Medical Transcription Trends

There are more than a few ways to make errors when working in the field of Medical Trascription, but one of the biggest – and most common – is to make mistakes in your transcriptions. Doctors rely on perfect records, yet often the dictator’s speech, grammar, spelling and handwriting are far from perfect and it’s up to you as the transcriber to figure out exactly what they are trying to say and get it right.

If you find it very difficult to understand a particular dictator, try these approaches:

• If your transcriber/software has a “tone” adjustment, make sure it is set to make the dictator’s voice sound “raw” – i.e., little or no bass. Do the same if you have a “bass” control. Removing as much bass as possible allows the words to be heard more clearly. Unfortunately, it may also accentuate any static on the tape/digital audio file.
• Try adjusting the tape/digital audio file playback speed from very, very slow to fast. Sometimes varying the speed of the tape/digital audio file will allow you to pick up on what is being said. If transcribing from tape, try unplugging your headset and playing the tape out of the transcriber speaker, if there is one.
• Try having someone else listen to the passage you are having trouble with (remembering confidentiality issues, of course). Make a note where the unintelligible section is on the tape/digital audio file, using the counter, and come back later to see if being away from it for a while helps you to “listen anew.” One or a combination of all these approaches will sometimes help.

Avoid guessing about what you hear. If the problem dictation involves drug names, drug dosages, patient-described symptoms, etc., guessing incorrectly could have life-threatening implications if your error goes through the health system unnoticed. The safest, professional, and ethical approach is to leave a blank in the transcription, making sure to make a notification on the report about the area of dictation needing clarification by the dictating physician.

Of course, if there is a way to verify what is being said by contacting the actual dictating physician or his/her staff, this is the best, quickest and sometimes easiest way to handle questions about problem dictation passages.

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