Survey questions for Filipino medical transcriptionist

The recent post “I am a Filipino Nurse, how can medical transcription training help my career?” was tweeted (3) times today. The first tweets of a blog at infancy stage. Such small gestures would drive you to keep on writing. It’s the only post tweeted so far so I was a bit curious how is it different from the rest of my blog posts. The number of tweets is not so significant ( and besides, it’s just an ODOB – one day old blog) but I can’t help wonder what made it tweetable. I’m starting to analyze blogs like the way a blogger should; I guess.

Early today, I was reading a guest blog at Problogger about the fear of bloggers. In it, a blogger admitted that he once stopped blogging because of fear. The fear of rejection. Fear that ideas written are not worthy of the reader’s attention. I’m not sure if I share the same problem with Jamie Harrop. Unlike Jaime, I don’t have 9 years of blogging. I’m just starting. The problem is how to organize my thoughts to come up with a good article. Having good ideas is one thing, putting them into writing is a different thing. It needs consistency. I don’t think I’m consistent right now. This is the second paragraph but what’s written so far has nothing to do with survey questions. But as a budding blogger I’ll give myself  a slack and that 3 tweets a tap on my back. I plan to write and here’s my plan.

I want to interview Filipino transcriptionists that I know of, not personally, but through common friends and colleagues. I’m preparing survey questions that might capture interesting facts about the daily routine, sentiments and work habits of Filipino transcriptionists.  Hopefully it would result to an interesting blog post and be worthy of the reader’s attention. Worthy of 3 tweets.

I have listed several questions, not in specific order, just plain listing of every questions that crossed my mind. If you have survey questions in mind, please don’t hesitate to comment. I surely appreciate all the help. Here’s the draft.

Survey questions

1. How long have you been working as a transcriptionist?
2. Do you enjoy your work?
3. Is your job difficult? What are the things you did to learn the job?
4. What are the things you think you need to learn more to improve your work?
5.  Can you describe your daily routine?
6.  How does working as a transcriptionist help your family?
7. Did you meet new friends working as a transcriptionist?
8. Is there  office politics among transcriptionist?
9. How much do you earn working as a transcriptionist?
10. Which would you prefer, office or home-based transcription work?
11. What are the audio transcription software you normally use?
12. Do you have suggestions on how to further improve this software?
13. Foot pedal or keyboard function keys?
14. What do you think is the future of medical transcription?
15. …

Medical Transcription Jobs to the Middle East.

I visited the POEA job site to see if they have job offers for medical transcriptionist abroad. Check out the link here. Just type “transcription” in the search query. I saw job openings to Saudi Arabia, Yemen North, Qatar.

 

 

TRANSCRIPTIONIST MEDICAL  (1)         SAUDI ARABIA                     SUPERSONIC MANPOWER SERVICES CORPORATION        6/7/2011

TRANSCRIPTIONIST MEDICAL (10)       SAUDI ARABIA                     MEGA MANPOWER CORPORATION                                             5/16/2011

TRANSCRIPTIONIST MEDICAL (1)          SAUDI ARABIA                    21ST CENTURY MANPOWER RESOURCES INC                     5/12/2011

TRANSCRIPTIONIST MEDICAL (8)          SAUDI ARABIA                    MEGA MANPOWER CORPORATION                                           4/1/2011

TRANSCRIPTIONIST MEDICAL (5)          SAUDI ARABIA                    MEGA MANPOWER CORPORATION                                           2/16/2011

TRANSCRIPTIONIST MEDICAL (4)          YEMEN NORTH                    NORTHWEST PLACEMENT INC                                                    10/20/2010

TRANSCRIPTIONIST MEDICAL (1)          SAUDI ARABIA                    MEGA MANPOWER CORPORATION                                           8/6/2010

TRANSCRIPTIONIST MEDICAL (2)           SAUDI ARABIA                    LBS E-RECRUITMENT SOLUTIONS CORPORATION           6/4/2010

TRANSCRIPTIONIST MEDICAL (open) QATAR                                    UNIVERSAL STAFFING SVCS., INC.                                        2/26/2010

Old job posting are listed in table below.

