What are the challenges faced by Medical Transcriptionist company in Australia?

If you are in a medical profession, you might be familiar with the medical transcriptionist and the value it generates in professionally transcribing your documents. At the onset, you might feel that a medical transcriptionist job is easy, but it is not. A medical transcriptionist company or even a freelancer has to face many challenges and meet standards in their profession. They are also seeing many new changes, in the form of technological developments in the health care industry. These changes range from EMR implementation to more impactful billing practices, to prepare accurate and timely documentation. Obviously, the stress is on transcription managers on meeting the pressing issues. 

 

In the current scenario, hospitals are also debating whether to opt for medical transcription services or outsource the job? As the costs in the medical sector are doubling and so thinking about the budget has become critical to the medical fraternity.

 

Following are some of the concerns of a medical transcriptionist: 

 

Changes in the Industrial pulse

 

Providing client-focused services is yet another major challenge for the company as the requirements of the healthcare providers are different. The increase in population, rise in pre-occupation with health, dependence on organizations, chronic diseases, change in lifestyles, climate are some of the factors that have an impact on health care. So finding out the changes and offering customized services are the other challenges before the company. These have a direct impact on the overall competency as they need to also change their operations accordingly. It is about incorporating technologies, software, and improvement to generate more output within a limited time frame. 

 

Fear from EMRs 

 

There is a constant fear among the medical transcriptionist regarding the use of EMRs. It is going to impact the medical transcriptionist industry and in fact, it has started impacting it but none of them are capable enough to predict the impact. The ultimate ball lies in the consumers’ court, and they are naturally doctors. It is a fear that EMR’s is going to replace medical transcriptionists and taking away their job. But first, let us understand what EMR is? These are digitally recorded reports of the patients instead of the paper records and the same contains general information like treatments and medical history.

 

However, this fear is uncalled for as the medical practitioners realized that the time they have to spend on EMR is more, and added to it they are concerned about the quality of the documents and the fear of inaccuracy and over-billing. This necessitates transcriptionists and their services.

 

Medical Transcriptionist has to abide by the ethical laws of the state

 

Australian law has confirmed certain medical standards and ethical laws that each medical transcriptionist should abide and follow. Any medical transcriptionist company or a freelancer is not allowed to disclose any medical information from the patient's records to any third party and even to the family. 

 

Secondly, they have to adhere to professional ethics and complete the work as prescribed with accuracy, and speed. There is no excuse for non-compliance with the duties.  

 

Medical Transcriptionist should have multi-tasking skills

 

To be able to multitask is one of the biggest challenges for transcriptionists, as they need to be aware of the deadline, create work schedules, and at the same time listen, type, and record. This ability though difficult but helps to generate accurate transcripts, manages the workload, and meets deadline.

 

Know-how and comprehending medical terminology

 

As a medical transcriptionist company, it should have comprehensive know-how of the medical terminology, medications, and procedures. This can cover basics like anatomy, physiology, and some medications and procedures, but it also needs terminology that is specific to medical specializations like urology or cardiology. To beat this challenge they should have a medical dictionary and regularly read medical journals and publications.  

 

Acquire knowledge of grammar, syntax, and punctuation

 

Medical transcriptionists generate reports, transcripts, and documents for healthcare professionals, which necessities having comprehensive knowledge of impeccable punctuation, grammar, and syntax. A slight grammar mistake, the complete meaning is changed which can have a serious implication, after all, they are working on the patient’s medical reports. So accuracy and speed are the two things that both need to work upon.

 

Meeting deadlines

 

One of the biggest challenges is to meet the deadline. A report from 2013 that emerged highlighted the fact that the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 and their use are the two main deadlines that often hinder doctor’s efficiency and are the biggest challenge for the transcriptionist managers.

 

We are in an era now that more task is expected in less time, with regulatory mandates, technology target dates and other tasks it is difficult to make out how to meet deadlines that too when the budget is less. 

 

But irrespective of these challenges, medical transcriptionist services in Australia are in high demand, and doctors are seeking them for all kinds of transcriptionist services.

Know the facts about Medical transcriptionist job in Australia?

A medical transcriptionist has a very crucial role to play in the Australian department of health, for their expertise in transcribing the medical records of the patients and easing the life of doctors and other medical practitioners. A medical transcriptionist's job is to transcribe the reports from voice recordings and converts the same into a written format. The transcriptionist also has to edit medical documents, interpret medical abbreviations and terminology, and produce summaries.

