Article Manager posted on August 24, 2010 06:25
Every profession goes through changes over time. The medical transcription profession is no different. Those changes can be anything from technological to pay scale.
When medical transcription was in its infancy, for instance, there was no voice recognition software. Medical transcriptionists took doctors' handwritten notes, and sometimes voice recordings, and transcribed them into a typewriter. Eventually, word processors made the work more efficient and easier for the transcriptionist.
The introduction of voice recognition software brought another change to the industry. At first, it was thought that doctors would no longer need medical transcription services. That proved to be incorrect as many doctors and physicians didn't have the time to train the software. Today, many medical transcriptionists use the software to produce higher quality medical documents for their clients. It has proven to be a real valuable piece of technology.
So what can we expect from the future of this profession? I expect to see more technological advancements. One area that has a lot of potential but is, as of yet, quite untapped, is the use of the Internet for voice deliverables for the medical transcriptionist. Can you imagine a medical transcriptionist taking dictation directly through the Internet in real time? It's possible, but the industry has not moved in that direction yet. Will it?
We have no way of knowing, of course, just where the medical transcription profession will move in the future. But it is exciting to think about it.