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The medical transcription industry has become an important fixture in the medical field, helping to provide accurate files for medical patients. The job market for medical transcriptionists (MTs) is at an all-time high, yet many people are not aware of the proper training and courses that must be completed before starting a career as an MT. Luckily, there are many courses available that will train prospective MTs and even allows others to continue their education in order to further their work in the MT field.

One of the foremost experts in the medical transcription field is the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI), formerly the American Association for Medical Transcriptionists (AAMT). The people at AHDI sponsor several different medical transcription courses that are all AHDI approved. They have also written several books that have become the go-to texts for many medical transcription courses. The Model Curriculum for Medical Transcription is one book that the AHDI has published and is used widely around the country to teach potential MTs all they need to know about the medical transcription industry. The association has also published the AAMT Book of Style for Medical Transcription, which has become the gold standard for use in the medical transcription field. This book shows MTs the right and wrong ways to word certain phrases and gives the correct terminology required to make all records as accurate as possible. The AHDI also offers CDs, audiotapes, and video-based texts for those students wishing to study independently or for classroom use.

Some of the AHDI approved schools that use these texts can be found all over the country and online. One school that has received rave reviews is the Penn Foster Career School, which teamed up with DANTES (a program in coordination with the U.S. military) to help students pay their tuition to the school. Penn Foster prides itself on being one of the most affordable ways to study to be an MT, and it offers various payment plans to suite any needs.

Another good educational institute is Allied Schools, which not only trains individuals to be MTs but also teaches them valuable life skills to prepare them for the job market. Allied Schools offers courses on interview skills, teaches how to write a resume and cover letter, and also introduces students to contacts in the field. The school also offers a one year membership to the Medical Association of Billers (MAB) upon completion of the course.

Physically going to school is not the only way to take MT courses. There is a variety of courses offered online and at home so that anyone can choose the most convenient option for them. Online-Education.net is a great site that provides links to various schools that offer both one year certificates and two year associate degrees. The site claims to have a 93% placement rate for all students who search on it.

MedWord.com is another good site for those who want to train as an MT online. The program was designed by experienced transcriptionists currently working as MTs to teach valuable lessons from their vast experiences in the field. This environment sets MedWord.com apart from the others because people who visit the site will learn about real life experiences and what the medical transcription field really is like. MedWord.com offers CDs, practice tapes, medical dictionaries, and other great materials that can help provide a full view of the medical transcription industry.

Another great site is WorldWideLearn.com, which offers a unique take on educating potential medical transcriptionists. Not only does the site teach the basics of medical transcription, but it also goes further to help individuals learn all facets of the medical field in which they will work. The course teaches useful medical terms as well as the Greek and Latin roots of those terms in order to help identify terms more easily. Also, students will learn more about the medical field in general and gain a better understanding of the kind of environment in which MTs work. Other subjects that the course teaches are anatomy and physiology, overview of diseases, pharmacology, and lab work.

These options are just a few of the medical transcription courses available to anyone wishing to pursue a career as an MT. Many of the courses are readily available, and the online courses allow individuals to start right away.