Can We Finally Set the Record Straight- MT is in High Demand
Posted by Chad Sines on Fri, Mar 30, 2012 @ 01:44 PM
A bizarre trend keeps rearing its ugly head. Someone interested in medical transcription will call and during the course of the conversation will say “a friend of mine said that medical transcription is going away.” I chuckle a little and explain just how many requests for our graduates we have had in the last couple of months. I get someone who does not know the industry asking the question. It is a valid, responsible question for anyone considering a new career. Here is the head slapper. How many of us have read or heard a medical transcriptionist say “medical transcription is going away..there are no jobs..” How many of us have heard it multiple times this week?
Every time I hear someone say this I want to scream because every acute care transcription company knows this is utter…..had to pause to avoid a bad word…nonsense. Acute care transcription companies are looking for acute care medical transcriptionists in every nook and cranny they can find. My sister who left the industry many years ago just received a call regarding a resume she sent 5+ years ago. That is how desperate these companies are for acute care MTs. Not desperate as in they are desperate if they are asking my sister but desperate in the extent they are going to in order to find people. They are dredging their entire past databases of potential acute care transcription MTs.
As a school we have requests for more than 100 acute-care-trained MTs. As a production company WE WANT TO HIRE a good number of acute care MTs as well (if you are one let me know). We have requested resumes everywhere imaginable, through resume sites, through email blasts, forums, social media, etc. The vast majority of responses…clinic work MTs.
What people are not fully realizing is that CLINIC WORK medical transcription jobs are becoming more difficult as to acquire as a viable long-term plan. Depending on the type of clinic work accounts, much of the work is the first to go offshore or to 100% speech recognition. ACUTE CARE transcription should be a long-term goal for all because it remains in high demand. For some reason our industry and professional association has failed to emphasize this. People are finally beginning to realize that those 6-9 month courses did not prepare them for long-term success. We get tons of calls from MTs who are looking to step up their skill set so they will be viable long term.
I receive a lot of calls from people interested in our Acute Care Transition program. It is the only clinic work to Acute Care Transition program in existence. This program fills in the gaps left behind by clinic work training, those who learned on the job, or those without acute care experience. Interestingly we get a lot of calls from new graduates of 4-9 month program graduates who were told they were not employable despite their ACCP-approved program. The Acute Care Transition program is designed with one purpose in mind, develop an acute care MT and get them acute care work. The program is designed around preparing individuals academically for the new work types and then immersing them in acute care transcription practice. It becomes a process where the MT is being evolved into the acute care MT and then transitioned into long-term positions. Where else does someone get the opportunity to experience a paid acute care internship where the MT is able to do real acute care transcriptions? Once they complete the program, graduates qualify for individualized job placement.
I am sure the myth of jobs being scarce will continue, but those with acute care training will continue to enjoy their security and in-demand status as more and more clinic work MTs slowly realize that they need additional training to remain viable in a fast-moving industry that is quickly leaving clinic work MTs behind.