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"I love what I do for a living," says Gerry Kelly, who runs All Type, a medical-transcription business, from her home in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Kelly is one of approximately 9,100 members of the American Association of Medical Transcription (AAMT), many of whom are home based. No matter what happesn to the health-care system, the field of medical transcription appears to be headed for strong growth in the 1990s.

At an AAMT conference last year, Robert Love, a Houston attorney specializing in the health-care industry, cited his projection that the industry will expand by 100 percent by the year 2000. In his opinion, barely one-third of the hospital market is being tapped. In addition, health-care facilities don't always have the space or the budget to keep all their transcription work on-site. The money you can earn as a medical transcriptionist, depending on the time you devote, your client base, and your location, ranges from $25,000 to $40,000 a year, according to most reports. Kelly herself made $43,000 last year.

Doctors dictate audiotapes describing patient care, operations, autopsies, and lab reports. Transcriptionists use a transcribing machine to listen to the tapes through headphones; they input the information to a computer. Doctors and hospitals need the records both to ensure consistent patient care and to protect themselves against malpractice suits. The transcribed documents become permanent records of patient care.

Typing skills are important for medical transcribing, but competence is not measured only in words per minute. "Medical transcription is a language specialty, not a keyboard specialty," says Pat Forbis, a certified medical transcriptionist and director of member services at AAMT. "Your speed and accuracy are determined by how well you know the language doctors use."

The main drawback to medical transcription is that it demands intense mental and physical concentration. Transcriptionists are hooked to headphones listening to doctors' hastily dictated notes for hours on end; when hospitals require quick turnaround, they may work well into the night. And after years of intensive typing, they run the risk of suffering a repetitive motion disorder.

# posted by Medical Information : 3:49 AM