Hey Dusty. I started my court reporting training with the intent to use my steno machine for medical transcribing. I currently work for a national company and would not be able to use my machine because of the software they use. I'm not sure if I could somehow sync my steno machine to my computer and use it solely for my keyboard. Then there's the whole translation issue. The only thing I can think to do would be to type the report in Case and cut and paste to Word. That would take too long. As far as going into medical transcription, if you don't have the training you would need to do that. All companies require a minimum of 2 years experience. It's very hard to get into this business. It took me 2 years after school to find a job. On top of that, you get paid production if you work at home and when you first start you're very slow so you don't make much money starting out. I would suggest that you look into the Andrews School, M-Tec and Career Step as they have "contracts" with most national companies and graduates from those schools usually have an easier time finding at home employment with no experience. Training will take you about a year. Once you are trained I would suggest trying local hospitals or doctor's offices. It is easier to get hired and you would make an hourly wage while gaining experience. Hospital experience will prepare you for working at a national company and most hospitals will let you work at home too. Just look online for MT schools. Make sure that the course offers the following: anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, lab tests, medical terminology. That's all I can think of right now. If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
I know this is waaaayy later than when you had asked, but regarding medical transcription....check out www.careerstep.com. I went through them for MT training and had a job right after I graduated. A lot of MT companies will waive the experience requirements of 2 years if you're a Careerstep grad. It is a VERY good school. You wouldn't be able to use your machine that I know of. A lot of MT companies have their own programs/platforms they use...kind of like Word with more buttons. You can use text expander programs like Instant Text, Shorthand or Shortcut. though so you'd have it made knowing stenotype. You could use all the short terms you're familiar with and put them in your text expander. The more expansions you have the faster you can transcribe = more money. Check out www.AHDIonline.org they're the MT association and they have a lot of good info for schooling. The top 3 schools are MTec, Andrews and Careerstep. Any one of those schools will land you a job no problem. Hope this helps & good luck! :)
Sheri
May 5, 2009
Sheri
May 6, 2009
Stephanie
I know this is waaaayy later than when you had asked, but regarding medical transcription....check out www.careerstep.com. I went through them for MT training and had a job right after I graduated. A lot of MT companies will waive the experience requirements of 2 years if you're a Careerstep grad. It is a VERY good school. You wouldn't be able to use your machine that I know of. A lot of MT companies have their own programs/platforms they use...kind of like Word with more buttons. You can use text expander programs like Instant Text, Shorthand or Shortcut. though so you'd have it made knowing stenotype. You could use all the short terms you're familiar with and put them in your text expander. The more expansions you have the faster you can transcribe = more money. Check out www.AHDIonline.org they're the MT association and they have a lot of good info for schooling. The top 3 schools are MTec, Andrews and Careerstep. Any one of those schools will land you a job no problem. Hope this helps & good luck! :)
Jul 9, 2009