Proofreading – How Important Is It in Medical Transcription?

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Proofreading – How Important Is It in Medical Transcription?

Proofreading is essential to ensure accurate medical record transcripts. Every document needs proofreading after it is transcribed to ensure the accuracy of content, grammar and punctuation.

Why Is Proofreading Crucial in Medical Transcription?

The patient record is the only real evidence of care provision in any healthcare facility. To ensure an accurate and complete record, all services provided should be documented by the healthcare professional. Medical professionals prefer getting their reports professionally transcribed, which would save them a lot of time and money. So they typically outsource their voice files to reputable transcription service providers who have a team of skilled and experienced transcriptionists and proofreaders to undertake this job.

Accuracy in transcribing the dictated medical records is crucial to avoid misinterpretation, wrong treatment and legal consequences, and to safeguard the healthcare provider’s credibility and reputation. Accurate and complete healthcare documentation involves a partnership between the patient, the healthcare provider and the documentation team. A valid quality assurance process ensures that medical transcription practices are as consistent and accurate as possible. Transcription

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proofreaders who are part of the QA team work at different levels to ensure that the final document sent to the client has maximum accuracy. Since accuracy is vital, proofreading is a very important part of transcription.

Proofreaders are usually native English language experts who check the document for basic grammar, punctuation, and style. The services of a proofreader include: • •

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Checking for grammatical and textual errors Filling in any words or phrases missed by the transcriptionists Formatting the document according to the client's specifications Performing the final quality check on the document

Client’s specifications may include using specific fonts, adding specific headers, and adding or removing page numbers.

Skills Required for Efficient Editing Copy editors in the transcription field must have certain skills to provide error-free reports for notes on emergency department, charts and office procedure for any medical specialty. Some of these skills are:  Good listening skills: Along with good knowledge regarding the terminologies and acronyms related to the concerned medical specialty, they should also have excellent listening skills to understand all the details, while the audio file is being played.

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 Ability to research: Ability to conduct research offline and online within a short time frame is essential to ensure a fast turnaround time.  Ability to distinguish between accents and voices: At times audio files provided may include background noises and other sounds. An ideal editor should be able to identify the speaker amid the background noise, bad audio quality and thick accents.  Advanced English language skills: A good proofreader must have excellent language skills to identify various words and phrases in any accent that will be used in audio recordings.

It’s also ideal to build a library of good reference books, bookmark good Internet reference sites and use both a medical and English spellchecker (with grammar turned on) as the final step in proofreading.

Reliable service providers have outstanding quality assessment programs that will ensure consistent excellence and accuracy in healthcare documentation.