“Miss Jones, please take a memo”…NOT!

OCC programs are foundations for great careers

by Carol Jonson

Myrtice Shelton-Beatty coordinates a very interesting group of programs at Oakland Community College: Business Information Systems; Medical Transcription; and Court and Caption Reporting. Each one can put you on track for an interesting career…or give you the credentials to move to a higher level in your current job. Business Information Systems The Business Information Systems (BIS) program is designed to give students the educational background they need to find work – or to advance - as administrative professionals, executive assistants, office coordinators, word processors, data entry personnel, or medical and legal secretaries. Students can earn a one-year certificate or complete a two-year associate degree in BIS. In addition to honing their skills in word processing, document processing, desktop publishing and personal computer applications, students take classes in accounting, business law and communications, principles of management, human resource management and principles of supervision. An internship provides students with a real-world job experience. Medical Transcription If you like the medical field, but don’t want to be directly involved in patient care as a technician, nurse or physician, you may want to consider a one-year certificate or a two-year associate degree in Medical Transcription. Students in this program learn the skills needed to accurately transcribe physicians’ detailed reports for medical records; or for use by courts, insurance companies and other medical-related businesses. “The foundation for OCC’s Medical Transcription program is a detailed knowledge of medical terminology,” Professor Shelton-Beatty explains, so required courses include microbiology, anatomy and physiology, and administration of medication. Medical transcription is a growing field she says: “Today everything needs to be documented, from a doctor’s notes about an office visit or a surgery, to the results of an autopsy.” Medical transcription is a job you can often do from home, Professor Shelton-Beatty says: “Many hospitals allow their staff transcriptionists to work from home; other medical facilities have outsourced medical transcription, hiring qualified freelance transcriptionists.”
Court and Caption Reporting OCC’s Court Reporting program has been around for many years, and its skilled grads are sought after to work in courtrooms, at hearings or deposition, or to record business or government meetings. They’re trained in high-speed verbatim dictation using a special shorthand machine on which they must be able to record at least 225 words per minute with great accuracy. “It takes a lot of work to be successful in this field,”Professor Shelton-Beatty says, noting that students usually need to practice two hours a day to get their speed and accuracy to required levels. Recently, there’s been a new dimension added to OCC’s court reporting program: caption reporting. “By 2006,” Professor Shelton-Beatty explains, “every new television program will have to be closed-captioned for the hearing impaired. There will be tremendous opportunities for closed captioners, and there’s a real shortage of trained people out there.” One advantage of caption reporting is that it can be done from anywhere, and much of it is done on a freelance basis. “Many television programs are prerecorded,” she explains, so closed captions can be added before the show airs. For live programs, such as newscasts, captioners work in “real time,” Professor	Professor Myrtice Shelton-Beatty looks on as OCC student Emily Myers of Lake Orion practices on the high-speed verbatim dictation equipment at OCC’s Roya Oak Campus, where Business Information Systems, Medical Transcription and Court and Caption Reporting programs are offered.
Shelton-Beatty says. It is work that demands intense concentration and tremendous accuracy, she says, but, like court reporting, it’s work that pays very well. The average OCC grad in court reporting makes about $50,000 the first year out of school, and typically works about 20 to 25 hours a week,” Professor Shelton-Beatty says, “and caption reporters can expect to make even more because of increased demand in coming years.” If you’d rather use your caption reporting skills to give someone face-to-face help, consider working as a CART reporter, the professor says. Under the Americans With Disabilities Act, students with hearing impairments are entitled to have an individual attend classes with them, capturing in real time all lectures, discussions and class interactions so hearing-impaired students can view them on a computer screen and immediately participate in class.

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