Medical transcriptionists spend most of their time listening to recordings made by healthcare professionals and transcribing them into medical reports. They may create discharge summaries; medical history, physical exam, operative, consultation, and autopsy reports; diagnostic-imaging studies; progress notes; and referral letters.

Most medical transcriptionists have some post-secondary education and knowledge of computers and medical terminology. Education is usually gained through a one-year certificate program or a two-year associate’s degree program. Some employers also may want to check background (Click here) stats.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were about 105,200 medical transcriptionists throughout the nation during 2008, and that number is expected to grow by 11 percent by 2018.

Employment in Dallas is expected to increase by 17.4 percent to 1,010 workers by 2018, while employment throughout Texas also should grow by 17.4 percent to 6,420 workers.

About 36 percent of medical transcriptionists work in hospitals, while 23 percent work in physicians’ offices and others work in business support services; medical and diagnostic labs; outpatient care cents; physical, occupational, and speech therapists’ offices; and audiologists’ offices.

The top five industries that employ medical transcriptionists in Dallas, according to the Texas Workforce Commission, include:

1. General medical and surgical hospitals – 30.38 percent
2. Business support services – 20.41 percent
3. Offices of physicians – 18.37 percent
4. Self-employed workers – 16.81 percent
5. Medical and diagnostic laboratories – 5.36 percent

During 2009, medical transcriptionists in Dallas earned an average wage of $17.93 per hour, while those throughout Texas earned an average wage of $15.86 per hour and those across the nation earned an average wage of $16.03 per hour.

If you’re looking for a healthcare-related job, but being a medical transcriptionist doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, there are plenty of other options. You may want to consider radiology jobs or family therapy jobs (Click here) for starters.

During June, the San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos area’s unemployment rate increased from 10.1 percent to 10.5 percent, following a decrease from 10.5 percent during May. That increase keeps the area’s rate above the national average at the time of 9.5 percent.

The San Diego area had a total non-farm employment of 1,224,500 workers during June, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 1,225,700 workers during May and a 1 percent decrease from last year.

Only four industries saw a monthly increase in employment, including: leisure and hospitality by 2,000 jobs; trade, transportation and utilities by 1,200 jobs; professional and business services by 1,100 jobs; and other services by 100 jobs.

Employment in the mining and logging and information industries remained even over the month with 300 jobs and 35,900 jobs, respectively.

Only two industries added jobs on a yearly basis during June. The education and health services industry increased by 1.4 percent to 144,800 workers, while the professional and business services industry grew by 1.2 percent to 198,400 jobs.

Industries that saw a yearly decrease in employment include:

• Mining and logging by 25 percent
• Construction by 4.9 percent
• Manufacturing by 4.3 percent
• Financial activities by 3.7 percent
• Information by 3.2 percent
• Trade, transportation and utilities by 1.8 percent
• Other services by 1.1 percent
• Government by .5 percent
• Leisure and hospitality by .4 percent

The University of Texas College of Natural Sciences is planning to offer a Health IT Summer Certificate Program. The intensive full-time, nine-week internship program will help about 50 students gain the skills they need to get a health information technology job, with the help of the University of Texas and the Texas e-Health Alliance.

Students who complete the program will receive a certificate as a health information manager and exchange specialist. They will then be eligible for jobs with local HIT companies, such as e-MDs, a company that manages electronic medical records and electronic health records systems, billing, and consultation.

“The job prospects for UT grads aren’t very good right now, despite the fact that it is a tremendous school,” Michael Stearns, president and CEO of e-MDs, told the Austin Business Journal. “One of the biggest challenges facing this (industry) is workforce development.”

The program is being funded by a $5.4 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant awarded to the PURE-HIT Consortium, which includes UT Austin and the University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston.

According to the American Medical Association, the health information technology industry will create about 70,000 jobs during the near future. In addition, the current administration is investing $19 billion to encourage the healthcare industry to create electronic health records.

