Outsourcing Medical Transcription can improve Hand Offs in the Emergency Department

Outsourcing Medical Transcription can improve Hand Offs in the Emergency Department

Outsourcing medical transcription can play an important role in improving emergency department communication and patient care.

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Patient handoffs at shift change are a critical process in emergency care, but one that is prone to errors due to factors such as emergency department (ED) overcrowding and lengthy evaluations. According to a recent Techspective report, bad communications technology and physicians’ writing flaws are causing errors in emergency rooms.

Outsourcing medical transcription can ensure accuracy in these communications and improve hand offs in the emergency department.

Communication Challenges faced by ED staff Handoffs provide valid and useful shared understandings between emergency room personnel at transitions of care. A new report from Everbridge Inc. which polled 158 ER department employees about their communication challenges found that patient care is at stake when manual processes are used. The patient care communication challenges that the respondents reported during care team hand off are: 

Waiting for physicians to respond to hand off requests topped the list with 23 percent – 32 percent reporting waiting for a physician or specialist. Up to 28 percent reported difficulties deciphering handwritten information. This was followed by incomplete information (21 percent), or delays receiving information like test results (19 percent).

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The most used methods of communication by emergency department staff at present are: face-to-face discussions (94 percent), landline telephones (94 percent) and electronic medical records (EMR)/electronic health records (EHR) (87 percent).

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Respondents said there is no ideal way to contact colleagues which can be considered efficient and effective. As much as 89 percent of emergency room staff said they are forced to use 5 or more different channels to communicate with co-workers about patients.

Most of the emergency room employees reported that more than 10 percent of patient care hand offs had communication errors that could endanger patient care outcomes; Role of Emergency Room Transcription Services Hospital and emergency room workers should never have concerns about the accuracy of patient care instructions and how they are delivered. Medical transcription outsourcing can help. Today, HIPAA compliant medical transcription companies provide EHRintegrated transcription services. They help physicians avoid the need for manual procedures like writing notes. Physicians can upload their dictation files to the secure FTP server of a medical transcription company and get them transcribed in the specified

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turnaround time. Skilled transcriptionists work with the latest technologies to deliver error-free emergency room reports. Such support goes a long way in making co-worker communications more efficient and effective, thereby minimizing the scope for errors that could affect patient care.

Use of Mobile Technology can help According to the Everbridge Inc. report, the use of mobile technologies offers scope for improvement in ER worker communication. Up to 76 percent of physicians and 45 percent of clinical staff reported being able to use personal devices. They considered secure text messaging and mobile phones as the next two most effective forms of communication after face-to-face discussions. Along with medical transcription services, mobile device communication can have a positive impact on ER patient care.

www.medicaltranscriptionservicecompany.com

(800) 670 2809