16 Pros and Cons of Being a Medical Transcriptionist

In relation to working in healthcare and administrative jobs, there is the role of the medical transcriptionist.

The job of a medical transcriptionist involves relaying health records for patients from doctor or nurse notes, as well as from lab records.

You can earn a good salary working from home or remotely, which can increase your quality of life.

Learn more about this job with the pros and cons of becoming a medical transcriptionist in the US.

Pros of Being a Medical Transcriptionist

Remote Working

The majority of jobs for medical transcriptionists are remote work-from-home positions.

While you may find a few large medical corporations or insurers hiring hybrid transcriptionists, these are rare in today’s job market.

The reason is it is easy to do this job at home, and it is more affordable for companies who need to hire medical transcriptionists.

Therefore, if you want to work at home, a medical transcriptionist job is a well-suited option.

Working Alone

Do you like the idea of being a freelance novelist, but never want to write a single page?

If you are great at typing and enjoy working alone, the job as a medical transcriptionist could be ideal for you.

This is a good way to make money without having to work with other people.

Whether you are antisocial or introverted, you can remain gainfully employed as a medical transcriptionist.

Blood-Free Medical Career

I started my own medical billing and coding career this month for my New Year’s resolution and noticed one benefit right away.

No blood!

This is the first job where someone can work in healthcare without seeing patients in person or having to look at blood or bodily fluids.

If you are squeamish about those areas of healthcare but want to have a medical career, a medical transcriptionist job is a perfect solution.

You are involved with patient records and work directly with medical professionals, allowing you a working knowledge of medical services.

Keep in mind, your future transcriptionist job might involve looking at images in medical records.

Set Your Own Hours

When do you work best–from 9 to 5 or from noon to midnight?

As a medical transcriptionist, you get to set your own hours.

Your scheduling depends more on the availability of work and deadlines, rather than being available on a strict time clock.

This adds a great deal of variability to your workday and week.

You don’t have to stay indoors until five o’clock on Friday and be seated in a chair all day long.

Instead, you can work where is most convenient, as long as you have your required technology, software, and hardware.

Some employers may require you to work from a hardwired phone and landline internet to ensure security, but this is more strict than most companies.

Learn a New Language

In medical transcription work, you have to know the language spoken by doctors and nurses.

This is learned in medical terminology courses or by reading a medical terminology textbook.

I have found that going through the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) for medical billing and coding training is the best route.

The AAPC offers 100 percent online training and certification in pre-requisites for medical transcription jobs, such as Medical Terminology, Physiology, and Anatomy.

This is a good way to expand your education into the medical sector with advanced level health and wellness knowledge.

Pay is Good

While there is no guarantee that you will have a tenured salary or a set payscale like they do in the military, a medical transcriptionist earns a good salary.

According to Zip Recruiter, you can expect to earn around $52,696 as the annual salary on average.

Working in Pajamas with Pets

If you are someone who prefers a life full of cozy times, go work as a medical transcriptionist.

This career involves wearing pajamas and having cats walk on your keyboard from time to time.

Maybe you have a rowdy dog or keep exotic birds or reptiles.

Whatever your home life, if it involves one too many pairs of “lounge” pants and a farm full of animals, it might be best to become a medical transcriptionist.

Hearing Medical Histories

Are you curious about how people live and are doing healthwise?

It sounds strange, but as a medical transcriptionist, you will spend a lot of time learning about people’s illnesses.

If you have skills in social statistics, this could be where you delve into a new side job of determining why certain regions or demographics are getting ill or suffering from strange conditions.

Then again, we aren’t all Erin Brockovich, or are we?

Cons of Being a Medical Transcriptionist

Sedentary Work Setting

When you have a job in medical transcription, the task at hand requires you to sit in a seat and listen as you type out billing and/or coding information.

As a result, you have to sit down while working.

Sedentary work environments are considered hazardous to one’s health, leading to strokes and heart disease, according to the American Heart Association.

Must be a Good Editor

Do you have the ability to type accurately with zero mistakes involving grammar and spelling?

Editing skills are essential to this job.

If you cannot spell words without thinking or using spell-check, you might be in trouble here as the job also requires you to use professional healthcare codes and software.

In addition, you need to understand how to string together sentences when typing out notes for medical professionals and insurance agents.

Unable to Set a Schedule

If you are someone who needs to be told when to go to work, forget being an at-home medical transcriptionist.

You could look for a job that offers hybrid or full-time work in an office setting.

However, the majority of medical transcriptionists work from their home office or even their living room or the library.

As a result, finding a way to set a schedule for your hours can be challenging, especially if you have young children or pets at home.

Faulty Software or Hardware

You are required to use certain types of software and hardware for medical transcriptionist work.

This includes a headset, foot pedal, and tape recording or digital recording machine, as well as computer software and a computer.

If you are not able to use the latest equipment, you might struggle to do your best in this job.

Lack of Corporate Engagement

Working from home brings up a lack of corporate involvement since you don’t have a boss breathing down your neck.

This can be a challenge for individuals who want or need to have someone manage them.

Hearing About Sickness All Day Long

As a medical transcriptionist, your job is to listen to doctors and nurses discuss what is wrong with people.

These health records must be transcribed into patient codes for healthcare documents, which is your job.

However, most of the time, if not always, patients have health problems including physical and mental illnesses.

Therefore, your job involves listening to these records and translating them.

If you are someone who is concerned with picking up phantom illnesses caused by hearing about these cases–or a hypochondriac–be wary of working as a medical transcriptionist.

Having to Know Medical Terminology

You have to know what anatomy is, how organs function in a bodily system, and what blood and tissue are called to work as a medical transcriptionist.

This is not the type of content everyone wants to talk or write about all day.

While you don’t have to see blood in person or smell it, you do have to write and think about these medical terms.

Detailed Work Requirements

Your job as a medical transcriptionist will not be a piece of cake.

You must be able to take random and strange sounding medical histories from case files.

If these notes are in writing, you can imagine how difficult it is to decipher a doctor’s handwriting.

Yet one mistake could cost a patient millions or even put their life at risk.

You are going to have to pay attention and be great at taking perfect notes as a medical transcriptionist.

Should You Become a Medical Transcriptionist

The pathway to becoming a medical transcriptionist is easy for many adults.

If you are ready to start training in medical transcription services, consider the AAPC CPMS Preparation Course for Certified Professional Medical Scribe Preparation.

This will advance you to the level of a medical scribe, and you can start working as a medical transcriptionist from home.

Jobs for medical transcriptionists are available online and easy to get started with at any time.

Therefore, if you want to work from home or in a remote hybrid setting, and you have a passion for working alone using computer technology, try this career.

Training is affordable and takes a fraction of the time that you would need to apply and graduate from a two- or four-year college program.

Yet you can start earning anywhere from $33,000 to $55,000 as a remote medical transcriptionist in the US.

Pros and Cons of Being a Medical Transcriptionist Summary Table