Coastal Bend College to Offer a Non-credit Certified Medical Transcriptionist Program

Coastal Bend College’s Department of Continuing Education has partnered with Ed2Go to provide a Certified Medical Transcriptionist non-credit program completely online.

Medical transcription is a vital part of the patient care process. Professionals in this role are making a difference to the patients who depend on accurate medical documentation of their diagnosis and care, and to employers who depend on highly qualified and reliable specialists to complete their work in a precise and timely manner. Medical transcriptionists, sometimes referred to as healthcare documentation specialists, create reports and other administrative documents using dictated audio recordings from physicians and other healthcare providers.

In the Certified Medical Transcriptionist course, you will develop skills using online simulations and learn about speech recognition software and its impact on the medical transcription industry. This course will also prepare you to take the Registered Healthcare Documentation Specialist (RHDS) exam. It also includes a voucher which covers the fee of the exam.

You will also learn how to edit information for grammatical errors and ensure the correct, proper usage of medical terms in a patient’s records. You learn the importance of maintaining confidentiality in accordance with HIPAA and reporting accuracy in accordance with the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI). You will also receive in-depth training on medical terminology relating to anatomy, physiology, disease processes, pharmacology, laboratory medicine, and the internal organization of medical reports.

During this course, you will put into practice your knowledge of proper transcription formatting and medical terminology through case studies that cover a wide variety of medical situations. You will practice transcribing real medical reports that include medical procedures and treatments; consultations; operative, pharmacology, and radiology reports; and death and discharge summaries. This intensive hands-on training will help you develop your listening, attention to detail and time management skills, which are strong qualities that employers are looking for from candidates.

Prerequisites: When enrolling in this course, please take Medical Terminology as the first section, prior to taking Medical Transcription.

You should be proficient in keyboarding. Accuracy is initially most important, but some jobs pay based on production, so speed will become a factor.

The program cost is $2695 and includes the following textbooks, supplies, and exam voucher:

• Hillcrest Medical Center: Healthcare Documentation & Medical Transcription
• Medical Abbreviations
• Grammar and Punctuation Guide
• Stedman’s Medical Dictionary
• Medical Terminology for Health Professions
• AltoEdge USB foot pedal and Transcriber Headphones
• AHDI Registered Healthcare Documentation Specialist (RHDS) exam

If you have any questions or would like to register for the veterinary assistant program at Coastal Bend College, please email ce@coastalbend.edu or call 361-354-2768.