What does a Medical Transcriptionist do?

Transcribe medical reports recorded by physicians and other healthcare practitioners using various electronic devices, covering office visits, emergency room visits, diagnostic imaging studies, operations, chart reviews, and final summaries. Day to day that includes work like return dictated reports in printed or electronic form for physician's review, signature, and corrections and for inclusion in patients' medical records and Produce medical reports, correspondence, records, patient-care information, statistics, medical research, and administrative material.

What skills should a Medical Transcriptionist put on a resume?

O*NET rates Active Listening, Reading Comprehension, Writing, Monitoring, and Critical Thinking among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Medical Transcriptionist list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Allscripts healthcare automation software, Boston Bar Systems Corporation Sonnet, Bytescribe Development Company WavPlayer, Calendar software, and Corel WordPerfect Office Suite. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Medical Transcriptionist work?

O*NET records 20 titles for this occupation, including Medical Scribe, Radiology Transcriptionist, Transcriptionist, and Clinical Medical Transcriptionist. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Medical Transcriptionist need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 39% reported their level of education as "Post-Secondary Certificate, awarded for training completed after high school". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Medical Transcriptionist role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Medical Transcriptionist resume example

A resume for a Medical Transcriptionist needs to show the work itself: transcribe medical reports recorded by physicians and other healthcare practitioners using various electronic devices, covering office visits, emergency room visits, diagnostic imaging studies, operations, chart reviews, and final summaries. Day to day that means work like this: return dictated reports in printed or electronic form for physician's review, signature, and corrections and for inclusion in patients' medical records; produce medical reports, correspondence, records, patient-care information, statistics, medical research, and administrative material. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Medical Scribe
Radiology Transcriptionist
Transcriptionist
Clinical Medical Transcriptionist
Documentation Specialist
Medical Language Specialist
Medical Transcriber
Pathology Transcriptionist
Scribe
Certified Medical Transcriptionist
Data Transcriber
Medical Language Professional
Medical Record Transcriber
Medical Stenographer
Medical Transcription Editor
Provider Scribe
Registered Medical Transcriptionist
Transcriber

O*NET records 20 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Return dictated reports in printed or electronic form for physician's review, signature, and corrections and for inclusion in patients' medical records.
Produce medical reports, correspondence, records, patient-care information, statistics, medical research, and administrative material.
Identify mistakes in reports and check with doctors to obtain the correct information.
Review and edit transcribed reports or dictated material for spelling, grammar, clarity, consistency, and proper medical terminology.
Transcribe dictation for a variety of medical reports, such as patient histories, physical examinations, emergency room visits, operations, chart reviews, consultation, or discharge summaries.
Distinguish between homonyms and recognize inconsistencies and mistakes in medical terms, referring to dictionaries, drug references, and other sources on anatomy, physiology, and medicine.
Set up and maintain medical files and databases, including records such as x-ray, lab, and procedure reports, medical histories, diagnostic workups, admission and discharge summaries, and clinical resumes.
Translate medical jargon and abbreviations into their expanded forms to ensure the accuracy of patient and health care facility records.
Perform data entry and data retrieval services, providing data for inclusion in medical records and for transmission to physicians.
Take dictation using shorthand, a stenotype machine, or headsets and transcribing machines.
Perform a variety of clerical and office tasks, such as handling incoming and outgoing mail, completing and submitting insurance claims, typing, filing, or operating office machines.
Decide which information should be included or excluded in reports.

15 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Return dictated reports in printed or electronic form for physician's review, signature, and corrections and for inclusion in patients' medical records, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Produce medical reports, correspondence, records, patient-care information, statistics, medical research, and administrative material, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Identify mistakes in reports and check with doctors to obtain the correct information, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Review and edit transcribed reports or dictated material for spelling, grammar, clarity, consistency, and proper medical terminology, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

Allscripts healthcare automation software
Boston Bar Systems Corporation Sonnet
Bytescribe Development Company WavPlayer
Calendar software
Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
Crescendo Systems Corporation MedRite-XL
Crescendo Systems DigiScribe-XL
Database software
dBASE Plus
eClinicalWorks EHR software
Electronic medical record EMR systems
Email software
Emmaus MPWord
FileMaker Pro

47 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Desktop computers
Desktop transcribers
Dictaphones
Laser facsimile machines
Laser printers
Multi-line telephone systems
Notebook computers
Personal computers
Postage meters
Transcribing equipment

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

Allscripts healthcare automation
Boston Bar Systems Corporation Sonnet
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Excel

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Active Listening
02Reading Comprehension
03Writing
04Monitoring
05Critical Thinking
06Judgment and Decision Making
07Speaking
08Time Management

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

English Language
Administrative
Computers and Electronics
Medicine and Dentistry

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

39%Post-Secondary Certificate, awarded for training completed after high school
34%Some College Courses
17%High School Diploma, or the equivalent

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Medium Preparation Needed”. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Common questions

What does a Medical Transcriptionist do?: Transcribe medical reports recorded by physicians and other healthcare practitioners using various electronic devices, covering office visits, emergency room visits, diagnostic imaging studies, operations, chart reviews, and final summaries. Day to day that includes work like return dictated reports in printed or electronic form for physician's review, signature, and corrections and for inclusion in patients' medical records and Produce medical reports, correspondence, records, patient-care information, statistics, medical research, and administrative material.
What skills should a Medical Transcriptionist put on a resume?: O*NET rates Active Listening, Reading Comprehension, Writing, Monitoring, and Critical Thinking among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Medical Transcriptionist list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Allscripts healthcare automation software, Boston Bar Systems Corporation Sonnet, Bytescribe Development Company WavPlayer, Calendar software, and Corel WordPerfect Office Suite. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Medical Transcriptionist work?: O*NET records 20 titles for this occupation, including Medical Scribe, Radiology Transcriptionist, Transcriptionist, and Clinical Medical Transcriptionist. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Medical Transcriptionist need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 39% reported their level of education as "Post-Secondary Certificate, awarded for training completed after high school". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Medical Transcriptionist role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.