Career Step partners with numerous community colleges, vocational/technical schools, and also universities to provide a complete and intense training in this medical transcription online course. Students who complete this program are sought after by medical transcription companies, such as Medquist, Spheris and Meditype. The course consists of competent training in keyboard efficiency, typing speed, actual dictation by real physicians and medical reports. This self-paced, independent study course also offers access to a virtual classroom, forum and library. The modules studied are:
- Technology & the Medical Profession
- Keyboard Kinetics
- Grammar & Punctuation
- Anatomy & Disease
- Mastering Medical Language
- Pharmacology
- Building the Medical Record
- Diagnostic Reports
- Focus on Medical Specialists
- Midterm Self Assessment Module
- Perfect the Text
- Introduction to Transcription
- Clinic Notes
- Basic Acute Care
- Enhancing Productivity
- Advanced Acute Care
- Final Exam Preparation Module
- Speech Recognition
The cost of the medical transcription online course is $1,875, and it can be completed in four months, if an aspiring medical transcriptionist commits to studying full time. This course includes a PC foot pedal, software and ongoing support.
Career Step is approved by the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI). Financing for eligible applicants is available through a Sallie Mae Career Training Loan, Needs-Based Financial Scholarship and also a Military Spouse Career Advancement Account (MyCAA). As well, Career Step offers a convenient payment plan.
Virtual Learning Center (VLC)
Although there is no accreditation for this medical transcription online course, VLC holds membership to the medical associations of AHDI (Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity), AHMA (American Holistic Medical Association), AMBA (American Medical Billing Association), AAPC (American Academy of Professional Coders) and also to the Better Business Bureau.
The online units provided in this course are:
- Unit I: Introduction, Ethics & Medical Documentation
- Unit II: Keyboarding: Grammar & Style
- Unit III: Terminology
- Unit IV: Anatomy
- Unit V: Pharmacology
- Unit VI: Transcription
- Unit VII: Review & Resume
A downloadable dictation CD - with 288 hours of transcription practice -- in addition to the USB foot pedal, offers for studies to be done completely online for a cost of $794 (a payment plan option does exist).
The medical transcription online course of your choice will prepare you for certification issued by the American Association for Medical Transcription.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, medical transcriptionists earn an average annual salary of $32,060. Opportunities for employment are in health care facilities such as hospitals, diagnostic laboratories, dentists’ offices, physicians’ offices and insurance carriers. Opportunities to work from your home are popular and convenient career choices for individuals, who work not only in medical transcription but also medical billing and medical coding.