TRANSCRIPTIONIST MEDICAL

SAUDI ARABIA

LBS E-RECRUITMENT SOLUTIONS CORPORATION

1/11/2010

4

TRANSCRIPTIONIST MEDICAL

SAUDI ARABIA

DAVIS INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT AGENCY

12/8/2009

30

TRANSCRIPTIONIST ASSISTANT MEDICAL

SAUDI ARABIA

MEGA MANPOWER CORPORATION

12/3/2009

2

TRANSCRIPTIONIST MEDICAL FEMALE

SAUDI ARABIA

PHILIPPINE HOSPITALS & HEALTH SERVICES INC

11/27/2009

14

TRANSCRIPTIONIST MEDICAL MALE

SAUDI ARABIA

PHILIPPINE HOSPITALS & HEALTH SERVICES INC

11/27/2009

8

TRANSCRIPTIONIST MEDICAL

SAUDI ARABIA

MEGA MANPOWER CORPORATION

11/4/2009

4

TRANSCRIPTIONIST MEDICAL

SAUDI ARABIA

GBMLT MANPOWER SERVICES INC

10/30/2009

2

TRANSCRIPTIONIST MEDICAL RECORDS

SAUDI ARABIA

GBMLT MANPOWER SERVICES INC

10/30/2009

4

TRANSCRIPTIONIST MEDICAL

YEMEN NORTH

NORTHWEST PLACEMENT INC

10/14/2009

4

I am a Filipino Nurse, how can medical transcription training help my career?

Accredited nursing schools in the Philippines aim to prepare their graduates to become competitive in finding work in the Philippines or abroad. Working abroad is the main reason. There is the high pay. The health care industry forecast a still higher demand for nurses but you also have to consider the rising competition. More and more Filipinos, male and female, are taking up nursing courses hoping to land a high-paying job abroad. It is high time to be more competitive. Let’s explore the advantages of a nurse that took up a medical transcription training.

Medical Transcription Training Advantages

1. Improve typing skills

Transcription training can help you achieve more than 80 words per minute typing speed. Now that’s being productive there. Expect that when you work abroad, you will be working more on electronic document and computer software. An excellent typing speed is impressive; makes you work like a pro.

2. Mastery of Medical Terminologies

Medical transcription involves familiarizing various medical terms. Medical naming-convention and entomology are taught. The training will reinforce your existing medical vocabularies and how they are used in common diagnostic or medical report procedures. Frequent exposure to medical terminologies improves retention of these important terms, and will come in handy when the doctors challenge you with medical trivia.

3. Exposure to Transcription Softwares

You will learn the various transcription software that may help you even in non-medical transcription work. You can listen to medical audio ebooks using the audio transcription software. A handy software in your nursing review.

4. Additional Income

While taking up nursing course, you can work part-time as a medical transcriptionist. There are home-based medical transcription jobs that are based on production output. Earning that extra money is not bad as long as it doesn’t interfere with your studies. If you are working as a nurse abroad, part-time work as a medical transcriptionist will put more money in the table. Double compensation is almost always positive as long as it doesn’t affect your day job.

5. Impress your employer with your improved resume

Medical transcription is another bullet to your resume. Your future employer will certainly consider the tremendous benefit of hiring you with the transcription skill you’ve earned. It reflects a good work ethics since you manage to get additional training while finishing your nursing school.

6. Tech Savvy

Medical transcription training also teaches research skills using the Internet. The Internet is an ocean of useful information. Harness the Internet and it will surely give you an edge. Everything is going Digital and the Internet is the new arena of competition. It is high time you expose yourself to the rewards of becoming an Internet tech savvy.

7. Plan B – career contingency plan

It’s a tough industry. If after some time you realize nursing job is not working well with your life goals, there is another trade you can venture – becoming a medical transcriptionist. A lot of people have made medical transcription not just a career but a profession. There are opportunities for professional growth. Transcription industry is booming and will surely open new doors for you to earn and secure a steady job.

I can’t think of any disadvantage in taking medical transcription training besides additional expense with the training fee. Actually, I can’t call it a disadvantage. Training fees are investment and not a waste of money. Learning new knowledge, skills and trade always give beneficial advantages.

Do you need training to be a medical transcriptionist?

Let’s elaborate this with another question, “Will transcription company employ you if you don’t have a training?” Actually, if you search for transcription job openings you’ll find out that some transcription company even require that you have experience working as a transcriptionist or have undergone on-the-job training. There are a lot transcription jobs available in the Philippines, you can try googling them up using the search query “transcription jobs Philippines.” I even saw a job ad that said they will not entertain applicants with no transcription training.

Transcription is a promising career but is also a skill-dependent job. It is not enough that you have mastered medical terminologies for medical transcription or legal terminologies for legal transcription. You have to improve your typing skills, listening skills, research skills and become familiar with transcription software tool that will help you become efficient and productive. Your salary or income basically relies on your production output and quality. A transcriptionist that is able to transcribe more audio files with very high accuracy will earn more. An expert transcriptionist can even be promoted to transcription editor, to transcription supervisor or transcription company manager. A good grasp of the transcription industry can also open an opportunity for you to start your own transcription company.

