When you’re in the OR, you don’t often have time to think about your final report. As a surgeon, you’re concentrating on what your patient needs in that moment. Whether or not the surgery you’re performing is a life or death operation, your goal is to provide your patient with excellent care, not think about what details will need to be put into your report when the procedure is finished.
Even so, that final report is always there to meet you when it’s all finished, so it’s essential to find the best medical transcription solutions that will provide you with the tools you need to create an accurate report. Let’s take a look at a few of your options to determine which ones might save you the most time in the OR.
Traditional Dictation and Transcription
Many surgeons opt to use traditional dictation methods when it comes to finding the best medical transcription solutions for the OR. Some of them utilize the help of a nurse to maintain accurate notes during the procedure, which allows them to refer back to elements they might have otherwise forgotten. Traditional dictation and transcription can be very useful, however the turnaround time is often lengthy, depending on whether you outsource your transcription, or you have an in-house transcription department.
Voice Recognition Programs
Voice recognition programs have become more commonplace in recent years because of their ease of efficiency and because they provide medical staff with finished reports immediately. In the OR, some surgeons will actually speak their own reports during their procedures, and then they return to the report later to make any changes they feel need to be made.
Other surgeons find it more beneficial to have a nurse on hand to do their dictation for them. This is a matter of personal preference. The best thing about voice recognition software is that it provides you with the ability to dictate your reports in real time, hands-free.
Synoptic Reporting
Synoptic reporting approaches clinical reports in a slightly different way than traditional medical transcription solutions or voice recognition software. Synoptic reporting utilizes a system of templates that can be customized according to your patients’ individual needs. These templates guide you through the reporting process, ensuring that no important information is left out of your final report.
Of course, using synoptic reporting is often not possible during a surgical procedure, which is why it’s useful to have another staff member or nurse available to compile the report during the operation. Synoptic reporting not only saves you time while you’re in the OR, but it also saves you a valuable amount of time after the surgery is over. While the other methods we mentioned require a significant amount of editing time outside of the OR, synoptic reporting does not. As a result, your patients’ charts are always completely up to date, you are free to concentrate on their immediate needs rather than on correcting medical records and checking for accuracy.
All three of these solutions can save you valuable time in the operating room. They allow you to focus on your attention completely on your patient, while providing you with the tools you need to complete an accurate report when the procedure is over. While each one has its benefits, only you can determine which one will work for you.
