Dictation Tips Here are some tips - the clearer you dictate the better a job we can do of transcribing your documents. Dictating Sound-Alike or Confusing Words Little Words that can Stop a Transcriptionist Cold Do . . . Work with your transcription company to optimize your dictation quality and to keep your costs low. Do . . . Learn about your recording equipment (telephone system or digital recorder) and how it works. Do . . . Assemble any papers, reports, before you start dictating. Do . . . Make sure you are in a quiet area so your dictation can be heard clearly by the transcriptionist. Do . . . Identify yourself at the beginning of your dictation and state what dictation you are doing, i.e., what type of reports and the date you want reflected in the reports. (The day of patient examination, the date of your dictation, or the date the transcriptionist is actually transcribing the work.) Do . . . Always state, then spell, full details of: addressees, their full name, proper mailing address; file numbers; reference numbers; patient record number; subject matter. Do . . . Try to use the same phrases in each of your report types. Be consistent in the way you approach similar reports. Make sure you use the same headings whenever possible. This makes it easier to transcribe your work and lessens the chance of error. Do . . . Speak clearly and at a regular pace. Do . . . Pause slightly before speaking when starting your recorder and pause briefly before stopping recording. This prevents words from being “clipped.” Do . . . Speak with inflection in your voice. Monotonal voices can put transcriptionists to “sleep.” Do . . . Speak with your mouth at the recommended distance from your telephone handset or digital recorder. Don't tuck the telephone under your chin as it muffles your voice. Never use the ‘handsfree' feature of your phone as the recorded voice quality is very poor. Do . . . Spell unusual words that may represent diseases, drugs, or procedures not normally found in the mainstream of daily work. Do . . . Always include punctuation, especially when starting new paragraphs. Do . . . Include “open” and “close” quotation instructions. Do. . . Say "stop" or "full stop" at the end of a sentence, instead of period. Do . . . Get a colleague's dictation tape and, using a transcribing machine, sit down and spend just one single hour trying to transcribe his/her dictation. I absolutely guarantee it will be an eye-opener. Do Not . . . Dictate in a noisy area. Extraneous noise can make it difficult to hear dictation accurately. Do Not . . . Mumble. Speak clearly without letting your voice fade-out at the end of sentences. Do Not . . . Shuffle papers, open drawers, or make loud sudden noises when dictating. Do not . . . Forget to say "End of Dictation" at the end of your dictation, so the transcriptionist will know there is no more dictation to the end of the tape. Do Not . . . Eat, drink, chew gum, or do anything else that interferes with the qualify of dictation No Not . . . Use a cell phone to dictate. The sound quality is usually poor. Do Not . . . Dictate while driving. It's dangerous and the sound quality is usually poor. Part of good dictation style is avoiding the use of unnecessary words, redundancies or grammatically-unacceptable phrases when dictating. It is more professional to be as succinct as possible. Avoid "flowery" language, too many superlatives, and over-used words and phrases. Here is just a short list of what you should avoid:
Dictating Sound-Alike or Confusing Words You should be aware of similar-sounding and other confusing words and spell them or dictate them clearly. Some words should always be spelled to avoid confusion or to make sure an inattentive transcriptionist does not transcribe the word incorrectly. Here are just a few words that can be confusing:
Little Words that can Stop a Transcriptionist Cold . . . Some words seem to be difficult to hear clearly when transcribing. Even a thorough knowledge of terminology, medicine and anatomy will not help if a transcriptionist cannot hear if the physician said "inter" or "intra" as these prefixes can legitimately precede many words and make sense in context. Make sure to emphasize the ending with words like this, as in "inTRA", "inTER". You could also say "intra, that's RA" (saying each letter separately). The transcriptionist will know what you are referring to. Whenever possible, do not use contractions. Avoiding contractions can even improve the accuracy of transcription from poor dictators. For instance, a poorly-enunciated "doesn't need" can sound like "duzzzneed" which will be transcribed "does need". This can be avoided by dictating clearly "does not need". Even small words like "in", "an", "on", "and", "if", "off", "of", "has", or "is" can change the whole intent of a report or thought. It is very important to get into the habit of saying them clearly. "Spasms stop" or "spasm stop"? One should also be careful about some pluralised words preceding other words. For example, consider: "This medication did not make the spasms stop". If not said clearly, the transcriptionist may not be able to tell if the dictator said "spasm" or "spasms". In this situation, the proper way to dictate is to prolong the "zzz" sound if the word is "spasms" or the "mmm" sound if the word is "spasm". For example, if the word is "spasms" you would dictate the sentence as "The medication did not make the spasmzzz stop. Full stop"
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