Written by every MT who really had something to say. - PleaseShareThis

Posted: Sep 24, 2012

There is a profession well hidden from the world, but involves your everyday care when you go to see your doctor. The skill is called transcription and a transcriptionist is the person trained to prepare a dictated voice recording from your medical provider into a legal document that goes into your medical record. When transcription became a skilled job back in the early 1960-1970s, the reports were typed on a manual typewriter, and then progressed onto the electric typewriter, and on to computers. The world of doing transcription via computers opened the door for the explosion of work to be done as an at-home profession. The transcriptionist could work from the comfort of his or her own home. While having the work done out of the homes of the transcriptionists, this saved the companies millions of dollars, but it also led to corruption of the industry to a degree. The once great paying jobs with the benefit of working from home went from a great job to a struggle to buy groceries as the larger corporations started gobbling up the smaller companies into their conglomerations. The transcriptionist was no longer a skilled worker, but one who was treated poorly and bullied by the higher up to produce more work for less and less money. What once was a profession that could pay enough to satisfy the bills has resonated into pittance and these professionals scraping together enough money to pay the rent and in some cases not even that can be afforded. Since the transcriptionist was working from the comfort of their home, the corporations did not have to provide the equipment but still demanded the scheduling of these independent contracted positions to include times to be determined by the corporations not the contractor. These companies continue to fight loopholes to degrade their workers into believing they are doing things justly, when in fact that is not the case. The jobs that were once very marketable are now being filled by offshore non-English speaking foreigners who know little to nothing about our health care practices, equipment, or lifestyles. The report that is produced by such entities is in desperate need of quality adjustments to even make sense most of the time. These reports which could have been done by our skilled American transcriptionists are now being done by machines and offshore non-English speaking foreigners, neither of which has the emotional capability to ensure quality of care for these patients. This struggle will continue to degrade the profession I once loved into something that is a mere wince of a profession being done by skilled American professionals. It is now twisted into the financial pocket-lining greed that most American companies are falling into, unfortunately. I ask you these few questions: Do you know who produced your medical records? Are you 100% sure of their accuracy? Do you feel the quality of your medical care is in jeopardy when your provider carries a computer around clicking buttons rather than listening to your concerns? How personal are your physician visits of late? Is there a way to fix this? Probably not overnight, but being aware there is a problem and coming together to reach a resolve is the first step in making sure your medical care is not jeopardized by financially well-lined pockets of the greedy. Check into who produces your medical records and if they are produced in the United States. Make sure your pertinent health information is not spread across the ocean into the hands of the people you least want knowing anything about you or your health. Ask that an American skilled in the profession is the one who is producing your medical report and make sure that your records are accurate. This will help your future medical care be top notch by our top-notch physicians. Written by every MT who really had something to say.