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The Nuances of Filling in the Blanks in Medical Transcription

Are you a medical transcriptionist going through the trauma of trying to fill in the blanks in medical transcription? There are many ways around this hurdle, and it happens even to experienced transcriptionists. Since some of the dictations are inaudible, medical transcriptionists go through dictations that are clouded by background noise, doctors mumble poor quality audio, new words, difficult medical terms, and different kinds of accents. As a result, the transcriptionists will not be able to understand what the doctor is saying and there will be blank spaces in the transcript. You can reduce the white spaces with a few tried and true techniques.

One of the rules is to never write exactly what you heard. Listen to the dictation again until you are sure it is the correct word. Guess work doesn’t help and it’s best to leave a blank space, as you may hear the same sentence or paragraph again later while editing. Listen to the entire sentence and you will be able to fill in all the blanks while getting your transcription at least 95% correct. If you think the blank space refers to a drug, look at the complaints and symptoms that match or correlate with that particular word. If the term or word sounds like it has to do with anatomy, look up references or think about its action, structures, and names. Or if you think that word may be an abbreviation, find all the terms that could reasonably fit in the blank space.

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You can also search the internet for potential references to patient names, doctor names, and hospital names to fill in the blanks, or if it’s a new drug, you can always check websites that display the latest drugs. You can check with your colleagues if they have previous transcripts dictated by the same doctor or reports that you have previously transcribed. Most of these are stereotypical reports from the same doctor and will be easier to track. Try to check with similar types of reports dictated by the physician whose report you are transcribing. For example, if it has to do with a particular operation or an MRI of the lumbar spine, the dictation will be the same no matter who the doctor is.

It is necessary to practice at your leisure and get acquainted with hard dictations. These voice files can be played over and over again until you become familiar with the difficult dictations and don’t have to have a hard time trying to decipher inaudible words or medical terms. Have your friends listen to the blanks as they may hear them differently and they will be able to find the correct word so you can complete your transcription on time. As these medical records are a very critical matter, it is best if you get the correct word that is in context and exactly what the doctor has dictated. It is better to be safe than sorry, and although it is a difficult task to fill in the blanks, it is better to leave a blank than to try to fill it in with an unrelated word that will not be accepted by the doctor. You can always ask the doctor if you have access to him/her and try to fix the problem.

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