September 25, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Medical transcriptionists: making medical histories

Medical transcriptionists type voice recordings made by physicians or other health care professionals into medical reports. They use their understanding of medical terminology, anatomy, physiology, diagnostic procedures, and treatment to create accurate records.

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In 1999, medical transcriptionists had median hourly wages of $11.67. The middle 50 percent earned between $9.70 and $13.54, the lowest paid 10 percent earned less than $8.38, and the highest paid earned more than $16.17.

Medical transcriptionists held close to 100,000 wage and salary jobs in 1999. Many others were self-employed.

These data are a product of the Occupational Employment Statistics program. For further information see " Medical transcriptionists: making medical histories," by Lynn Shniper, Occupational Outlook Quarterly, Fall 2001. Note about the chart: deciles divide the dataset into 10 equal-size groups and quartiles divide the dataset into 4 equal-size groups.