A day in the life of a medical transcriptionist

Most medical transcriptionists work in comfortable, medical settings such as hospitals, physicians’ offices, clinics, laboratories, medical libraries, government medical or even their own homes. During your workday, you’ll listen to physicians’ dictated recordings and transcribe these into the records medical professionals depend upon to treat their patients. You may format these recordings into medical reports, correspondence and other administrative material.

Medical transcriptionists often listen to these recordings on a headset, and use a foot pedal to pause the recording when necessary. Using a personal computer or word processor, medical transcriptionists transcribe what they hear and edit the content for grammar and clarity. The documents they produce can include:

• Discharge summaries
• Medical history reports
• Physical examination reports
• Operative reports
• Consultation reports
• Autopsy reports
• Diagnostic imaging studies
• Progress notes
• Referral letters

Typically, medical transcriptionists will return these transcribed documents to the physician or health care professional who dictated them for review. The medical professional will then sign the document or make any corrections and add the documents to their patients’ permanent files.