Dinesh Kamath tells how the course in Medical Transcription helped him considerably as a Journalist

Today I'll tell you about the experiences I underwent while doing the course in Medical Transcription Medical Transcription is an interesting job. Is is an American-based job. In America medical transcriptionists are needed in very big number. What is medical transcription? Medical transcription is a job where you have to type out on the computer the speech delivered by American doctor on the tape. In America, almost all the citizens of that country, possesses medical insurance. Hence every doctor in America has to keep a record of every patient and his or her illnesses. This is to ensure that the concerned patient doesn't have problem when he claims the medical insurance. Also it is to ensure that nobody indulges in malpractices while claiming the medical insurance. But American doctors are so busy people that they need the services of medical transcriptionists to type out the whole medical history of the patient. So the doctor just records verbally the medical history on a tape recorder and then passes on the tape to medical transcriptionist so that he or she types out the whole history on the computer by referring to the tape. The medical transcriptionist is expected to not commit even a single error while typing or he or she should commit minimum errors. The computer of a medical transcriptionist is modified to suit the transcriptionist. The computer is leg operated or hand operated. Leg operated computers are found more convenient by the transcriptionist who listens to the speech of the doctor on CD and at the same time keeps typing on the computer whatever he or she hears on the tape. With the leg he or she can make the speech move in slow motion, or move backward or forward, anyway he or she wants. The transcriptionist is then paid according to the number of words he types.

Now I had done the course in medical transcription at the institution called Health Net which was located in Goregaon West. It was an interesting course. It was a six-month course. There were theory classes as well as practical sessions. In the theory classes we had subject called American English and Medical information. Now American English is little different from British English and we were taught as to what was that difference. In practical session we were taught typing on computer and later on we were made to listen to the tapes of American doctors and type out accordingly on the computer. In the beginning I found it difficult to pick up the accent of the American doctors but gradually with practice I began to understand almost every word that the doctor was uttering. The Texan doctors particularly had the most horrible accents. Many words they uttered were very difficult to pick up.

This course was going to help me a lot in the future when I was going to pursue the career in journalism. The advantage of this course was that I became almost perfect in English and I learnt to type with a reasonably good speed on the computer and also I learnt all the basics of the computer. After the course we had to give an exam and I passed with flying colours in American English, Medical subject and practicals. I was given a certificate which was recognized by the International Association of Medical Transcriptionists. The reason why I could not take up a job along this line was I fell sick immediately after the course. I was on bed for quite a long time and during this time I lost my speed in typing and also there was a negative effect on the coordination between my listening to doctors speech on tape and my typing on computer. This job, for your information, requires powerful coordination between ears and fingers which can be acquired only through practice. If you don't practice even for fifteen days or one month this coordination suffers. I then dropped the idea of pursuing the career of medical transcriptionist. But I didn't want to lose the typing ability that I had developed while pursuing this course. So I purchased a second hand portable typewriter and made it a point to keep practicing typing until I got the job as a sub-editor in the weekly newspaper of Navi Mumbai, 'In New Bombay'. My idea of keeping my typing ability alive now proved to be a great boon. I was made to do a lot of typing initially when I joined the newspaper. In fact, there was a phase when I was typing the entire twelve pages of the newspaper and that too before the deadline. So although the course that I did in medical transcription did not help me to become a professional medical transcriptionist, it at least helped me to gain a strong foothold in the field of journalism. Even my English had become so perfect owing to the course that I did in Medical Transcription, I had no problem at all while performing my duties as sub-editor and proof reader. Thus I benefited a lot by doing the course in Medical Transcription. Today I am a successful journalist and a big part of the credit for this should go to this medical transcription course that I did. I had done the course in the year 2002 and I became a journalist in 2004. Bye!