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

Online transcription course - Karla

Posted: Nov 15, 2014

I need input on which is the best online transcription course available for a newbie. I do have a history of 10 years work in radiology but have been out of the field for about 6 years and now am basically starting over since I am not a CMT.

I have looked @ CanScribe and CareerStep, any opionions on these two?

Thank you for any information you can provide....

Karla... please read this board carefully - Nan

[ In Reply To ..]
This is a dying field. I would advise you not to waste your time or money on MT school. It is very, VERY hard to make money at MT anymore.

Friendly advice... go in a different direction. Save yourself the headache and the heartache.

Not sure why you think you need a course - you are NOT a newbie

[ In Reply To ..]
I am not sure why you think you need to take a course for this.

First, you do not need a CMT. Nobody requires it and few respect it. It isn't even the CMT any longer. It was so poorly accepted they changed the name. It is still nearly worthless.

Second, taking a course isn't going to give you a certification.

Third, most of an MT course teaches how to hear. They are as long as they are and have all that dictation practice for ear-training. If you did radiology, you already have the ear-training. It isn't something that will evaporate in 6 years. A few hours of listening and it will all come back.

Fourth, about 25% of a course teaches med terms and anatomy. I don't think you should need that, either. Do you? Are you unable to get a book to review? You need some school to hand you the book and watch to be sure you do it?

Fifth, the rest of the course teaches things like report types and gives you practice with content. Maybe you have not seen some of that before, butthat is not good justification for spending that amount of money and time in a course. You can get that on your own.

Sixth, no course teaches you "all the words" you might need. You already know much of what you need. You can learn the rest the same way everybody else does ... by looking them up. You will have to learn them that way anyway even with a course.

If you truly think you need a course, or want to review and improve your skills, just get the SUM CDs and materials straight from HPI. I posted the link below.

I do not recommend that you take any course that does not use the SUM program. Your success on the job depends on it. While a course like the ones you mentioned might sound great, sometimes their students don't do all that well on the job. Maybe they only cover the beginning material. Maybe their dropout rate is 90%. Maybe almost nobody passes.

If you are going to take a course, take Andrews School. They use SUM, have qualified instructors, and have employers waiting to hire graduates.

That being said, I do not recommend spending ANY money to re-learn MT. That is because incomes are poor and dropping rapidly. Offshoring is rampant. Jobs are being eliminated due to front-end SR, and in about 2 years you will see institutions converting in droves. There may be a few MT jobs left, but you are unlikely to get one of them. There won't be enough jobs left.

You would do better to take a coding course. (Andrews, again. Some of their students are even getting remote jobs.) Spend your money on something that builds on what you already know, that you can use now that pays well and can be transformed into other jobs as time goes on. Your knowledge of radiology would be very helpful.

Spend your money on something useful. Don't throw it away.

Do Not Agree - Yes, She Needs a Course

[ In Reply To ..]
If someone only has radiology experience, yes, they do need a class if they're thinking about doing acute care, or even clinic. Radiology does not cover acute care. It doesn't encompass physical exams, lab work, medications (clinic or hospital), background hospital noise challenges and a whole host of other things.

However, one can transition to radiology pretty easily if they've done a good amount of acute care, particularly if they have done surgeries. You have all the ligaments, internal anatomy, etc., when you've done surgery.

I also agree this is a dying field. I agree Andrews is the best.

Disagree ... she does not need "a class," just - the SUM course

[ In Reply To ..]
She already knows HOW to do this. She just needs exposure to acute care, and she can get that from the same materials Andrews uses.

I am so tired of people thinking you need someone to hang over you and monitor what you do in the name of education. I don't think MTs are that dense, do you?

One of the schools she mentioned HAS NO INSTRUCTORS. The students teach themselves. With inferior materials. The place is infamous for it. Do you mean to tell me that kind of "class" is preferable to just getting the SUM program and doing it yourself? I don't think it is. I won't recommend it.

Did anyone actually answer her question?? - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
CanScribe and Career Step are affiliated and are both great schools. I have heard great things about both. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Yes, someone did. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
You might have heard great things, but that does not mean that they are great.

On-line transcription training - Deborah

[ In Reply To ..]
Our medical transcription service hires from "Medical Transcription A to Z" (www.medtranscription.com) There' a tough catch-22 in medical transcription. No one will hire you without experience. A good course should place you with a job upon completion.

I graduated from CareerStep in August - complete newbie

[ In Reply To ..]
As far as an online AHDI accredited course goes, CareerStep was fantastic. I got on their payment program and had the course paid off before I graduated. I started in January, 2014 and graduated in August with high honors. Got a job in September no problem, the company even waived my competency test because I was a recent grad. I recommend it highly.

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