Any good funnies in medical transcriptions?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

We've all heard doctors dictating H&Ps, discharge summaries and the like. And we all know they rush and mumble. Add in the increasing number of foreign-born docs, and it's amazing that transcriptionists get it right as much as they do. That said, I've seen some pretty odd things crop up in charts lately. I'm hoping some of you can add to my list, but I'll throw out a few to start off.

"frequent MSS" - I thought about that one a while - couldn't imagine what "MSS" stood for. But the context made it clear: emesis.

Here's one I still don't know what the doctor actually dictated: among the findings of a study was "benign prostatic hypertrophy" - the study was an echocardiogram and the patient was female. Any ideas?

My personal favorite: under social history: "the patient is a warrant here at Citrus School" That puzzled me for a while - but the doctor is from India and I mentally heard it in his voice and accent - he had said "volunteer"

0 Votes

Years ago, I taught medical terminology, and I would read thru charts to find errors. Looong before HIPAA!!! Some of my favorites - - pt c/o horseness x 5 days. Or diarrhea spelled 3 different ways by the same med student.

Or positive pedal pulses on a bilat BKA.

0 Votes
Specializes in Med/Surg, Geriatric, Hospice.

I saw a funny one the other day but now I've forgotten it.

Did have a pt with admitting Dx of BKA, except the pt had two legs, fully intact. It was DKA ;)

0 Votes
Specializes in ED/ICU/TELEMETRY/LTC.

"She smokes one glass of alcohol per week"

0 Votes

Medical transcriptionist here! I could fill pages and pages of funny things that are typed.

Keep in mind that some hospitals and facilities use voice recognition to do the majority of the typing. And that is the cause of lots of errors. My favorite mistake of ALL TIME was when the patient had a "baloney amputation". That's what the voice recognition typed. LOL

Also, we all use text expanders and a lot of times the errors occur when we select the wrong expansion.

But thank you for acknowledging that the doctors don't always make it easy on us! It's not always the accents that get us either. One of the WORST doctors that I work for is American with no accent whatsoever. He's soley responsible for my gray hairs. :D

0 Votes

I use a voice recognition software for the reports I have to type, and I worked with this one therapist that whenever I said her name, the software always reported back "still busty". I trained and trained that program to learn it the right way, but it still always called her "still busty". Funny thing is, I think she mighta had a boob job. LOL

0 Votes

Medical transcriptionist here as well! I edit voice recognition and see funny errors all the time that I have to correct. My recent favorite is when the voice recognition typed "the patient's name is crack addict!" What made it even more funny was that the patient was in for a polysomnographic study to find out why he wasn't sleeping.

As to the benign prostatic hypertrophy in the echo, my best guess is that the dictator said LVH (left ventricular hypertrophy) and the transcriptionist hit the wrong expansion.

0 Votes
Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

I, too, had a job reviewing transcriptions. One of my favorite oops : patient had abdominal surgery. No organs. Discharged home post op day three.

No organs??? I'm pretty sure it should have been no organomegaly, but I could be wrong.

0 Votes
Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.

I was reading through an H&P prior to my pt's surgery, and found a note that made me laugh to the point of tears. The surgeon dictating the note has a very thick German accent.

"Pt discharged home with hot mother."

I showed the note to the surgeon and he turned white. He said, "Oh my. I said discharged home with HER mother!"

Priceless!

0 Votes
Specializes in ICU.

One of my favorites is when the doctor starts out by saying "patient is friendly in bed."

0 Votes
Specializes in Nephrology.

I think I posted this in another thread but it fits here too. Doctors monthly progress note for hemodialysis pt was supposed to read that "pt currently using buttonhole on right upper arm fistula". The note that is in the chart says "pt currently using BUTTHOLE on right upper arm fistula". We laughed about that one for a while!

0 Votes
Medical transcriptionist here as well! I edit voice recognition and see funny errors all the time that I have to correct. My recent favorite is when the voice recognition typed "the patient's name is crack addict!" What made it even more funny was that the patient was in for a polysomnographic study to find out why he wasn't sleeping.

As to the benign prostatic hypertrophy in the echo, my best guess is that the dictator said LVH (left ventricular hypertrophy) and the transcriptionist hit the wrong expansion.

I suspect you have that one right - I had no idea you folks used such sophisticated technology. I come from a bygone era and I sort of pictured earphones and a keyboard just typing it out - but it does make sense in today's world there would be technical aids for the volume of stuff that gets done.

0 Votes
+ Add a Comment