To succeed as a medical transcriptionist, you need to invest by enrolling in a transcription school. In the Philippines, training fees ranges from Php20,000 to Php30,000. There are center-based training or online-based you can opt to enroll. Training duration normally takes (4) to (6) months; including on-the-job trainings.

Enrolling in a transcription training school also helps you find a job. Transcription schools maintains networking with other transcriptionist and transcription companies. Job networking is an excellent way to finding a job. Build more network so you can explore more job opportunities.

Is training enough? Your transcription training is a very big help but your dedication to work and enthusiasm to learn more will drive you to succeed in the transcription industry whether in medical transcription, legal transcription, office transcription or other general transcription jobs.

how to use phone digital transcription software

Good morning Transcriptionist! Here’s another post contribution to transcription practitioners.

Digital phone transcriptions software or sometimes called audio transcription player software helps the typist or transcriptionist to convert mp3 or wav file audio recordings into electronic document. Transcriptionists listen to audio files while transcribing using text tools like Microsoft Word.

To learn how it works, try it on a free software from NCH. Here are some tips to get you started.

Tips

1. Download the free software from NCH website. Check OS compatibility first for Windows or Mac before downloading.

2. Install the software in your local PC or laptop.

3. To experience actual transcription work, you need to install a foot pedal to control the playback and rewind of the audio file. If you don’t have foot pedal, you can control the playback using keyboard function keys.

4. Transcription involves good listening skills so it would help if you use high quality headset. There are noise-cancelling headset you can try but are relatively expensive. For practice, just use regular headsets.

5. If you don’t have actual transcription audio file to use for practice, you can use mp3 music or video clips from your favorite movie. There is a free software called Audio Extractor you can easily download to extract just the audio from movie clips. Where can you get movie clips? Youtube.

6. Run the audio player software, open/drag your audio file to the player list window. Start the playback. Listen to the audio file while you check on the play, pause, fast forward, and rewind button. Familiarize yourself with this button.

7. Open a text tool like Microsoft Word and start transcribing while listening to the audio files. Transcription is skill dependent; you become more productive with practice and when you use the proper techniques.

8. Improve your typing skills.  Buy typing software or enroll in a transcription training center. Transcription training helps you improve your typing skills and will teach you ways to become efficient transcriptionist.

 

Can I use wireless to do medical transcription from home?

A marketing ad said “More power to Transcription Philippines – going No.1 “

I wanted to start this blog with the major questions about transcription like what is transcription, medical transcription, legal transcription, training and certificates needed to land a job, how is transcription done in the Philippines, what is the future of transcription industry in the Philippines. But I decided to look up a list of questions related to the word “transcription” that came from a query I sent to an SEO site. The title of this post, surprisingly, was at the top of the list. It must be a popular question to land in the top spot. I quickly googled the question but it didn’t point to a blog search results specifically answering the question. The transcription industry in the Philippines is still at its infancy, but to the rest of the world, it’s one of the fast-growing sector in the BPO. This new questions about the technology integration to transcription are now the major concerns. There are questions about apps, tech gadgets and voice software that would play a crucial role in the transcription industry.

I assume the question is about the use of wireless laptops, I can’t imagine it otherwise.  Laptops are great for mobility, portability and consumes less power to operate. Even if you work at home, you can easily move your work space to the kitchen, bed,  sala, and even in the garden. Medical transcription software require minimal processing cost and disk space so low-computing laptops will suffice.

But the main concern here is security.

Medical transcriptionists are bound with strict compliance in ensuring the security and confidentiality of medical audio records.  Especially in off-shore medical transcription and home-based medical transcription, compliance guidelines are enforced by HIPAA. The same is true for Legal transcription, sensitive information are discussed in audio recorded litigation, witness cross examination, and arraignments.  Actually, all transcription jobs should be treated with measures to ensure security and confidentiality.

When using wireless laptops in the office or at home, ensure that access to Wi-fi router should be restricted with network passkeys. People who can connect to your wireless network will be able to view files on your computers, monitor the web sites you visit, read your email, and copy your user names and passwords as they travel across your unprotected wireless home and office network. Hence improve the security of your wireless home network by setting up a wireless network with 128-bit WEP (Wired Equivalent Protection) or the more secure AES.  To get AES, you need to use WPA or WPA2. Check the ip address of your router to find out how to change the security settings of your Wi-fi router.

Similarly, precaution should also be applied when using Internet broadband stick. Avoid sending receiving/sending voice files in unencrypted emails. Never put doctor or patient information  in the subject field and body of the email message. Don’t accept audio files from your clients if the emails are not encrypted.

So, can we use wireless to do medical transcription from home? Yes, provided we follow the HIPAA compliance guidelines or as instructed by your employers.