What Equipment is "Nice to Have" as a Medical Transcriptionist?

-By Hava Lyon

I discussed the basics needed to become a medical transcriptionist here. Once you get going as an MT and start making money, you may find that you are more profitable if you invest in some equipment above and beyond the absolute bare minimums. Sometimes these extras are required when getting hired on with a medical transcription company, but usually they are just strongly encouraged, not required.

These "extras" are things like a medical spell checker, nice headphones, Word program, medical dictionary, and an expander of some sort. Although I talked in the last blog about how cheap headphones can be used during the course, once you have income coming in, you may want to look at buying a nicer pair to use. These headphones are on your head 8 hours a day, and along with the fact that nicer headphones feel better, there is also the fact that many of the nicer headphones have a much better sound quality to them. People who couldn't hear things in a dictation would try it again with a nice pair of headphones on, and realize that they were hearing things they had never heard before (and no, I'm not talking about the voices in their heads. Those voices speak just to me. I don't share. :-P) Bottom line: Quality headphones can make a huge difference.

A given is a medical dictionary. This is a whole new language, and you need a dictionary to translate. You can choose between having an electronic dictionary that you download onto your computer, or a hardback dictionary that you keep next to your desk. Because the hardback dictionaries end up being gigantic and almost unmanageable (look honey, a really expensive doorstop!) most people opt for the electronic version, although of course it's up to you.

A medical spell checker is an item that can be a giant bonus when it comes to saving you time. When I type "glenohumeral," my word processor shows that the word is incorrect, even though it is just the medical term for the shoulder joint. (I told you it was like speaking another language!) A medical spell checker can save you from having to look up and verify each word before adding it to the medical dictionary, which considering there are hundreds of thousands of medical words, this ends up saving you hundreds of hours of labor, which could be better spent sending me accolades and gifts (dark chocolate if you please.)

I just finished talking about Active Words which is a big help no matter your job but is especially helpful for transcriptionists

Expanders are another piece of invaluable equipment when it comes to saving you time, but since it is not something that a person uses in their normal everyday life, I thought I would dedicate an entire blog to just them. Thanks for reading!

Source:http://employment.families.com/blog/what-equipment-is-nice-to-have-as-a-medical-transcriptionist