preferred. I don't see why because you have to be just as focused to take the online courses. WHO KNOWS! I love medical transcription and hope we are not out of jobs in the future because of technology. I have been a transcriptionist for 8 years now and just love it. Good luck to you!

I am a retired Licensed Practical Nurse, but have thought
of doing this for quite awhile..I will be going to an info
session next week from a school in Ft. Collins...My concerns
have been...will I be able do this from home...will the
course be worth the money? I only want to do this part time
for some extra money...Do you think having been a nurse for
28 years and knowing some of the terminology will be a help?

Karen Schueler in Inverness, Florida said: I am a retired Licensed Practical Nurse, but have thought
of doing this for quite awhile..I will be going to an info
session next week from a school in Ft. Collins...My concerns
have been...will I be able do this from home...will the
course be worth the money? I only want to do this part time
for some extra money...Do you think having been a nurse for
28 years and knowing some of the terminology will be a help?

It depends on how much the course you're taking costs, you might have a hard time recovering. As far as your question regarding medical terminology - yes, it helps tremendously to already have that knowledge for transcription. Another plus is if you know how to type.

And thats doing transcription in the lab? Maybe I should move to Atlanta. Ha Ha!! I will never see that kind of pay in my lifetime!!!

Hambones4 in Peoria, Illinois said: I have been transcribing for 20 years. I could never find a dr to pay more than .09 a line. I now work for ortho dr and make $13.50 an hour. Is there any one who makes more than that around this area? It was hard to work from home for me any way, I tried to do too many other things in the house and then had to cram typing in at night.

4hambonesw, I am a recruiter with Manpower Employment. If you or anyone here who is interested in potential medical transcriptionist job opportunities, please contact me at jeanna.zivalich@na.manpower.com. Thanks!

MedTranHome in Yorba Linda, California said: I'd go with either Andrews or M-Tec.

Do you mean andrewsschool.com or Andrews/Holbrook (A&H)?

4hambonesw in Peoria, Illinois said: And thats doing transcription in the lab? Maybe I should move to Atlanta. Ha Ha!! I will never see that kind of pay in my lifetime!!!

The trick is longevity with a hospital. I actually left a job in California after 14 years when I moved to Georgia and I was making $23/hr working from home. The pay was by the line but with the amount of work I did, I usually made around $23/hr.

Is there a job market for a MT with little experience (1 yr)?I have heard that you need 3 yrs. but how do you get those 3 years? Thanks

Retired in Yuma, Arizona said: Is there a job market for a MT with little experience (1 yr)?I have heard that you need 3 yrs. but how do you get those 3 years? Thanks

Try mtjobs.com Some of the companies will take MTs with 1 year of exp. Good luck.

For Karen Schueler: I am an RN looking into a program offered by an online school in Texas. They are of Christian faith (although I am not Christian, it impressed me that they don't want to scam anyone) and offer a course for nurses. Go to www.mtstat.com and check them out. They are less expensive than the other online schools, because as nurses, we already have experience with medical terminology, and either don't need it, or just need a refresher course. I am planning to ask for some references of past graduates to contact to see if they got the training/jobs they were looking for. Best of Luck.

I am thinking seriously about starting my second career as a Medical Transcriptionist. I have attented the seminar that At-Home Professions offers but I am really worried about not being able to get a job after I complete the course. Has anyone in this forum graduated from At-Home professions and actually gotten work after they were done with the course they provide?

One of my former employers told me that when she hires, she doesn't even look at applicants that have done at-home training so I honestly, I wouldn't waste my time with an at-home course.

Well, yah, duh they send their dictation to India because they do it for practically free! Sad isn't it that businesses won't even support their own country and its people, they are always thinking ab out the dollar, so they ship that work across seas too! I hope they are all happy with themselves.
Since they send their dictation over there too, why don't they just go ahead and live there in India and try to have a practice there!! Trust me they would never make the money over there like they do here!!!!!

J

P. in Atlanta, Georgia said: One of my former employers told me that when she hires, she doesn't even look at applicants that have done at-home training so I honestly, I wouldn't waste my time with an at-home course.

Ok so where do I get trained for medical transcription if not by an on-line course?

Most of your local community colleges offer Medical Transcription courses which aren't too expensive. Another route would be a vocational school but this will be more expensive. Try checking your local paper or the phone book for schools.

