AN INTERESTING AND AMUSING ARTICLE

I came across this article when I was working as a Training Manager in this transcription world and I just loved this article.  Hats off to this person who could put all the words we as transcriptionists want to say...This is from all of us from the Medical Transcription Community. 

AN INTERESTING AND AMUSING ARTICLE

This is from an MT to the PHYSICIANS dictating in general:

As a medical transcriptionist for 18 years, I’d like to submit my input from the MT’s viewpoint.

I concede there are quite a few MTs whose knowledge of medical terminology is substandard to what is considered to be required in my industry, but the majority of MTs I know are quite familiar with “obscure medical terms” and actually more medical terms than the average physician.  We, after all, must be versed in terminology in all medical disciplines, not just one or a handful as is the average physician.  I routinely have physicians mispronouncing even common medications, equipment, or procedures not in their field, and it is part of my job to make sure these are corrected.

Physicians also use non-medical terms in the wrong context; for example, I had a physician who meant the term “Occam’s razor,” pronounced it “Hoakum’s razor,” and utilized it in such a convoluted way out of a sheer desire to sound sophisticated, it was painfully obvious he didn’t know what it meant, ironically going against the very meaning of the term itself.  It is also a substantial part of my job to correct and clean up grammar; obviously, physicians are busy people with an awesome responsibility and their dictation is generally made on the fly.  Perfectly understandable, but it makes for quite a challenge.

May I offer some tips to physicians so that MTs can perhaps be more accurate?  First and foremost, SPEAK CLEARLY.  If I had a nickel for every dictation done through a mouthful of food, coughing (loudly) into my ear (there WILL BE a person on the other side, after all), or mumbling into a handheld at their home with their children yelling in the background, I could afford to go to medical school. If you are an ESL (English Second Language), it is even more important that you enunciate and slow down a bit.  Everything you dictate is going to be heard by another person, who will put it into word format, which will affect your patient’s quality of care.  If the MT’s convenience is not a concern, the patient’s care should be.

Please do not let us sit and wait while you flirt with your assistant, take a long personal call, or, as I had today, get caught up in a TV show (in this case, “The Breakfast Club—great movie, but I’ve seen it, thanks). I have a physician who routinely turns out 45-minute reports with less than 5 minutes of dictation on them because he is searching his notes with no preparedness beforehand.  We are paid by the line and when we are forced to sit and do nothing while the physician is doing something besides dictation, it is costing us our living; we don’t take kindly to that.  A physician should understand, if anyone could, the value of time.

There are other things, but if physicians could just get down the SPEAK CLEARLY part, you would be surprised at how much your end result will improve. This does not excuse substandard transcription at all; we have a level of quality to produce and those who cannot should not be in this field.  I take my job seriously.  I am well aware that the quality of my work affects the patient’s quality of care and that the physician relies on me to make him look good.  All I ask is that you do not throw unnecessary roadblocks in my way.

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