How Technology Affects Medical Transcription Professionals

 Is the medical transcription industry dying? A lot of people ask this question as new software and technology are being released that some people fear might replace the professionals in this field. One of the products that people think that might replace medical transcriptionists is “Voice Recognition” programs. Speech recognition programs are now being widely used in a lot of companies and a lot of MTs has expressed that their jobs were a lot easier because of this technology. In the medical transcription online world (through forums, answer sites and blogs), some professionals has declared that although it has helped them with their jobs, it did pose some challenges for them. Right now these programs now transcribe the recorded data and the MT would just have to review the file for mistakes and error. There will be instances where the MT would have to do the transcribing if the program does not recognize the voice recording. These means a lighter work load for the medical transcriptionist and of course in a lot of companies, it means less pay. A lot of companies are seeing a good future for voice recognition programs. The technology is still continuously being developed and it does hold a promising future in providing more productivity with less errors and mistakes. With technology like this, the job of the medical transcriptionists also evolves. They come from dealing with the recorded file (raw data) to becoming editors of the report coming from the program – ensuring the report is accurate and that there are no errors and mistakes in the report. Even with these kinds of innovations, the demand for medical transcriptionists worldwide is still strong and slowly growing. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of medical transcriptionists is expected to grow 6 percent from 2010 to 2020, slower than the average for all occupations. They work for medical or healthcare facilities, hospitals, and physician’s office, self employed or with a third party medical transcription company (service provider). The technology being created for this industry is not meant to replace workers but to help them be more productive with their medical transcription career. If the future of this industry still seems a little blurry for you, you can consult with Meditec – provider of flexible and self paced medical transcription training programs with available financing options and internship program (depends on the student’s performance).