Monday, September 10, 2007

Nonsensical Dictation

With a little bit of help from the transcriptionists who listen to your dictation, you might get some valuable tips on how to do a better job of organizing your thoughts when dictating. You might learn how to shorten your sentences so they don't develop into run-on sentences. You might even learn how to stop dictating sentences which make no sense at all.

"One of the most potentially disastrous bloopers occurred when I worked at a regional hospital doing radiologyand E.R. reports. A patient who had had a left mastectomy came in for a mammogram. When reading the results, the doctor (who shall remain nameless) dictated the report as two left breasts. Of course the patient had no left breast, much less two of them. Can you spell lawsuit?" snickers a veteran medical transcriptionist.

"I was falling out of my chair laughing as I typed that one. I transcribed it verbatim and took a hard copy down to the doctor. Fortunately, he was easy to get along with and could gracefully acknowledge a mistake. He was really grateful that I'd caught that mistake!"




These comic classics from Hollywood archives demonstrate how the improper use of the English language can quickly result in utter gibberish:









Next: Haste Makes Waste

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