Medical Software

As a former full time transcriptionist, I am so thrilled to see the advances that have been made in software, all the way from word processing to accounting. One of the things that I always wanted was a free medical transcription software program.

Unfortunately, when I was running my medical transcription business, the software industry was really just beginning to come up with any program that would work, and often these did not work very well.

Medical transcription, also known as MT, is one of what is called "allied health systems", or a support system for the practice of medicine.

It is critical to maintain complete patient medical records, and when a the patient sees their doctor, a chart note must be generated, which documents the office visit and details findings and treatment plans. Free medical transcription software helps to make the entire process much more efficient.

How does that work, you may ask? One of the programs that I have recently had the opportunity to use is ExpressScribe, by NCH Software. This is a free upload and utilizes MP3 files.

The physician can simply dictate his or her chart notes via the telephone, or they can create digital recordings which can then be uploaded to a computer or central dictation hub. The files can then be downloaded by each transcriptionist and the final product again uploaded to its destination.

It should ease the concerns of those who worry about the confidentiality of electronic medical records to know that each free medical transcription software program must be HIPAA compliant.

Other free medical transcription software programs include medical dictionaries, which are a critical tool for the transcriptionist. The first time you hear a word like spondylolisthesis, you are not going to know how it is spelled, and you do not have the luxury of calling the doctor or his staff every time a word comes up in the dictation that you do not understand.

In order to be certain you are getting the best free medical transcription software for your particular needs, do an online search, focusing on sites that review more than just one type of medical software and from more than one software vendor. Granted, this is a somewhat specialized type of software, but there are more than three or four companies out there who are producing software geared to the medical industry.

Once you have compared free medical transcription software programs, download a few and try them out - usually you can use a program for a minimum of two weeks, by which time you should know whether or not the program will suit your needs.