Article Manager posted on August 30, 2010 08:45
Spelling is an important skill for a medical transcriptionist. And you might be thinking, "Well, what difference does it make if there is an occasional misspelled word in a medical document?" Actually, it could be a big deal.
Or it might not be. it depends on the word that is being misspelled and the context. Misspell the right word at the wrong time and it could cause a critical error.
Still, let's suppose that misspelling doesn't cause any problems. It does make you, and your employer, look bad. You want to produce a highly professional document that is clean and free of errors. By ensuring that you do that on a consistent basis you make a reputation for yourself as a person who is diligent and pays attention to detail. You'll get more rewarding work coming your way.
A medical transcriptionist must be a detail-oriented person. You cannot just turn in sloppy work and expect to be paid. That's why it is important that you have outstanding spelling skills. And you must know how to consult a dictionary to ensure that words are spelled correctly. It's not something that you can just blow off as unimportant.
Besides spelling, other important skills for a medical transcriptionist include:
- Grammar
- Medical knowledge
- Familiarity with medical terminology
- Research
- Dictation
- Correcting errors / proofreading
Your job as medical transcriptionist is to create medical documents that are free of error and professional in appearance, to make your employer look good and to ensure that information does not interfere with a patient's quality of care. Knowing how to spell is an important skill to meet these goals.