And the HITECH Act, or Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health, will offer up to $44,000 in Medicare bonus incentives to physicians to demonstrate meaningful use of electronic health records by 2011. Those incentives decrease after 2012.

“We have almost 4,000 biology majors, and those who aren’t going to professional schools have difficulty stepping into jobs,” Leanne Field, faculty adviser and lecturer at UT College of Natural Sciences, said. “On the health IT front, they have lots of jobs, but you have to have training to get into those jobs.

“We know this would be a drop in the bucket of what is needed, but we hope to expand this pilot program going forward so we can offer it via executive education, and not just to UT students,” she continued, adding that 180 students applied for the 50 available spots this year, and that the university plans to seek additional funding in the near future.

Although the December 2009 unemployment rate for the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown area has not yet been released, the rate throughout Texas as a whole was 8.3 percent that month, lower than the national unemployment rate of 10 percent. Houston had an unemployment rate of 8.2 percent during November.

The area had a total non-farm employment of 2,535,600 workers during December, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 2,532,900 workers during November, but a 3.5 percent decrease from December 2008.


A whopping seven industries managed to see a monthly increase in employment, including: mining and logging by 300 jobs; manufacturing by 100 jobs; trade, transportation and utilities by 4,100 jobs; financial activities by 200 jobs; education and health services by 400 jobs; leisure and hospitality by 600 jobs; and other services by 100 jobs. Employment in the information industry remained even over the month with 34,300 jobs.

In addition, three industries saw a yearly increase in employment, with the education and health services industry adding the most jobs. The industry employed 296,600 workers during December, up from 296,200 workers during November and a 2.3 percent increase from December 2008.

The government industry employed 372,700 workers during December, down from 375,800 workers during November, but a 1.4 percent increase from the previous year. The leisure and hospitality industry employed 230,600 workers during December, up from 230,000 workers during November and a .7 percent increase from December 2008.

The construction industry took the biggest hit over the year. The industry employed 178,400 workers during December, down from 178,900 workers during November and a 12.5 percent decrease from December 2008.

Other industries that saw an over-the-year decrease in employment include:
mining and logging by 2.3 percent
manufacturing by 7.8 percent
trade, transportation and utilities by 6.4 percent
information by 5 percent
financial activities by 1.5 percent
professional and business services by 4.7 percent
other services by 2.9 percent

Staffing, recruitment and placement professionals are often viewed as the most visible and important part of human resources. According to an article by HRGuru, this is because staffing is the first entry point of prospective employees to the company.

Recruitment professionals may be responsible for: creating a company staffing strategy, sourcing candidates, screening and conducting preliminary interviews of candidates, conducting background checks, and communicating decisions and compensation information.

Staffing and recruitment professionals who work with larger companies may be involved with workforce planning, such as projecting skills and attributes that will be required in the future based on the business strategy and current demographics of the current workforce.

There are opportunities in this industry across many occupations for individuals with a variety of skill levels and experience. The average salary for recruitment and staffing professionals is $43,000 per year.

While the majority of temp jobs only require workers to have a high school diploma, some permanent jobs, such as those in management, may require workers to have at least a bachelor’s degree. It is predicted that as the industry grows, so will the number of jobs requiring advanced degrees.

Recruitment and staffing professionals must have a certain set of skills, including the ability to relate to different types of people, find less-than-obvious data, be aggressive and take “no” for an answer, and the ability to negotiate and work up to mutually beneficial agreements.

The outlook for these workers is mainly a bright one. Staffing and recruiting has long been one of the fastest growing industries, and although future job growth is expected to continue faster-than-average, that growth will represent a decrease from the industry’s growth during the 1990s.

Overall, the industry should gain about 692,000 new jobs between 2006 and 2016. At the same time, wage and salary employment in the employment services industry is expected to increase by 19 percent, which is higher than the 11 percent projected growth rate for all industries.

