Dear Dictator – Are You Speaking With Marbles In Your Mouth?

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Do you ever feel like it is just impossible to do MT/HDS work when you have to face dictators who sound like they have a bag of marbles in their mouth? Not only that but I feel they may be attempting to stuff a peanut butter sandwich in, and they might even be underwater dictating at the same time?  It happens to all of us, even “seasoned” professionals.  It seems in some cases that doctors may not comprehend the importance of speaking clearly and evenly, but then they add the uniquely aggravating habit of speeding up (instead of logically slowing down) when they come to such KIND of important stuff like oh I don’t know – medications, vital signs, laboratory work!!  Are they insane?

One has to wonder about the dictating habits of the modern day health professional.  I have personally come to the conclusion that it is in part due to stress.  They feel pressured by having too many patients, trying to wring the most that they can out of the healthcare system by finishing with 1 patient and moving on to the next in rapid sequence.  However, some of it has to do with cultural influences and even personality traits.  I can hear you saying an emphatic “No way!”

It is true – some cultures believe that speaking loudly is not appropriate (such as East Indian dictators) and even more so if the practitioner happens to be of another culture and female!  Some people have an aversion to public speaking and let’s face it – dictating is public speaking especially when they are dictating in a room full of other people (who of course have to talk while the person is dictating to make our day even better).  Lastly, some people are just lousy with words and can’t seem to string 7 words together let alone 500+ for a report.  Residents just starting out trying to get used to dictating, but Dr. Unconscious who has a new baby at home and got about 20 minutes of sleep last night, and Dr. Forgetful who is thinking about his next surgery while trying to dictate the one he just did are all creating bad habits. All of these components come into play when the voice files that we end up with are created.

Do they “mean” to be lousy dictators?  I don’t believe that for a second.  Most are quite taken back if they ever hear their own dictations and are quite embarrassed if they are not particularly skilled at dictating.  As speech recognition evolves more and more, this is a unique opportunity for providers as they are beginning to realize what their words look like on paper after they have dictated them.  Wow – that was a hot MESS I just dictated!  How is someone supposed to decipher that?  Will it change those who have very bad habits?  I’d like to think so but probably not.  Being exposed to their finished product though may help them down the road to develop at least better habits – or so we can only hope and pray!

In the meantime, what’s an MT/HDS to do?  I try and focus on 1 report at a time.  Every one of them is a clean slate, an opportunity for me to shine and produce a good product in spite of the dictator… Although that is easier said than done sometimes. I have to say that the bad dictators teach me things that good dictators can’t – how to translate marble talk into medical language and thus prepare me for other challenges such as the ESL dictator. Like most things, too, the more you hear and do, the better you become and thus the more valuable.