Documentation is a critical part of the healthcare industry. Accurately transcribed patient information plays a crucial role in the diagnosis, treatment, and quality care of patients in general. In this regard, medical establishments can seek the services of a medical transcriptionist. They can assist physicians and other healthcare providers with proper documentation, ensuring the best possible service to their patients.
What do medical transcriptionists do?
Medical transcriptionists transcribe medical professionals’ recordings into minutes, correspondences, medical reports, and other documentation necessary for the treatment of a patient. They are specialists of the medical language and work alongside doctors, physicians, dentists, and other healthcare industry professionals. The scope of their work include the following:
- Listening to recordings made by medical professionals about their patient’s treatment history
- Transcribing dictations into a documentation of various formats, as needed by healthcare professionals or medical facilities
- Evaluate drafts made by automated speech recognition software, and make necessary edits
- Review drafts prepared by other medical transcriptionists and make necessary edits
- Identify errors in the draft and supply any missing information
- Present transcriptions to medical professionals for approval and subsequent use
- Translate lexicons and medical abbreviations into appropriate forms for different formats of documentation
These professional transcriptionists hold Diplomas of Healthcare Documentation or similar qualifications listed on the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). Besides high-level accuracy in typing skills, they have an in-depth vocabulary of medical terminology that other people are not familiar with.
Medical professionals spend their days researching, treating the sick, and taking rounds in the hospital to visit several patients a day. They need to take extremely detailed notes of every one of these patients, which can be challenging to do. That is why many healthcare establishments and practitioners seek transcription services to help them deliver the best care to their patients.
Outsourcing a medical transcriptionist can benefit healthcare practices in many ways. Here are some of them:
A Helping Hand For Physicians
Physicians and other specialist medical doctors are prone to burnout due to the busy nature of their professions. Additional administrative work and documentation add to their physical and mental exhaustion. While helping people is the primary goal of doctors, sometimes they need a lending hand as well. Hiring transcriptionists relieves some parts of their work and alleviates more causes of burnout. With the help of professional transcriptionists, physicians can focus more on treating their patients with undivided attention.
Consistent and Understandable Medical Records
When medical professionals write documentation and other paperwork, medical terms, abbreviations, or “jargon” get lost in translation. Medical scribes understand these specialised terms and translate them into their appropriate forms for a report to serve its purpose. They create clear notes in easy-to-read formats that any member of the team can understand.
Digitisation of Healthcare Records
The trend towards digitalisation encompasses the healthcare industry as well. Treatment histories and various patient data are better stored in digital form instead of traditional paper. Besides more organised storage, digital records have better security and can only be accessible to authorised personnel.
Skilled medical transcriptionists ensure accuracy when inputting various data into the computer. They can double-check information and make necessary corrections before finally uploading them to a digital system. Accurate health records reduce further medical errors so physicians can rest assured the data they access are updated, correct, and reliable.