San Antonio’s education and health services industry employed 121,800 workers during December 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 122,400 workers during November and a .5 percent decrease from December 2008.

Workers at area hospitals can expect to be paid relatively well. According to Salary.com, the average wage for a staff registered nurse in San Antonio is between $53,632 per year and $64,838 year, while the average wage for a family practice physician is between $134,303 per year and $174,948 per year.

The 10 most popular hospitals in San Antonio, according to Wikipedia, include:

• South Texas Medical Center – The center, which serves 38 counties, consists of 900 acres of medical-related facilities, including 45 medical-related institutions; separate medical, dental and nursing schools; five higher-education institutions; 12 hospitals and five specialty institutions. During 2009, STMC had a budget of $3.3 billion and directly employed 27,884 workers.
• Audie Murphy VA Medical Center – This facility is part of the South Texas Veterans Health Care System, which is affiliated with the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. The system provides primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare in medicine, surgery, psychiatry and rehabilitation medicine. The AMVAMC previously received the Vice-President’s National Performance Review Office’s Hammer Award.
• Baptist Medical Center – Part of Baptist Health System, this hospital offers an accredited chest pain center, Level IV trauma center, Wound Healing Center, The Brain and Stroke Network, 18 operating rooms with the latest technology and private rooms for new mothers and babies.
• Methodist Hospital – This facility, which is part of Methodist Healthcare, is the pioneer flagship hospital at South Texas Medical Center. The acute care, regional referral center is the largest private hospital in San Antonio and the largest provider of healthcare to rural communities in South Texas and international patients from Mexico. The hospital employs 2,500 workers, including 2,000 physicians, and has the highest nurse-to-patient ratios in the Southwest.
• Nix Medical Center – This facility, which is part of the Nix Health Care System, houses full medical, surgical and geropsychiatric capabilities, as well as outpatient and ancillary services.
• San Antonio State Hospital – This is one of 10 state mental health facilities within the Texas Department of State Health Services system. Disregarding financial status, the hospital provides intensive inpatient diagnostic, treatment, rehabilitative and referral services for seriously mentally ill persons. The hospital is home to the Seidel Learning Center, which is a partnership with the San Antonio Independent School District.
• Christus Santa Rosa Hospital – This hospital is centered at the South Texas Medical Center and has two campuses in San Antonio, as well as several primary care and specialty health clinics and some community outreach services. Christus Santa Rosa Health Care is the only faith-based, nonprofit healthcare system in San Antonio.
• Brooke Army Medical Center – This facility, along with Wilford Hall Medical Center, make up the San Antonio Military Medical Center. Located at Fort Sam Houston, the hospital is part of the U.S. Army Medical Command, the University of Texas Health Science Center and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
• Wilford Hall Medical Center – This is the U.S. Air Force‘s largest medical facility. It provides complete medical care to military healthcare beneficiaries and specialized care to patients referred from all over the world.
• University Hospital – Part of University Health System and located at the South Texas Medical Center, this is the public district hospital for Bexar County and serves as the primary teaching hospital for The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. The system offers 15 community clinics and is the only health system in San Antonio recognized by U.S. News & World Report‘s list of best hospitals.

The two clinics were recently granted a total of $6.6 million in federal funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Of the $787 billion stimulus bill passed earlier this year, about $600 million will go to community health centers, in part as an effort to increase the use of electronic medical records.

Suncoast Community Health Centers will receive $3.7 million to expand services and Tampa Family Health Centers will receive $2.9 million to help build an 18,000-square-foot clinic next to University Community Hospital. That $4 million project is expected to create at least 15 construction positions and 22 healthcare-related jobs.

“We’re pleased because these are local jobs,” Rep. Kathy Castor told Tampa Bay Online. “Tampa Family Health Centers likes to hire from the neighborhoods where they are located.”

