How to Improve Your Dictation Style
If you're sending low quality dictation to a typing contractor or transcription company, then you are literally pouring money down the drain as they will charge you much more for low quality recordings.
Do want your staff spending an extra hour each day correcting errors from Dragon because the dictation is too fast or you’re missing punctuation?
Imagine the money you could save if that staff member was engaged in other productive activities…
Working in the medical, legal or certain other professions, you know how important it is to create and manage accurate voice dictations. Whether you are sending those digital audio files to a typist/transcription company or running the audio through Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice recognition, it is important that the dictation quality is high to ensure the lowest cost transcription and the most accurate voice recognition.
The truth is that most professionals can greatly improve the dictation quality with minimal changes.
We’ve put together a few tips that will improve your dictation quality and save you money immediately.
When dictating:
▶ Speak Clearly. Taking the time and making an effort to speak clearly can go a long way to improving your transcription results. Don’t get lazy and allow yourself to mumble or trail off in your thoughts. Dictate when you are well rested and make sure you have a glass of water nearby. This will help you speak more clearly.
▶ Have a quick chat with a person who is typing your dictation or have someone else listen to you one of your recordings for them to assess it for clarity. You may be dictating too fast (and think that’s fine) but this may be costing you money because your transcription company or typist may be taking a long time to process your recordings.
▶ Dictation Speed - Speaking too quickly is the number one cause of expensive transcription/reduced accuracy when dictating. If you receive feedback from your typist, then you should have an idea about whether you should slow down your dictation. In all likelihood, you may need to slow down between 10%-20% to reduce your costs of transcription or to improve the accuracy if using a voice recorder with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.
▶ Use Punctuation. Punctuation matters. Digital dictation will only be able to add punctuation to your transcribed notes when you include it in what you say. If you’re using Dragon then punctuation is absolutely critical to accuracy. As a minimum you should be saying “full-stop” and “new paragraph”. Otherwise your accuracy will suffer with speech recognition.
▶ Give clear instructions. If you’re using a new typist or transcription company then they would not be familiar with your style of instructions. It will cost you a lot of extra money if they have trouble deciphering the difference between instructions and dictation. Say something like “instruction - send this via email to referring Dr Smith – new paragraph. Beginning dictation full-stop.” Now start your letter.
▶ Create New Files for Each Case. As you move from patient file to patient file or client to client, make each case a different audio file. This is usually a very simple process. By doing that, it will make the transcribed documents separate too. Your results will be that much easier to read and understand. In addition, it is much easier to sort through your files at a later date too. A separate file for each patient always reduces the possibility that your typist will become confused and put the wrong patient information in the wrong letter.
By following these straightforward steps, your dictation will be clearer, more accurate and more effective.
Other Important considerations when voice recording for dictation:
▶ Choose a high-quality Voice Recorder - There are many dictating machines on the market today, but only a few have professional dictation features and superior sound quality. The key is finding one that fits your budget and offers good results while still being easy for you to use. If you are using a dictations app, then make sure you are using a properly secured professional app like the Olympus or Philips Android/Iphone app.
▶ If you wish to reverse and fast forward like using a tape recorder, then it is critical to buy a professional digital voice recorder that has digital edit and append capabilities. Such as any of the Olympus range with the “DS” prefix. The best example of this is the new Olympus DS-9500 which has just been released.
▶ Utilize all the features of your recorder - Spend some time with the instruction manual. You may find that different modes or features like background noise blocking that improve sound recording quality. If you don’t have time for this, then book in one of our experts who will set your recorder in the optimal mode for you.
▶ Dictation Environment. If you can dictate in a quiet environment with few distractions, you’ll have a much higher mobile dictation. If it is a noisy environment, then make sure you have “noise cancelling” turned on - if it’s a feature of your handheld recorder. Also make sure your voice recorder is set to “Dictation” and not “Conference” mode. This make a huge difference to dictation quality.
▶ Think about the position of the voice recorder when speaking. Don't put it too close to your mouth and make sure it is not constantly brushing against your hair, clothing or any other object as that can be highly distracting and cause problems with your digital transcription. Also, you don’t want to hold the recorder too far away or your voice will be faint. Holding the recorder about 5 to 8 cm away from your mouth is optimal in most cases.
▶ Have an objective think about how well you are dictating. Be honest with yourself. If you are typing up one of your recording would you have trouble keeping up with the pace of dictation or the clarity of speech? Is it easy to follow your instructions? Is your voice faint and hard to hear against background noise or is it too loud with breathing? Properly assess your own recordings before looking at any of the following tips. Self-analysis can be hard to do, but will lead to a significant reduction in typing costs or increase accuracy with speech recognition.
▶ Use a proper digital dictation management system. It’s important that all voice recordings are accounted for in a medical or legal environment. Olympus and Philips digital voice recorders match up with their corresponding transcription software which is fully accountable. And can be secured with encryption. You should have a proper workflow in place and a way of backing up the files. For example, most medical/legal professionals use the Olympus Digital Management System (ODSM) in conjunction with foot pedals and headset - the Olympus AS9000. If you do not have a proper digital dictation system in place, then talk to us today about deploying a system. This will save you time and money in the long run, not to mention that it will be fully compatible with Dragon Voice Recognition.