Transcription work?

[frugalone]

Hi, folks: Anyone on here know anything about work-from-home transcription work?

I was a secretary for a long time and know how to use the dictaphone with the foot pedal and all. A friend suggested I could maybe make extra $ at home doing this. I don't know how to find a legitimate company that provides this kind of work. My mom sent me a link a long time ago and it turned out they wanted me to spend $600 or more on "their" equipment and some sort of software.

I had thought this kind of work was obsolete, considering so many people know how to use a PC and do their own typing.

Can anyone guide me in the right direction? Thanks!

[reader99]

The transcription work I'm aware of (which I'm sure is not all of it) is on Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Search on 'transcribe'. The tasks available change constantly. This doesn't pay very well at all so it's probably not what you're looking for.

My doctor does her chart into a recorder - someone must be transcribing those for her.

[frugalone]

You're correct--it's not Mechanical Turk I'm thinking of. It's the sort where lawyers, doctors, etc. dictate into a machine and someone at a remote location transcribes. Hmm...



The transcription work I'm aware of (which I'm sure is not all of it) is on Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Search on 'transcribe'. The tasks available change constantly. This doesn't pay very well at all so it's probably not what you're looking for.

My doctor does her chart into a recorder - someone must be transcribing those for her.

[try2bfrugal]

The transcription work I'm aware of (which I'm sure is not all of it) is on Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Search on 'transcribe'. The tasks available change constantly. This doesn't pay very well at all so it's probably not what you're looking for.

My doctor does her chart into a recorder - someone must be transcribing those for her.

Our local community college has classes in medical terminology I think a person needs to do medical transcription.

Here is the info on how to become one from the US Job Outlook Handbook -
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/medical-transcriptionists.htm#tab-4

Someone on another forum I read seems to do something like this for a career and makes a decent living.

[jennipurrr]

I believe for medical transcription you have to have knowledge of the medical terminology and codes that they use in the industry. I know someone who took some coursework in it and still had trouble finding a position. Another person I knew worked for years as an admin asst in a drs office and did this work on the side from home. Someone may have more info.

I have used Mechanical Turk for transcription and it was great. I think I paid the person a fair wage based on the time it took them - it is much more than the pennies offered for some of the mind numbing tasks. It might be something to look into for general transcription.

[catherine]

I use transcriptionists for market research purposes. I do qualitative research and I rely on accurate verbatims from the doctors. I really don't know what the technology is behind that now, but I do know that my transcriptionists are really fast, and they generate transcripts from MP3s/digital archives that I send them. I doubt dictaphones are used, but there must be some software that is similar.

If you got into my line of work and could do it freelance, you could probably get $70-$100 per hour of recorded sound.

[frugalone]

I have a legal background so I thought maybe I could back into that. I found a web site that sells software, foot pedals, headphones, etc. I guess what I am looking for is a "clearinghouse" where I could actually find the work. HOpefully without some kind of "finder's fee" etc.



I use transcriptionists for market research purposes. I do qualitative research and I rely on accurate verbatims from the doctors. I really don't know what the technology is behind that now, but I do know that my transcriptionists are really fast, and they generate transcripts from MP3s/digital archives that I send them. I doubt dictaphones are used, but there must be some software that is similar.

If you got into my line of work and could do it freelance, you could probably get $70-$100 per hour of recorded sound.

[catherine]

I'm PMing you with the name of a couple of reputable places where you could at least make some inquiries

[frugalone]

Thank you so much!


I'm PMing you with the name of a couple of reputable places where you could at least make some inquiries

[Tradd]

A good friend of mine is a medical transcriptionist and works from home, as she's done for something like 15 years.Before that she worked in a doctor's office. She has her associate degree in this.

It is a rapidly dying field. With the availability of dictation software, such as Dragon, the need for transcriptionists is rapidly going away. I'm told there is a need for people to edit what the software "puts on paper," but the pay is worse than the transcriptionists. My friend is beginning to not get a full week's work at least once a month.She is in the process of considering her options, and is zeroing in on going back to school to get her nursing degree.

So, given my friends experiences over the past four years I've known her, I cannot recommend anyone enter the field. She is part of a forum or email list for her field, and I'm told that jobs are drying up left and right.

[Miss Cellane]

A good friend of mine is a medical transcriptionist and works from home, as she's done for something like 15 years.Before that she worked in a doctor's office. She has her associate degree in this.

It is a rapidly dying field. With the availability of dictation software, such as Dragon, the need for transcriptionists is rapidly going away. I'm told there is a need for people to edit what the software "puts on paper," but the pay is worse than the transcriptionists. My friend is beginning to not get a full week's work at least once a month.She is in the process of considering her options, and is zeroing in on going back to school to get her nursing degree.

So, given my friends experiences over the past four years I've known her, I cannot recommend anyone enter the field. She is part of a forum or email list for her field, and I'm told that jobs are drying up left and right.

To go along with this--my sister-in-law is a doctor. She is also computer-phobic. She was the last hold-out at her practice, still dictating her records. Her office forced her to enter the computer world two years ago--gave her a laptop and taught her how to use dictation software. Someone at the office edits all the dictated files.

So her entire practice isn't using medical transcriptionists anymore. And it's not a big, high-tech city practice where you might expect them to embrace 0and be able to afford) the latest and greatest techno gizmo, but a small, rural country practice. If my SIL isn't dictating anymore, I don't know that there will be many doctors left in a few years.

Legal now, there might still be work there.

[frugalone]

I've seen many legal secretary jobs dry up, too. Between the use of voice mail, personal computers, e-mail, and fax machines, there's less of a need for them.

Back in the day, I had many a boss who liked to dictate live--and I knew Gregg Shorthand! I don't even think they teach it anymore!