Anyone wishing to begin a career as a medical transcriptionist should attend one of the accredited medical transcription schools. The Approval Committee for Certificate Programs (ACCP) is a joint program of the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) and the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) to accredit these type of schools. The AHDI website contains a list of accredited schools, which is updated quarterly.

At present, the accredited schools include A&H Training Corporation, The Andrews School, CanScribe Career Centre, Career Step, Central Texas College, Everett Community College, Exact-Med/United Tribes Transcription Training, Lakeshore Technical College, Medical Transcription Education Center, Inc., MSU-Bottineau, Richmond Community College, Seminole Community College, and TRS Institute.

These schools all follow the ADHI's Model Curriculum and produce competent entry level transcriptionists. These programs are consistent in producing good results, so it would be best to attend one of these schools rather than one of the many other programs available around the country.

One great thing about the accredited schools is that they all offer an online option. By following an online or distance education program from one of these accredited schools anyone can get their medical transcriptionist training from home on their own time. People can study at one of the accredited medical transcription schools while working at their full time jobs, and many of the programs have rolling admissions and allow you to start when you are ready rather than waiting until the beginning of a semester.

Once a student has finished his or her education at one of the approved schools, they can start work as a medical transcriptionist. Many of the schools help to place their students upon completion of their program. There are a lot of job opportunities to work from home, as well as those working in offices.

After completing a program of study, you can take an AHDI exam to become a registered medical transcriptionist, and after gaining two years of work experience, you'll be eligible to take the certification exam of the AHDI.