Tips to Ensure Accurate Transcription from Your Medical Dictation

Tips to Ensure Accurate Transcription from Your Medical Dictation Read about some tips for physicians to improve the quality of dictation while recording an audio file to be transcribed by medical transcription services.

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The accuracy of transcribed medical reports depends on the clarity of dictation and sound quality. An audio file should be dictated in an area that is free from surrounding noises and distractions. If the recording is not clearly done, then even a certified medical

transcription

service

professional will find it difficult to transcribe the records and might end up wasting too much of time. For obtaining a quality report, the physician should speak in normal conversational voice, clearly spelling out new or unfamiliar medical terms. The doctor should give hints for words which can be easily misunderstood such as “adduction” and “abduction,” terms in medicine and biomechanics that mean movement of limbs and other body parts towards the center line of the body, and movement of limbs and other body parts away from the center line of the body respectively. When using handheld recorders, be sure to use the proper microphone settings and to hold the microphone at

a proper distance from

the mouth.

Avoid

speakerphones and cell phones while dictating. Bad dictation practices can lead to documentation errors and critical flaws affecting patient safety, potential for sentinel events, effects on turnaround time, and increased cost.

All these problems can have an adverse effect on the doctor’s professional as well as personal life.

There are certain things physicians should consider while dictating a medical report: 1. Surrounding noises: Always try to choose an area with less surrounding noises, especially because microphones catch noises very easily. Dictating in a quiet and secure surrounding will definitely improve the audio quality.

Sometimes, you may have no other option but to dictate in an outdoor location -- then try to avoid areas with a lot of traffic distractions, very windy areas, noisy environments like beaches, etc. These factors can compromise audio quality.

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2. Speak clearly into the microphone: When dictating, keep the recorder or the microphone in an upright level position about 3/4″ from the mouth so that the sound hits over the microphone and not directly into it. If you are using a smartphone or tablet, make sure that you are not covering the microphone with your hand while recording.

3. Quality

assurance:

Before sending a recording directly to the

transcriptionist, it will be best to first conduct a self-test of your recording.

Talk a few sentences and then check the sound level and the overall quality of recording. It will give you an overall idea of the quality in your speech. It will also give you an idea about what you need to include and what you need to remove.

4. Speak only one at a time: Brief your team members about the digital audio recording, if they too are going to participate. For better quality dictation, ensure that only one person speaks at a time slowly and clearly.

Avoid talking to one another during the recording.

5. Pause during unavoidable distraction: If you are engaging in another conversation which is important or any other unavoidable temporary interruption, the best option for not wasting transcription time is to stop the recording by hitting the “pause button” on your recording device. You can return to your dictation at any time by hitting that button again.

6. Aware of difficult terminology: Medical terminology can be difficult for transcriptionists to decipher at times. If you think there is a chance of confusion when using a new word or when describing a complex procedure, then it’s better to spell it out. Otherwise, transcriptionists may end up leaving blank spaces in the transcript.

It is best to hire the services of certified transcriptionists who can understand difficult accents and make sense of difficult dictations. To find out whether your accent will be understood by the transcriptionist, submit a sample dictation to the medical transcription company. Leading medical www.medicaltranscriptionservicecompany.com

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transcription companies employ trained transcriptionists who can provide accurate transcripts for your dictations. The accuracy can be improved if you take care to ensure better dictation quality, for which the above-mentioned tips could help.

www.medicaltranscriptionservicecompany.com

918-221-7809