Saturday, September 8, 2007

Brevity Inspires Clarity

The difference in dictation styles from one physician to another is often quite amazing. Some physicians like to dictate as if theyare taking notes. They rarely make complete sentences and seem to be speaking in a type of personal shorthand which only they may be able to decipher. This can cause problems for the transcriptionist who, despite being a skilled medical language specialist, cannot figure out what the physician is trying to communicate to others.
On the flip side of the equation, there have been instances in which doctors have dictated the menu of every single meal eaten by a patient in the two days prior to a bunionectomy performed in the come-and-go surgical unit!

"For four consecutive days I've been transcribing dictation from one doctor. I'm even starting to talk like him!" groans a veteran medical transcriptionist.

"When my cat stood over his dish glowering at me this morning, I said: ‘You apparently appear to be noted to want your breakfast at this particular point in time, and your apparent hunger, which is apparently noted to appear to be acute, is noted by myself with appropriate remedial action being taken.'

"As I fed my cat, I couldn't help thinking: Wouldn't it be wonderful if Imodium-AD also worked for oral diarrhea?"



Next: How Much Is Too Much?

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