Thanx for the advise I have done some research and am looking at two training programs:
1. Career Step www.careerstep.com/site/type=mt/page=enrollmentpricing-mt
The price is good and I like the course outline.

2. MedLine www.medlineschool.com/index_files/Page387.html
Although for expensive and longer time to finish the course outline seems to cover a lot more.

Does anyone have any experience with these schools? I am open for any comments you have as this is an important decision for me and my family.

Hey Shannon,

I used to live in Ontario. Doesn't Victorville have a community college? I'm pretty sure they offer a Medical Transcription course but probably not a degree or certificate. If you definitely want to train from home, I would say make sure the school is accredited and not some fly by night school. Good luck.

Susan in Springfield, Illinois said: I took a course at a Community College and learned that the online courses are nice, but depending on where you want to work, an actual college certificate seems to be more preferred. I don't see why because you have to be just as focused to take the online courses. WHO KNOWS! I love medical transcription and hope we are not out of jobs in the future because of technology. I have been a transcriptionist for 8 years now and just love it. Good luck to you!

I've been at this for 18 years and phasing out transcription has always been talked about. The bottom line is, even with voice recognition, there will always be some doctors who VR just won't work for. I work for a company now who does some regular transcription as well as VR. The things that VR picks up sometimes are unreal, so you still need a transcriptionist to fix the computer screw up, so rest assured that you will always have a job, somewhere.

P. in Atlanta, Georgia said: Hey Shannon,

I used to live in Ontario. Doesn't Victorville have a community college? I'm pretty sure they offer a Medical Transcription course but probably not a degree or certificate. If you definitely want to train from home, I would say make sure the school is accredited and not some fly by night school. Good luck.

Hi P,
Thanx for the reply. I did check Victor Valley College and they do no offer a course for MT. After doing some additional research on line I have changed my mind about the two schools I previously mentioned. I am now seriously seriously looking at Medical Transcription Education Training. M-Tec. I spoke to a respresentative from the school and they answered my various questions but I haven't signed up yet. My husband and I are trying to figure out how I can be devoted to school for an entire year.

Anyone gone to MTEC?

Shannon in Victorville, California said: Hi P,
Thanx for the reply. I did check Victor Valley College and they do no offer a course for MT. After doing some additional research on line I have changed my mind about the two schools I previously mentioned. I am now seriously seriously looking at Medical Transcription Education Training. M-Tec. I spoke to a respresentative from the school and they answered my various questions but I haven't signed up yet. My husband and I are trying to figure out how I can be devoted to school for an entire year.

Anyone gone to MTEC?

Shannon,

I know of several people going to M-Tec. You should scan through the AHDI Student Alliance forum -> general -> what school are you going to?, and you will see that there are many who are going or have been going to that school as well. ahdisa.org is the address you'll need.

I hope this is helpful!

Allison

Hi Allison,

I am not going to school yet. I am trying to figure out which school I should attend. MTEC interests me because it seems like they are focused on efficent training and have an excellent placement rate. I would have to take the on-line course because my area does not have a vocational or community college that offers a face to face course :-(. I tried the url you gave in your post but it says the database cannot be opened.

Shannon Scroggins in Victorville, California said: Thanx for the advise I have done some research and am looking at two training programs:
1. Career Step www.careerstep.com/site/type=mt/page=enrollmentpricing-mt
The price is good and I like the course outline.

2. MedLine www.medlineschool.com/index_files/Page387.html
Although for expensive and longer time to finish the course outline seems to cover a lot more.

Does anyone have any experience with these schools? I am open for any comments you have as this is an important decision for me and my family.

Shannon,

I am an Honors Graduate of Career Step. I found the program to be excellent and will prepare anyone that completes the program to be an efficient MT. I do have a background in nursing (23 years) and I can honestly say I LOVE being an MT over being a nurse any day of the week! If you do decide to choose a school, please find one that is accredited by the AHDI such as Career Step, Andrews, M-Tec (those are the top 3) plus there are others. I'm sorry to say that At Home Professionals, while I'm sure many enjoy the course, most employers will not even consider the applicant for a position. So if you invest your money, time, and energy, please choose a school that is listed with the AHDI.

Good Luck!

