Medical Transcription Equipment

Medical transcription equipment and technology has really come a long way. There are so many software programs and tools out there to make out jobs a whole lot easier. And don’t be scared of technology, most transcription equipment is pretty straight forward to use and some just takes a little getting used to.

Medical Transcription Equipment & Dictation Equipment

Firstly, you’ll have to decide what type of dictation/transcription equipment to use.    Chances are during your course you practiced on a mini cassette transcriber.    This is quite standard for MT courses and also for many doctors.  

The doctor dictates into a hand-held recorder and his dictation gets recorded onto the mini cassette inside the recorder.    You then transcribe the dictated cassette using your mini cassette transcriber. 

As mentioned, this practice is quite standard     but only allows you to have local clients (unless your client is willing to mail the tapes to you).    You would either pick up these tapes from the doctor’s office, have them mailed out, or use a courier service.

A fast-growing option for transcriptionists and doctors is digital dictation.    The doctor dictates the notes onto a hand-held digital recorder or computer.    The file can then be download, using FTP (file transfer protocol) via the internet onto the transcriptionist’s computer and transcribed.    The formatted WAV files are then directly typed from the computer. 

This option allows you to work for clients world wide, and you don’t have to pick up and drop off tapes or notes.    This is a great option whether you want to take your transcription business to the next level or simply automate it more to save time.

Some transcriptionists are flexible and adopt both methods of transcription to better suit the needs of their clients.

Whichever method you go with, you’ll also need a foot pedal and headphones.    For cassette transcription the foot pedal and headphones is attached to your transcriber, which is attached to the computer. With digital dictation you plug the foot pedal into your computer’s serial port and the headphones into your speakers or sound card.

Equipment for the Office

Aside from your transcription equipment you really only need a few other bits and pieces to start your business.    The beauty of owning an MT business is start-up costs are generally low and you’ll usually make a profit quite quickly.

Other than a computer (which you probably already have) you just need a few more things.    Below is a list of things you’ll need or could possibly use.    Keep in mind that other than the computer, your transcription equipment and a few books you may not need all of these things to start with. 

You can start out with the basics and build up slowly as your business and needs grow.  Here is a list of must have MT tools.

MT Must Haves - Tools Of The Trade  

• Computer         
• Dictation/transcription equipment (see above)     
• Printer and ink cartridges  
• Medical Dictionary      
• Medical Spellchecker Software        
• Drug/pharmaceutical guide      
• Several medical specialty books (such as orthopedics, surgery, cardiology, etc.)   
• Word processing program (Word or Word Perfect)     
• Fax Machine (may be optional depending on situation)  
• Desk (obviously   J) and basic office supplies such as paper clips, highlighter, pens, etc.     
• Comfortable chair (A must)     

MT Business Building Tools (for Expanding and Growing your business)

A Website – Whether local or Nationwide you’ll enhance your business presence with a well constructed website… Nowadays you can easily build one yourself without any knowledge of HTML (computer language). 

Business License – You don’t need this right at the beginning as you can work as a self-employed individual, but something to consider as your business grows. 

Business Cards – Almost a must have if you’re targeting local clients.

Courier Service – For picking up and dropping off all those local tapes and reports.

MT Library – More MT books and software (as needed to make you more productive)

Additional Phone Line – A separate phone line for your business needs.

As you can see the list is relatively small compared to other types of businesses.    And keep in mind all the above are also tax deductible… so make sure you keep your receipts.

Next: Medical Transcription Courses