What Are the Duties of Medical Transcriptionist for Veteran Affairs?
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs was set up to help former soldiers live long and prosperous lives after their service to their country. Among other services, this department provides medical benefits and health care with more than 1,400 sites of care. To keep track of all of the veterans and their health histories and needs, the department hires medical transcriptionists, who have a variety of duties.
Transcribing
As the title would imply, a medical transcriptionist for the Department of Veterans Affairs is responsible for transcribing a large variety of medical documents. These documents include patient histories, physical reports, doctors' orders and psychological or psychiatric reports for each patient.
These transcribed notes, whether they are histories or current prescriptions, are vital to running an effective health care system. The doctors and other caretakers who serve the veteran in conjunction with Veterans Affairs must have accurate information regarding their patients at all times, and it is the job of the medical transcriptionist to make sure these documents are as accurate as can be.
Editing
On top of simply transcribing the documents from doctors, the medical transcriptionist is also responsible for proofreading and editing these documents. This could be as simple as adding a period and deleting a comma in a doctor's note to a patient or to another doctor.
On the other hand, the editing and proofreading can be much more important than misplaced punctuation. The transcriptionist must make sure that these documents are as clear and accurate as possible. This may mean that the transcriptionist changes some of the doctor's words, interpreting and evaluating meaning in order to make it clearer to those who will read it later. The transcriptionist is also responsible for clarifying any unclear or incomplete notes or statements made by the doctor; she must verify with the patient, doctor or other records that the information is complete and correct.
It is extremely important, however, that the transcriptionist can make these clarifying edits without changing the meaning of the doctor's words. A mistaken history or prescription assignment can permanently injure or even kill a person, and so these records must be accurate and clear.
Learning
While most people applying for a medical transcriptionist position will generally have a college education or specialized training, the learning for this position never stops, and any employee must be ready to continue to learn and change. Transcriptionists must learn the shorthand and abbreviations of every doctor with whom they work, as well as the extensive database of medical terms, conditions, prescriptions and other definitions. In order clarify and edit doctor's information, they will need to understand the conditions, symptoms, medications and other facts included in patient histories and doctor notes.
Similarly, transcriptionists will need to learn the intimate working details of the Department of Veterans Affairs itself, in regards to what health services veterans receive and what information the doctors and patients need to remain informed and stay healthy.
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