In the US it is mandatory for medical professionals to keep an accurate medical record of all aspects of a patient. The medical professionals gather the data related to the patient in audio format by using a dictaphone or voice recorder. The details of the patient are then transcribed in text form. This process of transforming dictation of physicians and other healthcare professionals from audio format to written text is known as Medical Transcription (MT).

Medical transcription is an ancient process. In olden times, Vaidyas (medical practitioners) in India used the services of their disciples to record the process of treatment in text form. It was a fully manual process. It has evolved now to digital form and speech recognition technology. The person who undertakes the process of transforming (transcribing) medical data from audio to text is known as Medical Transcriptionist and to a lesser extent, a Medical Transcriber. Medical Transcriptionists are essential in all hospitals.

They document patients' healthcare information for their permanent medical records. Physicians or other healthcare providers dictate this information to them through the use of hi-tech tape recorders. Medical transcriptionists are highly sought after and when they become certified, they have invaluable knowledge that provides a lifetime of job options. Its possible now for the medical transcriptionists to work from home using the internet.