5 Medical Transcriptionist Roles And Responsibilities To Look For

Medical transcriptionists have numerous roles and responsibilities to complete on a daily basis. Contrary to popular belief, these medical transcriptionist roles and responsibilities extend beyond transcribing recorded dictations. As an HR professional looking to hire employees to fill such a role, you need to recognize the many other duties required of them. Continue reading to discover the top medical transcriptionist roles and responsibilities to look for.

Write Medical Reports

One of the most crucial medical transcriptionist roles and responsibilities is to produce medical reports. These reports include discharge summaries and physical examination reports. Medical transcriptionists also create medical history reports and operative reports among other documents. They need to understand HMO and PPO plan differences in healthcare services to increase their value in the industry. All of these reports greatly impact the health of patients. If a medical history report holds incorrect information, doctors could misdiagnose the patient. The patient’s outcome could be fatal depending on the severity of the misdiagnosis. Therefore, this medical transcriptionist duty is critical to providing optimal healthcare.

Prioritize Reports

Another crucial medical transcriptionist responsibility is to prioritize reports. While many patients assume that doctors take care of back-end work regarding their care, medical transcriptionists play a major role. After all, doctors and medical business owners alike have tons of other tasks to complete every day. They leave it to medical transcriptionists to carefully determine the importance of each report by considering each patient’s healthcare needs. If a report for one patient indicates that they will need ongoing care immediately, a medical transcriptionist will prioritize that report. This is especially true when the other report on hand references a patient who does not need immediate or continuous care. The most significant medical transcriptionist roles and responsibilities include prioritizing reports.

Understand EHR Systems

Among the many medical transcriptionist roles and responsibilities lies understanding electronic health records (EHR) systems. Without the ability to use EHR systems, medical transcriptionists cannot enter data from reports into hospital systems. They need to stay up-to-date on medical device industry trends. Furthermore, they need to know how to use EHR systems to create new templates for patients and develop documentation policies. Many hospitals demand these employees to teach physicians how to use the software systems as well. Thus, many other medical transcriptionist roles and responsibilities rely heavily on EHR systems.

Identify And Correct Written Mistakes

Also, medical transcriptionists identify and correct written mistakes. Unfortunately, even doctors and other medical professionals make errors. These errors could harm patients if not corrected. Healthcare institutions hire medical transcriptionists to catch these mistakes and fix them. They identify medical term inconsistencies each and every day. To do so, they study drugs, anatomy information and medicines. When looking to hire for a medical transcriptionist position, look for candidates who have a history of effectively identifying and correcting written mistakes within reports. These candidates can fulfill medical transcriptionist roles and responsibilities.

Maintain Patient Confidentiality

Finally, medical transcriptionists are responsible for maintaining patient confidentiality. After all, they have access to patients’ medical history and information. To avoid dealing with lawsuits, employers provide strict patient confidentiality details in new hire contacts. These employers often have varying details depending on the institution and the types of patients they work with. Another factor that plays into patient confidentiality agreements is government regulations. Employers have to comply with government requirements to keep their businesses afloat. When medical transcriptionists break their confidentiality agreements, these employers have a difficult time doing so. Hence, maintaining patient confidentiality is one of the most crucial medical transcriptionist roles and responsibilities.

Medical transcriptionists complete numerous tasks in addition to transcribing important medical information. These tasks include writing medical reports such as discharge summaries and medical history reports. They also prioritize reports based on how continuous necessary care is for patients. In order to complete any of their duties, they have to have an advanced understanding of EHR systems. They also identify and correct written mistakes. Additionally, these professionals comply with government and institutional standards by maintaining patient confidentiality. Keep these medical transcriptionist roles and responsibilities in mind when hiring.