The situation today
Medical Transcription is one of the fastest-growing professions in the country today. According to the US Dept. of Labor, it is ranked 14th in the top 25 professions and is ranked as a #1 home based career. There is expected to be a major requirement increase for Medical Transcriptionists within the next 4 years in India. With a good portion of work coming down from USA, the scope of finding employment in this arena is really very high. With an average minimum salary of 4000 - 5000 rupees for producing approx. 10,000 lines of transcripts, the pay packet can go as high as 15,000 - 20,000 rupees per month according to the production capacity that one can achieve.

Who is a Medical Transcriptionist?
Every time a patient is admitted to a hospital, or is seen in an emergency room, or has an x-ray. Whenever there is a patient interacting with a medical professional, a report is generated. Hundreds of thousands of such reports are dictated every single day.

The medical transcriptionist is the key person who transforms those reports from the dictated form to the written form, to be produced as hard copy or sent to storage in a computer system. As long as people get sick, injured, or visit medical personnel for other reasons, there will be a job for a medical transcriptionist. That transcriptionist must know medical terminology thoroughly, must have a command of English grammar, and be efficient on the keyboard. Transcriptionists must be able to work independently, know how to research unfamiliar terms and phrases, and be conscientious workers with a good eye for detail.

At QikTrans, our emphasis is on the importance of quality transcription. Our key people have come out of the working transcription environment and they know that while there are many transcriptionists out there, really excellent ones are relatively hard to find. Our goal is to produce that kind of transcriptionist.

1. Is Medical Transcription the right career for me?
   A medical transcriptionist must be able to work behind a computer for hours at a time, independently, with very little interaction with others. Excellent spelling skills are necessary as well as a good understanding of grammar and punctuation.

   As part of our enrollment process, we have provided a small screening test to help determine whether potential students have some of the skills necessary to succeed in this field. It isn't a definitive test, but it does help us guide students toward the right career choice.

2. What is Medical Transcription and how is it done?
   Medical transcription is the process whereby one accurately and swiftly transcribes medical records dictated by doctors and others, including history and physical reports, clinic notes, office notes, operative reports, consultation notes, discharge summaries, letters, psychiatric evaluations, laboratory reports, x-ray reports and pathology reports.

   It involves receiving dictation by tape, digital system or voice file, and using headphones, a foot pedal or software based utilities for start-stop control and a word processing program. It sometimes includes the use of a printer and sometimes a modem. A variety of word-processing systems are used. It requires good listening and language skills, computer skills and knowledge of medical terms.

3. Will I be able to do it?
   If English is your forte and learning new terms comes easy to you, you may find a right career choice in this sector. Besides our "Earn As You Learn Program" provides each student a chance to earn as you build your skills to become a medical transcriptionist. We also offer a Mentor Program, which will provide continued individualized training with approximately 100 hours of transcription training for those that require any further tutoring. We have our exams that are mandatory to facilitate completion of the training program to gain employment or assistance in gaining employment from us. We do not add this into the core price of the course so as to make it easier for students who are on a budget.

4. Are there any certifications for this course?
   We provide our students with a certificate and letters of recommendation. Along with that we also provide job search and placement assistance following successful completion of the program with having referred some graduates to as many as four or more opportunities allowing them to choose the opportunity that best suits their needs. We have also been quite successful in providing any assistance we can should a candidate be interested in starting his/her own business or becoming an independent contractor with regards to equipment, pricing, advertising, or just pointing them in the right direction.

   The best part of the training program is that we absorb students into our own production center here in Thiruvananthapuram according to their performance and our requirement. So, we can assure you a job if you are compliant of producing transcripts according to the standards of the industry.

   In summary, our ultimate goal is not just to provide training, but also to attain an end result of producing successful Medical Transcriptionists in all aspects of the profession and in providing the best support possible following course completion. This not only benefits the student, but also benefits our training program as being recognized for not only providing excellence in the training aspect, but also being recognized for our job placement track record.