Tampa Family Health Centers currently operates eight clinics, including an urgent-care facility, as well as a mobile health van that provides services for homeless people in shelters and a dental van that provides services at Head Start programs and schools.

The federal stimulus funding will not only increase the amount and frequency of services available to local residents, but also will continue to support jobs in the Tampa area’s successful education and health services industry, which will in turn help to support the overall economy.

The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area’s education and health services industry employed 173,900 workers during October, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 172,100 workers during September and a 1.9 percent increase from last year.

At the same time, the area saw its unemployment rate decrease from 11.8 percent to 11.7 percent, following an increase from 11.4 percent during September. Despite the decrease, the area’s current rate was still higher than the national unemployment rate at the time of 10.2 percent.

The area had a total non-farm employment of 1,157,200 workers during October, down from 1,158,000 workers during September and a 4.8 percent decrease from last year.

The Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach area’s education and health services industry employed 94,600 workers during September, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 94,100 workers during August, but a .4 percent decrease from last year.

As a whole, the healthcare industry includes offices of physicians, dentists and other health practitioners; outpatient care centers; medical and diagnostic laboratories and home healthcare services; other ambulatory healthcare services and hospitals. Of the 15 largest occupations in the industry, nine provide direct patient care.

During 2007, Florida’s healthcare industry included 39,744 establishments that employed 669,154 workers, up 18,205 jobs from 2006. The majority of the increase in jobs came from general medical and surgical hospitals, which added 6,460 employees, making for a 2.3 percent increase, and offices of physicians, which added 4,916 employees, making for a 3.1 percent increase.

The largest healthcare sectors during 2007 were general medical and surgical hospitals, with 285,798 jobs, and offices of physicians, with 164,792 jobs. According to an article by the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation, those two industries combined account for 67 percent of employment in the healthcare industry.

The most popular healthcare occupations are registered nurses, nursing aides, licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses, medical assistants and home health aides. These five occupations account for about 32.6 percent of all employment in the healthcare industry.

The average salary for all workers in the healthcare industry that year was $49,804 per year, which is higher than the average annual salary for all industries in Florida. Registered nurses earn an average salary of $29.52 per hour or $61,402 per year. Among the 15 largest occupations, salaries range from a low of $10.29 per hour for home health aides to a high of $36.02 per hour for physical therapists.

The Baltimore-Towson area’s education and health services industry employed 233,100 workers during September, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 231,100 workers during August and a 1.7 percent increase from last year.

The Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation reports that the state’s healthcare industry has continued to grow since 2001, expanding at a rate of 10.2 percent through 2005. During that time, the industry added 23,912 jobs, accounting for a growth rate more than three times that of overall expansion in the state.

While hospitals were responsible for about 40 percent of that increase, community care facilities for the elderly and offices of other practitioners have been the fastest-growing since 2001, expanding by 27.3 percent and 22 percent, respectively.

While each jurisdiction throughout Maryland saw healthcare expansion during the four-year period, the City of Baltimore and Montgomery County saw the biggest increase, together accounting for about four out of every 10 jobs created in the industry.

General medical and surgical hospitals saw the biggest job increases in Baltimore, while physicians’ offices and community care facilities for the elderly saw the biggest job increases throughout Montgomery County.

During 2005, workers in the healthcare industry earned an average weekly wage of about $838, with those in ambulatory healthcare services earning $998 per week, hospital employees earning $878 per week and workers in nursing and residential care facilities earning $536 per week.

Offices of physicians are the highest paying sector in the healthcare industry, followed by medical and diagnostic laboratories; outpatient care centers; general medical and surgical hospitals; offices of dentists; and other hospitals.

The top 10 most popular occupations within the healthcare industry include:

1. Registered nurses
2. Nursing aides, orderlies and attendants
3. Home health aides
4. Receptionists and information clerks
5. General office clerks
6. Licensed practical nurses
7. Medical assistants
8. Medical secretaries
9. Maids and housekeeping cleaners
10. Secretaries