Transcription guidelines?

My last office job was top heavy with transcription. My former boss is a letter writer and dictates correspondence on a daily basis - anywhere from 10 to 30 a day is common.

Transcribing correspondance is a piece of cake. I do not have any experience in medical or legal transcription, so I do not intend to market my transcription services to those professions. However, I wanted to know if there were any general transcription guidelines. Is there a standard format? Is there is a standard font? What if there are two or more speakers? Is there a certain way to identify the different speakers?

I have completed some medical transcription and would recommend that you take a medical terminology course. The "itis" is the easy part to spell.
The client should let you know the format that they would like, (provide a sample or edit your first job)

I don't know if there are "rules" but you can see transcription of conference calls on public company sites. I've seen speakers identified at the start of a paragraph in brackets or like a heading of the paragraph.

Most companies/individuals that need general transcription will have their own guidelines for formatting to go by and would provide them to you. They will also let you now what word processing program (and version) they require.

Here's a great VA site that offers information on transcription: http://www.virtual-assistant-advice....uidelines.html

Thank you Jules!

This is great information!

I am in middle of my first really big transcription job and Bernice and Jules are right: the client will let you know how they want it done. While the client did not provide an example of the format, he did explain what he was looking for as an end result.

I had been wondering about this myself. I appreciate the question and the helpful answers!

This is such useful information. I've been wanting to get into this area myself and this has provided me with information I can use. Thanks!

This is an area I am planning to add to my list of services. Your suggestions have been a great help!

Thank you

Are there any good materials out there to teach the proper way to format for medical transcription? I have my Associates in Health Insurance Claims Mgmt -- so I have the medical background I need to be successful at this but I don't have the knowledge of formating when it comes to the med transcription formating. Anyone have any ideas or resources??

Are there any good materials out there to teach the proper way to format for medical transcription? I have my Associates in Health Insurance Claims Mgmt -- so I have the medical background I need to be successful at this but I don't have the knowledge of formating when it comes to the med transcription formating. Anyone have any ideas or resources??

The client or company provides the formatting instructions as far as page settings, font, etc. They also provide account specifics. MT schools teach the standard format for various types of medical reports, such as discharge summaries, operative notes, consults, H&P, etc., and the particular account specifies any variations that they prefer.

If you go to MT Desk, you'll find samples of various types of reports. Here's a link, just browse around for different specialties and reports. http://www.mtdesk.com/tiki-index.php...ce+Style+Guide

There are more samples on Stedman's site:http://www.stedmans.com/AtWork/section.cfm/27