As technology allows for more and more workers to telecommute, issues and questions are raised about the virtual work environment. For many in the
medical transcription industry, these issues are well-known; medical transcription has been a
popular work-at-home job for over a decade. For transcriptionists, managing work and family, maintaining visibility in the work force, and dealing with isolation are well-known side effects of telecommuting. Because of its early entry into the telecommuting space, medical transcription has attracted mostly women interested in working at home so they can be with their families. The career has long been - and remains - one of the few legitimate work-at-home opportunities. This has attracted many hopefuls, some with unrealistic expectations. Participation in a social forum that specifically targets the medical transcription industry can provide much-needed information, as well as social interaction.
Transcriptionists (MTs) have utilized the internet to connect with others, forming groups and friendships and exchanging information and ideas. For many years, there was a vibrant and active medical transcription community at AOL and on Usenet. The Usenet group for medical transcriptionists was formed by charter in 1994 and quickly became an active place for research, word terms, new equipment, and socialization. With the advent of the World Wide Web (WWW), discussion forums became popular for social interaction and information exchange between medical transcriptionists. Even with the advent of such social networks as Facebook, the discussion forum format remains popular with medical transcriptionists, binding together this community of telecommuters.
Twenty years ago, training was done primarily on the job; this changed as the work force began to work from home locations, which gave rise to a number of schools that focused on training the work force. The discussion forums became a valuable tool for those seeking information on what schools offered the best opportunity for eventual employment. They could interact with others going through the same process, as well as discuss options with experienced transcriptionists.
Another benefit of the MT forums was the ability to exchange information about job opportunities and prospective employers. Job information has been routinely exchanged in these forums, with many MTs hiring friends they became acquainted with online and referring others to employers. The information exchange has also included warnings about non-paying clients or employers and a wealth of information on the work environment and corporate culture for specific employers.
The MT forums were also valuable for help with terms, terminology, anatomy and difficult dictation. Where transcriptionists used to turn to coworkers to request help with a difficult term, in the home environment this wasn't possible. The discussion forums became the "coworker" of the work-at-home MT, with the additional benefit that, in a large forum that was frequently visited by experienced MTs, the potential for a solution given by a qualified individual was increased. In some forums, well-known research experts, editors of medical terminology word books and industry authors frequently provided information that could be more reliable than a coworker with questionable training and skills.
Because
medical transcription pay is production based, the discussion forums are also a primary source of information about productivity enhancement tools and tricks. At the same time, they can be a distraction that reduces productivity. In some social forums for MTs, there are "power hours," where MTs stay offline for an hour, then return and report their production numbers.
Management of work and family life has been a popular topic in
medical transcription forums. Juggling family obligations with the increasingly tight deadlines imposed in the industry can be challenging. The forums become not only an information exchange, but a place to express frustrations who also experience the same problems.
For many of the regular participants in these social forums, lifelong friendships are formed. In most cases, these friends will never meet face-to-face, but their relationship is as real and deep as any other. The medical transcription social forums are a valuable tool for social interaction and information exchange among medical transcriptionists.