Sheila

Sheila said: Shannon,

I am an Honors Graduate of Career Step. I found the program to be excellent and will prepare anyone that completes the program to be an efficient MT. I do have a background in nursing (23 years) and I can honestly say I LOVE being an MT over being a nurse any day of the week! If you do decide to choose a school, please find one that is accredited by the AHDI such as Career Step, Andrews, M-Tec (those are the top 3) plus there are others. I'm sorry to say that At Home Professionals, while I'm sure many enjoy the course, most employers will not even consider the applicant for a position. So if you invest your money, time, and energy, please choose a school that is listed with the AHDI.

Good Luck!

Sheila

Hi Sheila,

Thank you for the advice I have narrowed down to MTEC and Career Step. How long did it take your to graduate from Career Step? MTEC's course syllabus says it will take me one year if I work at it 27-30 hours a week. My tenative plans are to devote about 30-35 hours a week on training not working at all until I graduate. I have always been interested in the medical field. That's why MT is so interesting to me. I also gather that its not a piece of cake boring 9 - 5 with is another motivation. I am easily bored. I plan to devote a room in my house that has a door that can be closed and locked. Thats how focused I want to be.

Shannon,

I could have very easily finished the course in 6-7 months but due to "life getting in the way" I finished in 11 months. Whichever school you choose, I know you will be happy. It is a challenging and rewarding career, but I will be honest, in order to make 'real' money, you have to really work at it, use expanders, know how to research, be proficient in grammar, and develop your ear to some God awful dictators! There is never a boring day in this profession!

I wish you the very best of luck! I can tell you that with Career Step there are many companies that are partnered with them and they "waive" the 2 year requirement in experience if you are a Honors/High Honors graduate.

Sheila

Sheila,

Thanx for the information. MT would be a second career for me. I have been married for 10 years and have two girls 3 and 6 years. I have some fear about entering an unknown career. But I beleive that if you don't take a chance or become uncomfy you won't grow as a person.

Good advice from Sheila on finding a school that's accredited. Since you do have small children, I think this would be a perfect career for you. I have two daughters also (now 20 and 12) and I got into this field 18 years ago because I knew I could work from home. Since my 12 year old is very busy with cheerleading, it helps that I'm able to have a flexible schedule.

True, you have to work really hard to make decent money but once you get adjusted, it's like any other profession. The beauty of this field is you can work for multiple companies and if you don't like one, you can switch.

Hi P,

Yes I agree Shelia's advice was very helpful. I am excited about this new career and am praying that I can get thru MTEC's course and then become certified. I can already type 60 wpm but have a concern about the grammar and spelling difficulty of this career. Do your or anyone who reads this forum have any books or material I can get to brush up on my grammar skills, or will grammar become easier as I get better at transcripting?

The AAMT offers a Book of Style which will be very helpful. It's around $80 I think but talk with the school you enroll with and see if they offer any discounts on books. Once you start working, it will be more about format and certain things that aren't allowed, like certain abbreviations and such. Even with that, you can get around the need to remember if you have an abbreviation expander and you add the items. For example, q.d. (daily) is not allowed so using your expander, you could have it to change q.d. to daily automatically whenever you type q.d., then it becomes a no-brainer. All companies have QA specialist that will catch things anyone. Most of it will just come with repetition. I'm sure you'll be fine.

Hi Shannon,

I am a career step student. The program is really great. Also, they are a extremely recognized online program. Check out www.mtstars.com and read the forum on the different schools. I also know of people that graduated already and got a job within two weeks upon passing the certification final. I am scheduled to take my final in December. I cant wait :)

Hi there,
If anyone can assist me that would be great. I am trying to get enrolled at the Thompson Career college to become an medical transcriptionist and need to research people who work in this field in order to finalize my enrollment.
If you can answer a few quick questions to help me get going on this course, that would be fantastic.

P. in Atlanta, Georgia said: The AAMT offers a Book of Style which will be very helpful. It's around $80 I think but talk with the school you enroll with and see if they offer any discounts on books. Once you start working, it will be more about format and certain things that aren't allowed, like certain abbreviations and such. Even with that, you can get around the need to remember if you have an abbreviation expander and you add the items. For example, q.d. (daily) is not allowed so using your expander, you could have it to change q.d. to daily automatically whenever you type q.d., then it becomes a no-brainer. All companies have QA specialist that will catch things anyone. Most of it will just come with repetition. I'm sure you'll be fine.

