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The
very basic thing is to know
your recording equipment;
how it works; how to maintain
it etc. So before you start
up, please read your recorder’s
user manual, either the hard
copy that come along with
the equipment or the soft
copy on the manufacturer’s
website. |
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Organize
the concerned papers, reports,
necessary reference material
etc. and keep ready nearby you
before starting dictation. |
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Ensure
that you are in an area with
no background noise so that
your dictation can be heard
clearly by the transcriber.
Avoid dictating outdoors like
seashore, waterfalls or on a
stroll with breeze towards the
microphone. Extrinsic noise
makes it difficult to hear dictation
accurately. As well, avoid dictating
while driving. It is dangerous
and the sound quality too is
poor. |
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Pause
a bit before when starting
your recorder and pause briefly
before stopping recording.
This avoids words from being
“clipped.” |
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Dictate
with your mouth at the optimum
distance recommended by the
manufacturer of the recorder
for better output. Speak out
clearly at a regular pace
without letting your voice
fade-out at the end of sentences.
Do not mumble. Maintain modulation
in your voice. Monotony may
tend to put transcribers to
“sleep.” Be brisk
and core to the point with
least amount of pauses in
the dictation. |
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Always
state and then spell full
names of the patients, (their
respective medical record
number), names of addressees,
referring physicians and their
proper mailing addresses. |
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Take
care while spelling out as
“F” and “S”
are heard alike. Give clues
for these alphabets, you may
spell like “F for France”
or “S for South.”
Fifty and Sixty are really
brainteasers in numbers at
the end of transcriber. Do
not stress twenty as “twentieth”
as it is heard often as “twenty
eight.” |
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Do not
forget to include the date
of service, date of dictation,
date of birth, title of the
report, carbon copy (CC) etc. |
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Spell out
unusual words that may represent
diseases, drugs or procedures
not normally found in the mainstream
of your daily work or specialty.
Do not try to spell words that
you do not know how to spell.
If the word is unusual, just
say it as clearly as possible
as the transcriber can usually
confirm the spelling if required. |
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Always
try to include punctuation,
especially when starting new
paragraphs. Include “open”
and “close” quote
instructions. Similar is the
case with parenthesis. The
preferable and proper phrase
when dictating is “full
stop” rather than “period”
at the end of a sentence. |
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Telephones/cell
phones are the other trouble
givers. Switch off phones
whenever possible or at least
keep them in vibrating modes
which will be a boon to the
transcriber. |
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Do not
play music, shuffle papers,
open drawers, rearrange your
desk, rip paper off examination
tables or make loud sudden
noises when dictating. |
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Please
do not mess with the gender
of the patient with the dictation
starting with a female patient
and ending up with a male
and vice versa. Make sure
to be consistent throughout
the particular file. Similarly
do not mess switching sides
left and right or upper extremities
and lower extremities. Else,
it is a miserable life on
the part of the transcriber. |
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Use your
own set of standard (repetitive)
phrases in each of your report.
This makes it easier to transcribe
your work and lessens the
chance of error. |
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Say “End
of Dictation” at the
end of your dictation, so
the transcriber will know
there is no more dictation
at the end of the audio file. |
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Edit errors,
if any, by rewinding and erasing
them. Do not make errors and
then say “strike that”
or something like that. Use
the “cue and review”
feature found on most current
recorders to erase your last
statement. Erasing your own
error also negates any chance
of misunderstanding on the
part of the transcriber as
to what has to be erased from
what you dictated. |
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Service your
dictation equipment at least
yearly. May be your vacation
time is the right time for that.
Buy new tapes at least once
a year if you use them daily.
Discard damaged tapes immediately
and only after erasing them. |
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Do not
laugh, yawn, converse in between,
scratch, burp, slurp, cough,
sneeze, eat, drink, chew gum,
clear nasal passages etc.,
while recording dictation.
Sialagogues can be used to
keep your saliva flowing. |
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