Medical transcription is an allied medical profession that converges with voice-recorded reports, as dictated by doctors or health care professionals in text formats. The person performing the transcription is known as a medical transcriptionist.
When a patient visits a doctor, the doctor conducts a physical examination, analyzes patients who have gone through a medical history, and asks for laboratory tests before establishing a diagnosis, only after that he plans treatment. After the patient leaves, the doctor records the patient information in a voice recorder, for example, a cassette player or a telephone, where the information is temporarily held by the server in the hospital or sent to the transcription office. This report is then referred to by a medical transcriptionist who converges to dictation into a medical record that is properly formatted, edited, and revised. The next time the patient visits the doctor, the entire medical record of patients from previous visits can be viewed by the doctor, which will simplify the treatment process. Both the physician and the medical transcriptionist play an important role in ensuring that the transcribed reports are correct and accurate.
The doctor should speak slowly and briefly, especially when he dictates medication and illness. In the case of emergency messages (ER), the doctor is temporarily tested and must dictate quickly, most of the work is transferred to the transcriptionist. Therefore, a medical transcriptionist must have medical knowledge, good understanding, be creative and explore any medical terms as quickly as possible if in doubt.
Medical Records Outsourcing
Due to the growing demand for documentary medical records, countries such as Britain, the United States and Australia have begun to outsource medical transcription services to developing countries such as India and the Philippines, which is the main cause of cheap labor.
It was originally accepted that outsourcing has several drawbacks, for example; most medical transcriptionists do not receive proper training and do not have basic education for accurate work. Another disadvantage is the lack of confidentiality when outsourcing medical records of patients from one country to another. However, India is said to be the leader among other external countries in English proficiency in understanding medical conditions and a growing level of literacy in English
