Typing skills:
Medical transcription requires fast and accurate typing with a minimum speed of 50 wpm (words per minute) for freshers. As far as accuracy is concerned a fresher should be able to produce a document with at least 90% accuracy. A good transcriptionist with a year’s experience generally types around 75 wpm with about 95% accuracy.
The most effective method of typing is referred to as “touch” typing. In this method the hands are placed over the keyboard with the fingers in a specific formation. Typing keyboards have become standardized so that the keys are always organized in a specific way that allows for maximum efficiency. The position of each key on the keyboard is memorized and typing occurs fluidly and without the requirement to continuously look at the keyboard.
In addition to learning to touch type, the following can contribute towards improving typing speed:
• Correct sitting posture – ergonomic chairs are recommended for this
• Positioning of hands with fingers resting gently on the keyboard.
• Periodic breaks – improves typing productivity and accuracy.
Although learning how to type is important for this field, it is also important to learn how to spell the various medical terms used by the dictators. Doing so might reduce the necessity of constantly rechecking the spellings, thus improving your productivity.
Note: A recent trend has been for the dictating doctors and nurses to use electronic medical records with voice-recognition software. These online charting products convert speech into word documents. This means that medical transcriptionists are slowly being bypassed as the files are routed directly to the editors or quality analysts who simply edit and correct the errors in the documents and send them back to the dictating physician or nurse. Due to this new development, it has also become important for transcriptionists to concentrate more on accuracy rather than speed, in order to prepare themselves for the next stage – editing and/or quality analysis. There are, however, many clinics and hospitals which still prefer the older methods since the online charting products are not very economical and do not provide an accuracy of over 60-70%.
