Medical Transcription is this a good stay at home job or just a waste of time and money?
Asked by Joy W
Medical Transcription Is this a good stay at home job or just a waste of time and money? I have tried a few other stay at home jobs and it was a joke! . Is this job different?

Best Answer:
Well it's hard to say. It really kinda depends on the person. Any kind of at-home job requires a certain amount of discipline. It's a lot harder to work at home than most ppl think. Can you work and not surf the net? Can you discipline yourself to not only do the work but for the allotted time you're required to? There's way more to MT work than just typing or knowing terminology. The other title for MT is medical language specialist which actually gets to the root of our work. We make the doctors look good. We clear up all their bad habits; bad English, gum chewing, burping, slurping, coughing, stuttering, tripping over themselves and just outright idiocies. Qualities of a good MT are: be a good natural speller, Patience, absorb as much medical terminology as you can, be current on English skills (you'll be amazed at how much you forgot since school), a touch typist (most places won't hire you unless you can type at least 65 wpm which is actually fairly slow by MT standards), Patience, the tenacity to hunt around in patient files and all your resource materials to crosscheck what the doc just said, and oh yes did I mention Patience?. Also it's important you understand and appreciate the fact that you're doing someone's medical record which will go into their chart of which the doctors/nurses will go by when treating them. This is not a field you can be sloppy in. That "patient" is someone's baby, mother, father, etc. You would expect the same kind of professionalism for your own family right? An average MT's income is anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000, sometimes more, sometimes less. It depends on your line count mostly and that will depend on your experience. This is not a field you will get rich in, even if you work at breakneck speed you may end up with repetitive motion problems that will ultimately affect your line count, it's catch-22. I do this work, for the awesome flexibility, no commute to work, no silly work clothes, I have complete autonomy. Plus time with my kids. I would like to make more but that's a fairly good trade-off in my opinion. Good luck.
10 yrs as an MT.
Answered by tracie w

as a general rule: if the "stay at home" job requires you to spend any money of your own it is a bad idea.
Answered by ynot

It will be a big joke if you're wanting to be able to immediately stay at home and make money. Generally, you will need to work at an actual company as a transcriptionist and build up your reputation, then you will be able to work from home and still bring in good income.
Answered by spalmer

I know that most stay at home opportunities are scams that require you to spend money, or resell overprice products. That said, my girlfriend's mother works from home as a medical transcriptionist and manages to make enough to get by. She, however, has other income coming in, so I am not sure if she is making enough to really support herself, or if she uses this plus other income just to squeak by. It couldn't hurt to look into it, unless your time is really valuable or you're required to spend money to find out how it all works. Good luck.
Answered by Michael S

It is possible to find an at home job as a medical transcriptionist. Some companies hire MTs from home and others require that you work in the office and build your reputation and then you can work from home. I believe that MedQuist, Spheris and Amphion all hire MTs from home. I read that over 80% of MTs work from home so there are a lot of them that do. But it is a legit job, not like those online at home scams out there. The company that hires you will not require you to pay them anything to work for them (like scams do). It is just the training that you will have to pay for. Have you looked into training yet? If not, look into Career Step. They have an awesome training program. You can view a demo of their course to see if you like it or not: http://www.careerstep.com/demo-mt/?uid=a1403 May be worth looking into! Best of luck!
Answered by Michelle

Medical transcription is one of the fastest-growing professions in the country today, notifies the U.S. Department of Labor. It is ranked #14 in the top 25 professions and is ranked as a #1 home based career. The continuous growing demand for medical transcriptionists is attributed to a growing and aging population. Older age groups receive greater numbers of medical tests, procedures, etc. This growing demand is also spurred by the need for electronic documentation that can be easily accessed by providers, third-party payers, consumers, etc.
Answered by transhealthcare

Medical transcription is a legitimate work-at-home opportunity but it isn't one you can just decide to do and get a job doing. It requires formal education at a school that is recognized in the industry as graduating students who are competent to at least begin training, and it requires training. The amount of money you make will depend on your ability to understand what's being dictated, how fast you type and the availability of work from your employer. The average medical transcriptionist makes around $28,000 per year and most jobs require night, weekend and holiday shifts, as healthcare is a 24/7 business.
Answered by Julianne W