Now as the Australian government is making health department digital, and insurance companies also accept typed doctor’s reports, the role of transcriptionists has increased. And we at Virtual Docs are Australia’s exponents in the medical transcriptionist services offering our expertise and skills to the hospitals, clinics, and other medical practitioners.  

A medical transcriptionist facilitates physicians to effectively communicate with other health providers on the patient’s health condition and treatment procedure. In the process, the physician records his observations over a voice recording device, which is sent to a transcriptionist who interprets and transcribes the information using a special format. The dictated matter is then converted into a typed document or an electronic format. Due to the immense paperwork and the hectic schedule, the doctors prefer to electronically store the medical records, which enable other departments also to get easy access to the necessary documents.  

For the people who want to get into this lucrative profession, we are offering home-based medical transcriptionist jobs in Australia, and satiate your craving to work, earn and gain substantial exposure.  

But before getting into this profession, it is always best to understand what is expected from a medical transcriptionist and about its roles and duties:

Roles and duties of a medical transcriptionist 

 

• As a medical transcriptionist you should record information of a patient like name, social insurance number, medical record, and other necessary information.
• You will have to ensure perfectness in your duty and a hundred percent accuracy.  
• Gain information through references for terminology and medical procedures.
• Keep and retain the transcription log.
• Interpret, record, and follow physician’s dictations and return the completely prepared reports timely and accurately.

 Qualities that makes a good medical transcriptionist  

 A medical transcriptionist has a distinct personality with efficiency to interpret and organize. You are expected to have a basic knowledge of medical jargon, a graduation degree from high school or GED diploma.  Medical transcripts can choose two different educational paths; either complete an accredited certificate program that you can complete between six months to a year, or you can also earn an accredited two year or accelerated one-year associate degree program. 

In our company, we will encourage you to learn, investigate, and regularly interact with the concerned doctors. This will help you to find discrepancies and inconsistencies in voice recordings, get correct terminology, and conduct quality checking.

How to become a medical transcriptionist? 

A certificate from an accredited medical transcription training program does not guarantee nor entitle you to use “Certified Medical Transcriptionist”. To attain the title you have to fulfill the requirements of the association. It is one of the careers that allow you to work from home in flexible hours, give you the freedom and help you maintain the balance between your work and life. What you need is a computer, an internet connection preferably broadband with adequate speed and passion to learn. To get the first assignment you should have enough knowledge of the medical terminology, physiology, anatomy, and good grammar. Along with it, you should be a good listener as doctors sometimes speak so slowly and sometimes very fast with heavy accents. It is not easy to understand recordings if you are not a skilled listener.

Therefore, you should undertake both theoretical as well as practical training. The proper training ensures you are skilled in your profession and you will get quick growth. 

Many companies require applicants to meet the following criteria: 

• Three years of medical transcription experience
• Knowledge of medical terminology
• Fast and accurate typing skills of a minimum of 70 words per minute
• Excellent grammar, spelling, and proofreading 
• Have access to a computer with high-speed internet
• Capability to work independently.

 Facts about the medical transcriptionist jobs in Australia

Many of you might be thinking that medical transcriptionist jobs in Australia is easy and can be done along with home duties and taking care of the kids. But the answer to it is no, this is a job of responsibility and not possible if you have kids around you. It requires concentration, and a peaceful environment to retain your attention. A slight mistake can jeopardize your career. 

There is also misconception flouting that a medical transcriptionist needs very little or no training, but you are going on the wrong track. You need formal training to be considered fit for this role.

Yet another consideration is about speech recognition technology (SRT) which many think will obsolete medical transcriptionist jobs in Australia, but this is not true. Experts suggest that doctors cannot solely rely on SRT results as these are not reliable, and regularly requires human intervention. So even though the technology is making its presence felt in many spheres, especially in the medical industry we cannot deny or ignore the intervention of humans.

So there is a demand of a medical transcriptionist in the hospital affairs and among the medical fraternities, and we at VirtualDocs are motivating the skilled transcriptionists to stand on the right footing and be experts in this medical field. 

Our medical transcriptionists get complete technical and manual support. We have a clerical staff for assistance besides, they also get advice and support from the doctors. There is also no limitation to what a transcript can earn.