A good medical transcription school will teach many aspects such as medical terminology, anatomy, physiology, medical specialties and many other necessary areas of medicine.
Some people who have already worked in the medical field may be able to get by with only a medical terminology course but taking a full course would be preferable.
Now that the internet is being more widely used, it has given doctors, clinics, hospitals, and medical transcription companies the ability to hire transcriptionists from all over the world to work at home using their computers as a means of obtaining and submitting transcribed medical documents.
It doesn't matter if you live in a small town miles away from anywhere, or right in a big city.
The internet has bridged the gap between providers and transcriptionists.
A beginning MT would probably find it beneficial to work in-house at a clinic or hospital before spreading their wings and attempting to do medical transcription at home.
One-on-one training on the job can help a beginner build up confidence in their transcription capabilities before going solo at home.
Finding a mentor to help in the early days can be very beneficial also.
Medical transcription chat rooms and forums are good places to start researching medical transcription to find out what the MTs are discussing in terms of finding jobs, difficult transcription, or just some encouragement.
You will need to invest some money in this career.
The MT course will be your biggest start up cost.
Some of the schools have a monthly payment plan and some will require half of the payment up front and some will require all of the payment up front.
That is where you need to spend a lot of time, researching to find the school that will meet your financial needs.
A good medical transcription school will teach you about the different types of medical transcription equipment including tapes, C-phone, WAV pedal, etc.
A school with a good support staff will also be a big plus as you will probably have questions at different times and you need to have somewhere to go to ask those questions.
Don't think of this as just a job, consider it a long term career.
The more money you can put into a quality medical transcription course, the more benefits you will receive in the long term.
A thorough training in medical transcription will help you get your first job more quickly and will give you more confidence when you are first starting out.