Transcription services.
Would you believe it’s one of the oldest vocations that has been carried through time and we still see operating in the modern world?
The same… only different!
Even though we’ve clearly come a long way from transcribing hieroglyphs onto papyrus or stone, the fundamentals of transcription remain the same today: taking the spoken word and making a permanent record of it by transforming the content into text. Not only that, the basic skills involved are largely the same too: the transcriber needs to be able to listen to the spoken word and then record what has been said in written form. What also comes as a necessity in the transcription service we provide here at FSTL is being able to understand the business context, as well as being able to accurately reflect the content, style and language.
What’s a little inaccuracy between friends?!
Accuracy is an absolute must! This, coupled with specialist industry knowledge that many of our transcribers have developed through their years of experience, helps FSTL deliver the exceptionally high standard our clients rightly expect.
Just think for a moment on what might happen if the transcriber isn’t an industry specialist… without the proper knowledge of the specific industry terms, there’s a much greater risk of misinterpretation, and just getting things wrong.
We’ve seen this come up particularly in the medical transcription arena – with the wealth of medical terms involved in this sector, it’s easy to see how a transcriber without the right experience could get into hot water. Medical transcribers should never just rely on guesswork, they need to have a keen awareness of what the medical terms are so that they can provide an accurate transcription.
We’ve touched on this subject in a previous blog, but have stumbled upon some more bloopers in the medical field that are amusing when it comes to transcribing doctors notes via both human error and voice recognition software:
| Voice recognition | Should have been… |
| sixty-five roses | cystic fibrosis |
| Bill sounds awful | Bowel sounds audible |
| On my arrival to the ICU, I found the patient to be an extremist | I found the patient to be in extremis |
| Happy Larry carcinoma | papillary carcinoma |
| Follow the eyes and nose | CHF patient, “follow the I/O’s” (for fluids in and out) |
So you can see from these few examples just how wrong both humans and machines can get the medical terms in real life!
The thing about medical transcription is that it really can be the difference between life and death, especially if it’s relating to a medication prescription.
Getting transcription services right
Having worked increasingly with medical writers for a number of years now, our transcribers have developed and honed a specialist knowledge of the medical field. This means they are already fully armed with all the skills needed to accurately interpret and record the content of any interview or recording, even when abbreviations and jargon have been used. And of course patient/client confidentiality is fully observed throughout.
The end result is a documented, accurate record of a meeting that can be shared with anyone who needs it.
If you’d like to know more about how FSTL could help your business with specialist transcription services – not just in the medical sector but in the financial, academic, legal, media and energy sectors too – please contact alex@fionashipley.com.