P,

Thanx for the book info and vote of confidence. I have decided on MTEC for several reasons. Yipeee!! Finally. I am applying for financial aid if that dosen't fly then I will have to move to plan b. I hope to be enrolled by Nov 1st of 08.

Question for anyone who wants to reply:

I was talking to my aunt this weekend who works in the medical field as an office mgr and she told me that she thinks transcription is going to go away as a career becuase of electronic medical records.

Does anyone have any info on this? How do transcription work together? or do they?

I have been doing transcription now for 20 years. I think eventually, hopefully not real soon, that the voice recognition will be perfected enough for all physicians to want to try. You know, not to bash medical transcription, but I would not recommend any one go to school for it, the money these days is in the legal profession. Court reporters, legal secretaries. My sister in law is a leegal secretary and she makes $20 an hour. I will never see any where close to that transcribing, either in an office or out of my home. Doctors just dont want to pay well any more, and its even now with the economy the way it is. I think if I had to do it over again, I would have gotten into legal instead of medical, especially with the way insurance is, with not paying and people not having it. I don't know where you are from, but here in Peoria, Illinois you are lucy to make $16 an hour at very tops in transcription and thats if you have been with the same group for 20 or more years!! Just work on secretarial skills and typing skills and stick with legal, it will pay off.

J

The electronic medical record really has nothing to do with transcription. The doctors are able to sign the reports electronically and access quite a bit of the patient record through advanced computer systems. From what I've seen, it's really rare that voice recognition does as good of a job that they say it does. I've listened to VR reports where the doctor has clearly said the patient was a male in the beginning but if they slur when the say "he" during the report, it comes out as "she". Of course the word is spelled correctly but the text is wrong so you still need a transcriptionist, or in the case of VR, an editor, to fix it.

Melissa Brigham in Nebraska said: I am looking to take an online course to get a certificate in Medical Transcription and I was wondering what everyone thought the best schools were to get the certificate at? Thanks.

I am currently taking medical Transcription courses through Allied Schools online. I think this school is excellent for this field of education. They supply everything you need as a transcriptionist even a computer.

P. in Atlanta, Georgia said: The electronic medical record really has nothing to do with transcription. The doctors are able to sign the reports electronically and access quite a bit of the patient record through advanced computer systems. From what I've seen, it's really rare that voice recognition does as good of a job that they say it does. I've listened to VR reports where the doctor has clearly said the patient was a male in the beginning but if they slur when the say "he" during the report, it comes out as "she". Of course the word is spelled correctly but the text is wrong so you still need a transcriptionist, or in the case of VR, an editor, to fix it.

Hey there P,
Thanx for the clarification. I was a little discouraged from my aunt's comments so I wanted to throw the question out there to people who are working in the profession. I also searched the internet and learned a lot about voice recognition and so far I am not convinced that doctors are going to want to dictate and then fix the mistakes that the vr makes. I just don't see Dr's having the time to do that. So I am still going forward with my training with MTEC. Although I haven't enrolled yet. It's a big decision for me. I just pray to god that after I am done that I can find a job.

I am also looking into schools and prefer an online program as I currently work fulltime. I have decided to stick with only AHDI approved schools. Out of the 14 approved schools, I have narrowed my list down to four: AndrewsSchool, Exact-Med, Med-Line, or M-Tec. I see people talking about Andrews and M-Tec, but wondered if anyone knows anything about the other two (Exact-Med & Med-Line). Any input would greatly be appreicate. Thank you!

Anybody heard of World Direct Transcription? I just got a job through them, but wanted a little more info from someone who maybe works for them or has heard of them before I accept, as I don't really want to give out my info if they aren't a ligit company.

Melissa Brigham in Nebraska said: I am looking to take an online course to get a certificate in Medical Transcription and I was wondering what everyone thought the best schools were to get the certificate at? Thanks.

First of all if you as were to get the certificate at? then you have a long way to go in the transcription field. You must be proficient in spelling, grammar, punctuation and medical terminology. You must also have a desire to learn constantly, commit to memory all medical words, phrases, and medications, and be willing to research, research, research what you do not know. Start with a basic terminology course. You do not need to spend thousands of dollars. Try Brown-Mackie. But first, make sure you are a good speller and know your way around a dictionary.