In the past, medical transcriptionists perfected their craft primarily through on-the-job training. As medicine has grown more complex and technology has continued to evolve, a formal classroom education is now requisite to learning the basic competencies of the profession.
AHDI-approved programs consist of multiple benchmarks for a fully comprehensive curriculum, eight of which are mandatory. Medical transcriptionists are exposed to many different areas, such as medicine, pharmacology, law, PC operations, industry style. They must master a basic foundation in these subjects before moving to the practical portion of their training.
Practical application is an essential component of a quality medical transcriptionist training program. To achieve this, medical transcriptionists type actual dictation from medical professionals over and over again, applying the fundamentals of theory that they learned in the classroom.