Unlike in India and other developing economies where physicians serve both as providers of medical care and scribes for the medical community, in developed economies like the US, UK etc., due to standardization of medical data became critical to research, medical stenographers/secretaries replaced physicians as scribes, taking their dictation in shorthand, by the early twentieth century. The advent of dictating equipment made it unnecessary for physician and scribe to work face-to-face, and the career of medical transcription began.

The typical process of Medical Transcription begins with receiving dictation by tape, digital system or voice data file. Conventionally, recorded advice was sent through physical means (i.e. an audio tape, and more recently a digital dictaphone). However, there is steady emergence of a new practice. Using a toll free telephone line, doctors can call up a designated number and dictate the message, which is converted and recorded into a dedicated server on a real time basis. This helps to save shipping costs and improves productivity manifold.

The parent US transcription company connects to this server through a high speed data link and downloads any fresh dictation left by clients/doctors. The digitalized data is then compressed and encrypted, for onward transmission via satellite link to India. The local transcription company can then start to immediately retrieve the sound files, uncompress the data and route them to different workstations for transcription. Using earphones and a foot pedal for start-stop control, transcriptionists are able to hear and control the speed of the audio recording.

These messages can be transcribed with the help of a suitable word processing program like Word or WordPerfect An outsourced or offshore medical transcription center then sends back these transcribed messages to the hub of the medical transcription network from where it is routed to the concerned doctor/hospital. Most of the word processing programs used in the medical transcription process typically are accompanied by libraries / dictionaries of medical terminology.

These libraries may also be categorized based on various disciplines. Several dictionaries are necessary: Medical definitions, medications, and medical terms by specialty, laboratory terms, surgical terms and abbreviations. Specialized word lists are also helpful, and journals and computer networking are helpful for current information about new medications and terms. Transcription is done more efficiently with the use of a medical spellchecker and a word expander.

The transcription process as both individual and organizational levels includes proofreading and quality analysis, both concurrently in real time as well as progressively with client feedback.