eScription dictation number has changed?!

13 Nov 2016

By: Claire O’Brien, MD, chief medical info officer

  To ensure a quality transcribed product, we are asking physicians to start using a different dictation phone number: 1-844-309-7008. This change is necessary to prevent physicians from re-dictating. We discovered since go-live, when physicians called the transcription line, the dictator’s voice was inaudible. To avoid re-work for providers, a direct phone number to the transcription vendor was provided. This new number will eliminate the need to re-dictate due to poor phone line quality.

The receipt number (formerly called the job number) heard at the end of the dictation confirms the system received your report. The receipt number now appears in the upper right corner of the transcribed document in the body of the report. Questions? Contact Gena Inches, HIM interim manager, 503-814-2733.

Questions answered
Sometimes that “one more thing” with no explanation is just beyond recovery … but I hope these answers help you understand the sudden change in our dictation phone number.  
 
What happened?
We changed it immediately because voice quality was so poor that providers had to re-dictate (arguably one of the worst things we can do to you). We formed an emergency task force to fix the problem. HIM had tried to keep the same number and just route the calls through, but that resulted in poor quality.   
Isn’t there a shorter number?

I know, it’s annoying – but hopefully not as annoying as having to re-dictate. The new number is toll free (1-844-309-7008), so the length is set —plus, it’s the only number eScription guarantees for voice quality.

Why didn’t you communicate sooner?
The team thought about this dilemma:  fix immediately, or wait until a good communication plan could be implemented. With the goal of patient safety, we went with immediate to prevent re-dictations. We missed the last deadline for Common Ground and did not want to wait until the next issue. A message was immediately placed in Radar (the message box on your Epic dashboard) and Daily Dose, but these were the only concurrent communications.

What should be done differently?
I learned that I could “break the deadline rule” by asking to insert a story in Common Ground at the last minute … good to know for future such incidents! Thank you, Dr. Furman.

In retrospect, it would have been better to use the toll free number from the beginning instead of trying to keep the old one. Again, another lesson learned, this one from hind-sight.

Informing physician leaders and section chiefs might have been instrumental in getting the word out at the last minute …point taken!

Thank you for your patience and understanding.  I do apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate the feedback for future improvements. As always, your comments and suggestions are welcomed.  

Comment from Dr. Ponec
I’d like to end on a positive note, with a comment Dr. Robert Ponec shared this with his Gastro Section peers recently:  

“The new transcription service is awesome! Couldn’t believe how fast our turnarounds are. There were days when I was on call and would dictate a procedure note for the third case and by the time I finished that, the first case’s procedure report was already in Epic ready for me to sign. Also, when patients come through ED and need a procedure, the H&P goes into Epic in record time.”