Error rates in physician dictation: quality assurance and medical record production

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to determine the instance of errors made in physician dictation of medical records. Design/methodology/approach – Purposive sampling method was employed to select medical transcriptionists (MTs) as “experts” to identify the frequency and types of medical errors in dictation files. Seventy-nine MTs examined 2,391 dictation files during one standard work day, and used a common template to record errors. Findings – The results demonstrated that on the average, on the order of 315,000 errors in one million dictations were surfaced. This shows that medical errors occur in dictation, and quality assurance measures are needed in dealing with those errors. Research limitations/implications – There was no potential for inter-coder reliability and confirming the error codes assigned by individual MTs. This study only examined the presence of errors in the dictation-transcription model. Finally, the project was done with the cooperation of MTSOs and transcription industry organizations. Practical implications – Anecdotal evidence points to the belief that records created directly by physicians alone will have fewer errors and thus be more accurate. This research demonstrates this is not necessarily the case when it comes to physician dictation. As a result, the place of quality assurance in the medical record production workflow needs to be carefully considered before implementing a “once-and-done” (i.e. physician-based) model of record creation. Originality/value – No other research has been published on the presence of errors or classification of errors in physician dictation. The paper questions the assumption that direct physician creation of medical records in the absence of secondary QA processes will result in higher quality documentation and fewer medical errors.