*loud alarm bells ringing. VR is up and coming, being refined and IT WORKS. Dont let anyone fool you by saying that it will not work for heavily accented physicians–IT DOES!!! Heard it, saw it, lost my position over it and read an article in the news about how well VR was working out in the position I used to occupy.

Right now there are many positions open for transcriptionists still but what will it be like in the next 10 years? In reality I forsee the position being wiped out completely.

To answer your original question I took night classes that were very condensed and fast paced. Medical terminology is not hard to learn at all, if you have a good memory for words. The night classes were about a year and a half long and honestly provided me with all that I needed to get started. The hard part is finding a hospital that is willing to take on an inexperienced transcriptionist, the job really is hard to break into. Do look for a training school that offers intern experience. A lot of times once you are found adequate as an intern you can be offered a paying position.

Check out online courses as well as local technical schools. I believe the school I went to still offers courses online only. Do an Internet search for Cooper Career Institute and see what you come up with.

However, becoming a Medical “Transcriptionist” should not require many years of college. The job will require transcribing medical jargon to storage, either digital or on paper. One person I know is transcribing using voice recognition, and then “cleaning up” the results using what he knows about medical jargon. This knowledge could be obtained from a trade school (probably more expensive that it’s worth) or from a community college. Your tool will be a computer so that may be the fundamental knowledge that you should pursue first — which may lead to some great endeavor or to — medical transcription.

Jump in — and good luck!