What Are You Hearing?
I've heard and read the horror stories: the physician who dictates from her child's swim practice, the doc who treats MTs to his hacking cough, the PA who insists on scarfing a Big Mac while telling MTs about a patient.
I recently finished an article on dictation practices for our May 19 issue, and let me tell you--it's certainly an issue MTs are passionate about. The article focused more on the ways that MTs, MTSOs and HIM managers can quell bad dictation practices, so I didn't get to really go into all of the nasty things that MTs are privy to when they sit down to listen to dictations. I know there are some awful stories out there, so what's yours?
All the sources I spoke to had a particularly nasty story about dictation. One recalled physician who dictated from the bath. She also related a story about a report with 25 blanks. After the MT got two more people involved with the difficult report, they finally got it down to eight blanks--but it took 2 hours to finish--and the report was only 110 lines total. Another source talked about reports where the MT had to listen to 20 minutes of dead air for reports that ended up being less than a page long--where the MT must be a captive audience to the silence because they can't hang up, and they have to listen because the dictator may start speaking again.
All the sources concluded one thing--better dictation practices will mean better reports and better patient care. Gone are the days of the private dictation booths in hospitals. Dictators now find themselves crowded into the nurses' station, huddled and interrupted in a busy environment, at best. Hence, the horror stories.
Can you top the stories above? Not only will venting your dictation horror stories possibly prove to be a bit cathartic, it might also open up some eyes to what MTs really hear when they listen to a patient's story--from chewing to splashes to who knows what else.