A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Career change - RHIT, coding and LPN? - sm

Posted: Aug 02, 2011

I've been an MT for 10 years but for the past year I have been in school working towards an AA degree in Health Information Management. I would like to be an RHIT and do coding somewhere. However, I like it but not enough to want to do this for the rest as my life as I am only 34. I love the medical field and want to stay in it but am thinking of switching my major. I think maybe switching to LPN and then eventually become an RN. I think that I might enjoy working with people more rather than sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours a day. I am also worried that coding will become just like MTing and I don't want to waste my time. What to do?

Time for a change - Lisa

[ In Reply To ..]
Agreed. I have been in this business for 14 years, currently am barely holding onto a job at a hospital and in school to get my LPN license. I plan on transitioning to RN. I have taken some of the classes for RHIT but found them to be SO boring I could not take it. It has taken me some time but I feel I am on the right path now. Good luck to you.

Absolutely. RN is not just a potentially noble work, it's - extremely varied--you can go so many different

[ In Reply To ..]
ways and places with it. Good for you guys.

career change - maridots

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anytime you can upgrade your status you should do it. you already have a head start since you are familiar with the medical terminology, go for it and don't stop with LPN, go all the way for RN. Spend a couple years doing LPN work then move on, you'll find yourself limited eventually since you aren't an RN. Best of luck to you!

Good choice once you have experience - HospitalBrat

[ In Reply To ..]
Getting the experience is hard, though, because a lot of places look first at your patient care experience. Get what you can before applying.

My dad is a hospital administrator. He started out in big research hospitals but later switched to small town settings, where he is much happier. Your chances of getting on in a smaller place are much better, and you get more cross training because in that kind of a setting, everyone has to pitch in and help wherever they can.

It also changes your perspective on typing! Working in larger settings has always been a bit more difficult for me because of the number of management positions who have never had a day of hands-on patient care.

Good luck! Once you are able to break into the nursing arena, you can pretty much go anywhere you want, and it's a highly gratifying job.

MT to Nursing - RNMT

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My advice to anyone choosing to become an RN is to not stop with the Associate Degree, but continue your education as far as you can.

What options are there for career change? - anom

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I have done medical transcription 18 years and I am 38. It is all I have ever done and with family responsibilities and the economy the way it is going back to school is not an option. Any ideas of what other careers I may qualify for?

Other ideas - Cathy

[ In Reply To ..]
Other options might be secretary, medical receptionist, medical/dental assistant (some places will offer free training--like the local orthodontist does). I had interviewed for a real-time captionist position at a local university and was considered well qualified for that. The hours didn't work for me, but it was a great position with summers off. You might want to consider medical billing or coding. AHIMA has some online classes for coding and other areas that might be worth looking into, but not sure if other schools would be better or how that would compare. Try "to think outside of the box" if you don't want to do MT anymore.

EMR data migration clerk - Alice

[ In Reply To ..]
I've recently seen ads for this category, don't know anything about it, but it looks interesting.

EMR DATA MIGRATION CLERK

Also check career development websites, etc. - Cathy

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You can also go to your department of labor for help with career advice and other resources. I came across this website today, myskillsmyfuture dot org, that helps you transition to another career by giving you suggestions of what jobs use similar skills as your current job.

interesting website- unfortunately - maggie

[ In Reply To ..]
the jobs listed are not super great sounding- the only one that even comes close to the same pay would be paralegal/legal assistant, which would still require going to school. I am surprised that medical librarian is not on there- that has been something I have considered, since I am not physically able to do nursing. The other thing that sounds interesting to me and there is a 2 year online program for it is cancer registrar. We have one here at our hospital that I might try shadowing some day to see what it involves.

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