In a country like India, where every second person aspires to be either an engineer or a doctor, it is no surprise that Medical Transcription is fast becoming one of the most sought after jobs in the BPO sector. A multibillion-dollar industry in America, Medical Transcription companies are now looking to India to outsource their services. Medical Transcription India is growing at an exponential rate.
What exactly is Medical Transcription? It is the process of converting a consultation with a doctor into a text format. When we visit a doctor we usually spend the first few minutes discussing our symptoms and problems. This is followed by questions about our medical history, an examination, and a prescription for tests or a secondary consultation if required. After the doctor has collected all the information he needs, he prescribes medication along with instructions for its use. After this, the doctor records the entire visit on voice recording machine, which is then converted into a word document by a medical transcriptionist and stored.
Major hospitals are now adopting this process in order to keep up with the changing times and provide their patients with the best health care available. However, the exercise of converting a voice file into text format is tedious and requires high level of expertise. A medical transcriptionist requires having in depth knowledge of advanced medical terms and language and having a minimum amount of experience in transcribing the likes of discharge summaries, health exams, etc. They must possess higher than average typing skills and should be affluent in the language in which the transcripts are being recorded.
These days’ hospitals are looking to outsource the job of Medical transcriptionists for a number of reasons. Most hospitals find it cost effective to outsource the job to companies in and outside their country. Outsourcing ensures better accessibility, superior quality and leverages on the industry’s experience. It reduces the capital investment for them and allows them use their resources to focus on their core competencies. India is fast becoming the go-to place for medical transcription.
India has abundant cheap labor possessing the skills to become a medical transcriptionist. The average salary of a medical transcriptionist in U.S.A. is around $33,000 p.a. whereas in India the average salary is Rs. 360,000, which is approximately $8,000 p.a. As a result, they are able to cut major costs while ensuring quality. Further, due to the time zone advantage companies here are able to send reports back overnight, making it the fastest turnover rate in the industry. The U.S. suffers from high attrition rates, and so outsourcing is the perfect solution to ensure high employee turnover doesn’t affect the hospitals. Seasonal fluctuations often result in an increase in number of patients during the winters occur in cold countries. There is an acute lack of available staff during major holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving. Outsourcing the job to India easily solves these problems.
Medical Transcription requires the skill and intellect of human beings and so has inherent defects. If the transcriptionist were to record a symptom or diagnosis incorrectly it could harm the patient’s wellbeing. Sometimes the recording might not be clear as doctors are in rush and may fail to include vital information or provide information in a coherent manner. Further accents, mispronunciations and slag’s make it difficult for a transcriptionist from another country to fully comprehend what the doctor is saying. Such obstacles are yet to be over come in this field in India and world over.
With the help of the IT sector doctors are now able to convert cabinets full of patient data into word documents properly archived on a single desktop. These word documents can be printed out as and when required. Medical Transcriptions help hospitals maintain patient records for up to years and store them in a systematic and easily accessible environment and format. Medical Transcription in India is booming and as a result has opened up jobs to millions of people wanting to be part of the medical field. Many universities are now offering specialized courses and on the job training for young students to help them enter and successfully grow in this industry. India possesses all the advantages and skill to become one of the best providers of this service in the world. By ironing out a few irregularities India can soon look to become the premier play of this industry.