The Future of Medical Transcription

Employment Outlook

Potential students of medical transcription programs often ask the question, "Will I be able to find a job when I finish my program?" As in any industry, medical transcription program graduates are often stuck in that situation of finding an employer who will hire them without the requisite "two years of experience." Current statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor indicate a continued growth in this field. With our parent company, TRS, LLC, the ability to grow is only limited to the ability to find qualified medical transcriptionists. A qualified medical transcriptionist will never have difficulty finding a position as a medical transcriptionist, although the title may change.

Will Technology Replace the Profession?

Technology in the healthcare environment is changing on a daily basis. The electronic health record will create opportunities for more healthcare providers to provide direct input into a patient's record. Templated reports may mean a decrease in the actual lines of transcription. Medical transcriptionists are fortunate that these changes in technology will create increased opportunities in the healthcare documentation industry. It will lead to opportunities to embrace the technology that is developed as a tool for creating the healthcare record. At TRSi, we believe the emerging technologies are a positive for our industry. Not only will they create additional opportunities, we also believe they will change the focus of the skills required to perform the work. The ability to appropriately use the technologies, to edit records for accurate content, and to become involved in the creation of templated reports for the electronic health record will bring the skills and knowledge base of a medical transcriptionist to the forefront, overshadowing the keyboarding skills. Once this occurs, it will then be about the knowledge one has and not how fast one can type! In the world of medical transcription, this can only be seen as a positive step!