June 14th, 2011 Published by: MedicalTranscriptionJobs.org

1

How to Increase your Chancesof Employment throughCertification in MedicalTranscriptionIn a time of economic hardship, finding gainful employmentcan be difficult. You can increase your chances of launching arespectable career in the healthcare industry by getting yourmedical transcription certification.

Once upon a time training was not needed to gain employmentas a medical transcriptionist. Today, though it is still not arequirement, it is becoming increasingly difficult to secure ajob as a medical transcriptionist without the recommendedtraining and certification. Even if you do manage to get ajob, odds are that you will earn far less than your certifiedcounterparts.

Certification in this field is offered through the Associationfor healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI). Informationon the certification process can be found on their website.There are two parts to the certification process offered by theAHDI. The first part of the process offers certification as aRegistered Medical Transcriptionist or RMT. The second stageof certification offered by AHDI establishes you as a CertifiedMedical Transcriptionist or CMT.

You can register for either examination without doing amedical transcription course but you may encounter moredifficulty in the exam than someone who has been trained.After successfully complete the first level of the exam youreceive certification as a registered medical transcriptionist. Atleast two years of experience is necessary before you can takethe second level of the exam to gain certification as a certifiedmedical transcriptionist.

Certification is possible without going to a medicaltranscription school, but two years of experience is necessarybefore taking the exam for final medical transcriptioncertification. This required experience will be hard to getwithout relevant training from a medical transcription school.

Training and Employment

As mentioned before you will face tremendous difficulty togain employment without relevant training. It is thereforerecommended that you visit the AHDI website for a list ofapproved schools to begin your training course in medicaltranscription. Classes are usually flexible and you will have achoice between studying online and a traditional classroomsetting.

Because the job of a medical transcriptionist is much morethan just transcribing notes, the position may call foradministrative or secretarial skills. It is therefore suggestedif you do not already have these skills, you also register totake courses in secretarial or administrative studies to betterprepare you for the duties of a medical transcriptionist. This

will be an added advantage to you during the job seekingprocess as this will set you apart from less qualified candidates.

Finally after receiving your medical transcription certification,you are well on your way to establishing a meaningful careerin the medical field. You will also open yourself up for theopportunity to make more money as a medical transcriptionistas your experience grows. Typically, you can look forward toearning anywhere between twenty and forty thousand dollarswith the capacity to earn more depending on the volume ofwork you are able to take on.