ellie’s foray into medical transcription

One of my readers wrote: “I too have found being organized one of my greatest challenges, especially when I was taking medical transcription classes while working full time. What I did was to put medical terminology words on index cards which I studied during my breaks and at lunchtime. Learning 2500 terms was challenging since my free time was so limited. Then I got some 3-ring binders for each course and when assignments were completed, I put the reports in the binders so I could refer back to them. Another advantage of keeping the binders was so I could show them to my prospective employers when I was seeking medical transcription employment.”

Great ideas, thank you for sharing!  I found writing out index cards too was a big help while I was working outside the home.  I worked in the evening so as work slowed down that gave me a chance to do some study.  In the Career Step program, you have the option of purchasing the text books (not a requirement) and many people ask if it’s worth it.  I think it depends on the person and your situation but since I was working still outside the home, I found having the textbooks to take with me to study during breaks and slow periods really helpful. 

Ellie Jacobson, Working MT from home

“I just enrolled in Career Step for MT training. Do you have any suggestions on how to keep everything together and stay on top of things? My children, ages 5 & 7 are great, and will be in school, but in a few months we plan on moving. I am worried about keeping up with it all!

Thanks for keeping up with this blog. It’s very helpful!” -Rachel

Rachel~

Thank you for stopping by my blog.  It’s always nice to know there are people reading it!  First of all, congrats on starting your training to be a medical transcriptionist. 

I think keeping motivated is one of the hardest things when one takes on such a large goal.  What I did to stay focused was set a realistic goal date of reaching certain parts in my studies.  I was very, very motivated to finish the course as quickly as I could because I really wanted to get started working from home.  My first son was just born so I knew the faster I could get done the better it would be for all of us.  I was working outside the home at that time and just wasn’t happy with leaving my son.  So that was a huge motivator.  But it still can be so overwhelming. 

With the Career Step program, they do get you a general idea of how long it should take to complete each section which was helpful for me to figure out how much studying I needed to do each day to get through the program within a year. 

So set a realistic time frame for yourself.  When your kids are in school, figure out how much time you think you can realistically devote to studying each day and give yourself one day off a week.  With your upcoming move, you will have to divide that time, when the kids are gone, to half studying and half getting ready for the move.   Be realistic with your time and know you will have some downtime with studying while you move but make it a priority to getting your office/study area set up right away in your new place so you can get back to it right away. 

Just take one section of the course at a time.  And then once you hit the transcription portion of the course, just take it 1 report at a time.  The education that CS provides is so good for getting you prepared for the real world of medical transcription. 

When I started to not feel so motivated and very frustrated with the difficult reports, I created a motivation board to hang in my office.  At that time, we were looking to buy a house so I would post pictures of the homes I was interested in to remind me of my ultimate goal..and pictures of my son.  That really helped. 

Anyway, I could write a book about this (and almost have here!).  Good luck to you Rachel and keep in touch ok?!

Ellie