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Pulling Yourself Through Unlikelable Dictation - curious one

Posted: Aug 03, 2011

I have been transcribing over six years. Lately, I have been finding myself procrastinating whenever a dictation comes up in my queue that I don't really care for. It's not necessarily that it is a difficult dictator but it may be the specialty (oncology in my case) or a dictator that has long gaps in dictating their report. I know that's part of the job but I was wondering how do any you cope or what you do to make it through these to make these reports more "palatable"?

Unlikeable dictators - FL MLS

[ In Reply To ..]
Unlikeable dictators in my case. I usually vent all through their dictations. They cannot hear me!!! I call them names ***************, I swear at them and I try my best to get through them. (My poor dog knows when I have these certain dictators, she leaves the room) !!!! But that all helps me as I cannot avoid them.

Dictators I do not like - Old Pro

[ In Reply To ..]
I try to visualize their faces and remember that they are human, too, just like I am. Perhaps they are having a day that is twice as bad as the one I am having. Compassion always helps.

Take a deep breath - and repeat to yourself

[ In Reply To ..]
"this too shall pass!" Also works for other bad stuff in your life. Also see FL MLS response. LOL

Compassion - FL MLS

[ In Reply To ..]
Gosh I have certain doctors that have rough dayâ��s everyday I guess. If they could only talk!!!! No compassion here!!!!!

Not so compassionate - Alice

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I'm compassionate for someone who is occasionally having a bad day, but not so compassionate for those who are just plain rude, don't try or don't care, talk too fast, eat while dictating, dictate with loud background noises, misspell names of other persons and places, and even misspell medical terms (so why bother to spell it?), etc.

You are all too kind, IMHO. After all these years, I still do not accept that this is the way it has to be. Were we not so accepting, or if the dictating clinicians and facilities were routinely and ALWAYS charged more $$$ for reports dictated by rude or difficult practitioners, I believe that ways would have been invented to deal better with such scenarios. For instance, "assistants" with clearer speaking voices would have been assigned to dictate for those who do not seem to be able to speak clearly.

Money spoke, and some don't like typing, so SR was invented. SR works for those who write at home and prefer not to type from scratch, as well as saving money for those companies paying MTs for transcription.

In the same way that money and other preferences spoke, creating a customer base for purchase and use of SR, our refusal to deal with totally awful transcriptions might have spoken too. But now, we have taught them how to treat us, and they comply ever so willingly.

Just my opinion, of course. Why am I still here? Because, fortunately and most gratefully, I have found a place where 99% of the dictators are clear and respectful.

Agree with Alice - Not so compassionate

[ In Reply To ..]
Considering that the sloppy, careless dictator makes several times what the average MLS makes, the LAST thing he or she deserves is compassion for making a difficult job even harder and a paycheck even less. (Responsible dictating and some compassion for the human being doing the difficult job of transcribing should be preached TO them.)

"Not so" for sure. At least acknowledge that their job - is several times harder and more demanding and

[ In Reply To ..]
stressful than our little type-send-and-walk-away job.

Curious One, I don't always do it, but some of my yucks have been turned into "moneymakers," at least relatively, by investing extra time in templates, expander entries, etc. I do definitely find that if I can cruise through them efficiently I may not like a drearily redundant dictator, say, any more than before, but a lot of the irritation is replaced with satisfaction. I do this for money, after all. :)

You need to speak... - for yourself.

[ In Reply To ..]
A ''little type-send-and-walk-away job''?! Seriously? Anyone who considers MT as just a ''little type-send-and-walk-away job'' has not been subjected to an audit lately or the ever-changing commentary of QA (or maybe just produces substandard work themself). If you want to talk about ''stressful'', just ask a production MT what its like to produce a medical document with at least 98% accuracy rate from sloppy, careless dictation. ''Stress'' and all other lame excuses aside, fair is fair and if the MLS is held to high standards in her/his work, then the dictator should be held to equally high standards in his dictation.

Well said, Alice! - nm

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

Re: Dictators I do not like - Old Pro - - unlikeable dictators

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I try to visualize my OWN face when I discover that my next paycheck is smaller because of irresponsible dictators, unconcerned that another human's livelihood is impacted by their sloppy dictation. Compassion should be reciprocal. Can you seriously imagine the dictator shrugging off errors in a medical document with your suggestions: "Now, let me have compassion and take a deep breath. I will try to visualize the transcriptionist's face. She is human and may be having a hard day." Ridiculous! When errors occur, the MLS is held strictly accountable with no ''bad day'', ''only human'' excuses accepted. Just as we are dependent on the quality of dictation we are presented, the dictator should be held accountable.

Somewhat agree with all - curious one

[ In Reply To ..]
Thanks for the tips. Sometimes people do have a bad day every now and then. I will try build a better template or get samples for some of them. But I just wish some dictators re-learn how to dictate. We are not miracle workers. Only superman can hear when they dictate 50 feet away

I have always thought - Maggie

[ In Reply To ..]
that doctors should have a course in med school where they have to transcribe each other's dictation just to give them a sense of what it is like on our end- otherwise they really have no idea and many times forget it is a human typing what they say. We have a doctor who yawns repeatedly and will dictate an entire sentence in that yawn, and not repeat himself!! He gets tons of blanks and I guess has yet to pick up on why, or simply does not care. I think this is the reason so many transcriptionists yeild to the temptation of cherry-picking- but whenever I am tempted I just think about the person who will have to do it if I don't and it is not fair to them either. And our hospital weights some of the worst ones so that takes a little of the sting out of it, but no matter what they are extremely annoying and crazy-making. But I don't expect that will ever change and to demand that doctors follow the same standards that we do and have compassion and courtesy for us is not exactly realistic, imho.

Give them feedback - Alice

[ In Reply To ..]
What's wrong with giving feedback to those difficult dictators? If they have no idea how their dictation habits affect the output of the report, we can surely inform/correct/teach them, as a first step. Then, if they continue the bad habits, penalties could be imposed. Perhaps if this issue were handled seriously, the dictating clinicians might eventually comprehend how to dictate a clear report and comply with the requirements. If they completed higher education, I suspect that they are teachable.

Wouldn't it be a clue to a doc that he/she - curious one

[ In Reply To ..]
maybe dictating poorly if they are getting a ton of reports back with blanks? And depending on where an MT work, going directly to a doc about their dictation may not be appropriate, at least to me.

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