Independent Home Study

Student FAQs


Getting Started on Your Career in Medical Transcription

If you are ready to start training to become a medical transcriptionist, we encourage you to look for a SUM Program school in your area, or else enroll with a distance education school offering The SUM Program.  Some of our schools have listed their program in our medical transcription school directory.

Another option if you are MATURE and SELF MOTIVATED is to purchase The SUM Program directly from HPI and the textbooks from each publisher, the follow the Student Syllabus to complete your reading and transcription assignments. Independent Study students follow the same curriculum guidelines provided to accredited schools, combining transcription practice with academic course work in multiple subject areas, and use transcript answer keys to check their work for immediate feedback.  Some important limitations with this option are that you will not have a mentor or a network of other students learning with you, nor will you receive any kind of diploma or certificate when completing the course.

Students learning The SUM Program for Medical Transcription Training by independent study receive The SUM Program on CDs (not available online), and the textbooks in print.

If you choose to pursue this option, follow these steps:

1. Make sure your computer equipment is compatible with The SUM Program software by checking the System Requirements.

Macintosh Users:  The SUM Program software is NOT designed to work on Macintosh computers. It might work if you have a new Mac that runs both Windows and OSX. However, if you are using Virtual PC with OSX to “emulate” the PC environment, The SUM Program software will NOT work. There are no refunds for SUM Program units, so please contact our tech support department BEFORE you purchase SUM if you have any questions.

2. Order The SUM Program materials you need from Health Professions Institute.  We recommend buying the units one at a time.  Here's the link for the beginning unit.

3. Visit the Recommended Coursework (academic component) page of this web site for information on books you need to purchase from publishers other than HPI. Carol at PMIC can offer a 20% discount on several of the books if you mention The SUM Program and Health Professions Institute. You can phone Carol at 800-633-7467 x 2717.

4. Follow the instructions in the Student Syllabus, which was in the same shipment as your Beginning Medical Transcription CD, but in a separate case.  You may need to download a more current version of the assignment grid.

Congratulations! You are on your way to an interesting and rewarding career in medical transcription.