Accessible online medical transcription course in Texas.

The Lighthouse of Houston, which has been training visually impaired adults in Texas in medical transcription for 35 years, will offer its medical transcription course in an online, distance education format beginning in January 2009. The online option became a reality thanks to a $100,000 grant from the William Stamps Farish Fund, which provided the funds in 2006 so the Lighthouse of Houston could create its Distance Medical Transcription Training Course as a pilot program. The program takes 18 months to complete, and new classes begin every six months.

Medical transcriptionists transcribe dictated recordings from health care specialists and physicians and prepare reports, correspondence, or other materials regarding patient care, and is a job that individuals, including those with visual impairments, can perform at home using a computer. The fully accessible course was designed by Jennifer Blando, the former director of education for the Lighthouse of Houston, who had experience in making the distance learning program of a community college accessible to visually impaired individuals. Ms. Blando's concept was to couple audio conferencing technology for lectures and question-and-answer sessions in Microsoft Word.

Since the pilot program began in November of 2006, two of its three graduates are currently doing on-the-job training at the Lighthouse of Houston, which offers all graduates six months of experience and an opportunity for contract employment. At present, nine students are enrolled in four different classes. Most of the students are from Texas, and three of the students are in a satellite class that operates in partnership with the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Since there are so few medical transcription training programs that are designed specifically for people who are visually impaired, "... anyone who has an Internet connection can participate, but at a distance, it's hard to know if someone has the background to be a medical transcriptionist," Ms. Blando said. "We've had to publish guidelines to help counselors determine which clients have the required skills and educational level." Before entering the online training program, would-be medical transcriptionists need to be able to use screen-reading software, such as JAWS, to proofread text. They also must be able to use e-mail and Microsoft Word, including some of Word's advanced features, and possess excellent aptitude for languages, since medical terminology is a mixture of Latin, French, and English.

Once an applicant is accepted into the program, the Lighthouse provides electronic versions of a medical dictionary, body system word books, and a pharmacology reference book. Participants can also work with screen readers and text enlargers. The first month of class is spent getting oriented to medical terminology in general and learning how to use all the reference tools. The next course begins January 26, 2009. The cost is $750 per month, plus the cost of books. For more information, contact: The Lighthouse of Houston, 3602 West Dallas Street, Houston, TX 77019; phone: [phone]; e-mail: <houstonlighthouse@ houstonlighthouse.org>; web site: <www. houstonlighthouse.org>.