What was established as a part of an effort to achieve recognition for the medical transcription profession?

KELOWNA, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CanScribe Career College has received the very first School of Excellence Award from the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI).

“We were extremely excited to be nominated for this prestigious award and are so humbled by the announcement of our win.” says Justin Chapman, Vice President of CanScribe Career College. “Our team works extremely hard to provide unparalleled student and graduate support. We were founded as a Medical Transcription college and now offer a multitude of programs, including the most recent launch of our new Medical Transcription/Healthcare Documentation Program. We have always strived for excellence in education and winning the first ever AHDI School of Excellence Award is a testament to our entire team’s efforts to make our programs the best in the world.”

The new MT/HDS program is the result of collaboration from industry and subject matter experts to reflect changes in our healthcare sector. The program includes over 350 new dictations from healthcare professionals, an increase in voice recognition training, new online resources for students, new case studies and the addition of new instructional videos. These updates will help ensure students with all types of learning styles can successfully learn from home and integrate into the job market.

Sheila Guston, CEO of AHDI adds, “AHDI’s School of Excellence Award was developed to recognize an educational member who employs instructors of healthcare documentation for outstanding commitment to the professional development of its students and their success. We are happy to announce that CanScribe Career College is that educational member for 2021 and the first recipient of this new award. CanScribe has been committed to the education and development of its staff, instructors, and students since it was founded in 2002. They have been an AHDI Approved Educational Program since 2006 and a long-time supporter of the mission and vision of AHDI. We congratulate CanScribe on this outstanding achievement and look forward to continued collaboration and success!”

CanScribeCareer College is a private career college specializing in online learning. Founded in December of 2002 as one of the first online schools in Canada, it is now a global leader in online learning. CanScribe continues to expand its portfolio, offering online programs in business, healthcare, computer and ESL.

The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) was established in 1978 as part of an effort to achieve recognition for the medical transcription profession. When the U.S. Department of Labor granted medical transcriptionists their own job classification in 1999, it was an important milestone to getting the work recognized as much more than clerical. In 2012, AHDI adopted a new title—healthcare documentation specialists—to reflect the broad and extensive responsibilities and services they provide in the creation of accurate and comprehensive patient care records.

What is medical transcription (MT)?

Medical transcription (MT) is the manual processing of voice reports dictated by physicians and other healthcare professionals into text format.

The MT team of a hospital typically receives the voice files with dictation of medical documents from healthcare providers. The voice files are then converted into text.

The transcribed medical reports are usually created in digital format and submitted to the hospital's Electronic Health Record (EHR) or Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system.

Today, the medical field relies on speech recognition software and medical transcription software (MTS) for transcribing.

Duties involved in a medical transcription service

Medical professionals require a wide range of transcription services on a day-to-day basis. Their duties involve the following:

• Transcribe the voice recordings of a patient's medical history for a variety of medical specialties including Radiology, Acute Care and Oncology.
• Interpret medical information and categorize the data in notes, operative reports, patient records, consultations and discharge summaries.
• Review and edit the transcription of speech recognition apps to ensure the accuracy of medical terminology and optimize patient care.
• Enter patient information into the organization's medical records system.

The medical field relies on speech recognition software -- one of the five AI technologies driving businesses value today -- and medical transcription software for transcribing purposes.

How to become a medical transcriptionist

There are many education programs available for potential medical transcriptionists, although there is no single, standardized path to achieving the training required to be an MT.

However, in many cases, an MT will go through post-secondary education at a vocational school or community college. Along with this, the MT will have proficiency in English or whatever the healthcare system's primary language is, an understanding of medical terminology, and excellent typing and listening skills.

Candidates can become certified medical transcriptionists through the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI). The AHDI offers two certificates: the Registered Healthcare Documentation Specialist (RHDS) and the Certified Healthcare Documentation Specialist (CHDS).

The CHDS is only offered to medical language specialists who have already attained the RHDS certificate.

The future of medical transcription

The healthcare industry is increasingly adopting medical transcription services and software to create greater cost-efficiency for their organization.

This has led to rapid growth in the transcription industry as a more cost-effective, on-demand solution. By outsourcing transcription services, healthcare professionals no longer incur fixed costs for managing their needs in-house.

Along with outsourcing, speech recognition technology has seen and will continue to see an increase in adoption, with many organizations and MTs using it as a means to simplify and streamline the medical transcription process.

See also: hybrid health record, ambulatory medical record, clinical documentation, Amazon Transcribe Medical, Health IT and digital health.

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