Healthcare Support · Holland code CSI

Medical Transcriptionists

Transcribe medical reports recorded by physicians and other healthcare practitioners using various electronic devices, covering office visits, emergency room visits, diagnostic imaging studies, operations, chart reviews, and final summaries. Transcribe dictated reports and translate abbreviations into fully understandable form. Edit as necessary and return reports in either printed or electronic form for review and signature, or correction.

Also called: Medical Scribe, Medical Transcriptionist, Radiology Transcriptionist, Transcriptionist, Clinical Medical Transcriptionist, Documentation Specialist, Medical Language Specialist, Medical Transcriber.

O*NET 31-9094.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $40,410; Middle half earn $34,150 to $48,000. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Post-Secondary Certificate; 39% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 3 of 5; Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: -5% · Decline; 43,900 jobs in 2024, projected 41,800. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Medical transcriptionists".

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Return dictated reports in printed or electronic form for physician's review, signature, and corrections and for inclusion in patients' medical records.
Produce medical reports, correspondence, records, patient-care information, statistics, medical research, and administrative material.
Identify mistakes in reports and check with doctors to obtain the correct information.
Review and edit transcribed reports or dictated material for spelling, grammar, clarity, consistency, and proper medical terminology.
Transcribe dictation for a variety of medical reports, such as patient histories, physical examinations, emergency room visits, operations, chart reviews, consultation, or discharge summaries.
Distinguish between homonyms and recognize inconsistencies and mistakes in medical terms, referring to dictionaries, drug references, and other sources on anatomy, physiology, and medicine.
Set up and maintain medical files and databases, including records such as x-ray, lab, and procedure reports, medical histories, diagnostic workups, admission and discharge summaries, and clinical resumes.
Translate medical jargon and abbreviations into their expanded forms to ensure the accuracy of patient and health care facility records.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Active Listening4.1 / 5
Reading Comprehension4.0 / 5
Writing3.9 / 5
Monitoring3.1 / 5
Speaking3.0 / 5
Critical Thinking3.0 / 5

Knowledge areas

English Language4.5 / 5
Administrative4.3 / 5
Computers and Electronics3.8 / 5
Medicine and Dentistry3.0 / 5
Customer and Personal Service2.7 / 5
Telecommunications2.1 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic25
Investigative43
Artistic12
Social45
Enterprising4
Conventional88

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

medical records clerk · DE Krankheitsregister-Dokumentar/Krankheitsregister-Dokumentarin · FR agent du service des dossiers médicaux/agente du service des dossiers médicaux
clinical coder · DE Klinischer Kodierer/Klinische Kodiererin · FR agent de codage des actes médicaux/agente de codage des actes médicaux
medical transcriptionist · DE medizinische Schreibkraft · FR audiotypiste médical/audiotypiste médicale

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Health care practice managers (1231)27,200 employed
Medical secretaries (4211)62,500 employed
Business associate professionals n.e.c. (3549)104,700 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Technicians and associate professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Technicians and associate professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€50,992
Austria	€46,986
Germany	€44,473
Netherlands	€42,448
Ireland	€41,613
Sweden	€41,155
Italy	€34,882
France	€34,816
Spain	€29,757
Portugal	€18,080
Poland	€12,108

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +1.06. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (31-9094).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

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