# 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.

- **SOC code:** 31-9094.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-31-9094-00
- **Also known as:** Medical Scribe, Medical Transcriptionist, Radiology Transcriptionist, Transcriptionist, Clinical Medical Transcriptionist, Documentation Specialist, Medical Language Specialist, Medical Transcriber
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- 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.
- Perform data entry and data retrieval services, providing data for inclusion in medical records and for transmission to physicians.
- Receive patients, schedule appointments, and maintain patient records.
- Take dictation using shorthand, a stenotype machine, or headsets and transcribing machines.
- Answer inquiries concerning the progress of medical cases, within the limits of confidentiality laws.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Administrative _(knowledge)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Written Comprehension _(ability)_
- Reading Comprehension _(essential_skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(ability)_
- Writing _(essential_skill)_
- Written Expression _(ability)_
- Near Vision _(ability)_
- Computers and Electronics _(knowledge)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_

**Skills in demand:**
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Writing _(Common Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Time Management _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Word _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Windows _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Excel _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- eClinicalWorks EHR software _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Access _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft ASP.NET _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Windows _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- Allscripts healthcare automation software
- Boston Bar Systems Corporation Sonnet
- Bytescribe Development Company WavPlayer

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 61st percentile (Moderate) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 78th percentile (High) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 83rd percentile (High) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 24th percentile (Low) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 76th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** yes — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** -4.9% growth (Declining); 7.4k annual openings; 43.9k → 41.8k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $37,550; 43,070 employed.

## How people actually use AI here

Anthropic Economic Index — measured AI conversations mapped to this occupation's tasks:

- **Automation vs augmentation:** 63% automation, 30% augmentation (usage-weighted).
- **Autonomy median:** 3.0 (higher = AI acts more independently).
- **Dominant collaboration mode:** directive.

**Tasks most handed to AI here:**
- Take dictation using shorthand, a stenotype machine, or headsets and transcribing machines. _(2.9% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Produce medical reports, correspondence, records, patient-care information, statistics, medical research, and administrative material. _(2.0% of measured AI use; task iteration)_
- Review and edit transcribed reports or dictated material for spelling, grammar, clarity, consistency, and proper medical terminology. _(1.6% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Transcribe dictation for a variety of medical reports, such as patient histories, physical examinations, emergency room visits, operations, chart reviews, consultation, or discharge summaries. _(0.4% of measured AI use; directive)_

**Example prompts (honest phrasings of the tasks above — starting points, not endorsed instructions):**
- Help me take dictation using shorthand, a stenotype machine, or headsets and transcribing machines.
- Help me produce medical reports, correspondence, records, patient-care information, statistics, medical research, and administrative material.
- Help me review and edit transcribed reports or dictated material for spelling, grammar, clarity, consistency, and proper medical terminology.
- Help me transcribe dictation for a variety of medical reports, such as patient histories, physical examinations, emergency room visits, operations, chart reviews, consultation, or discharge summaries.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-31-9094-00_