Just because someone got through medical school does not mean that that person speaks fluent English. So, before we get a little too intoxicated with the promise of new technology, perhaps we ought to pause for a good stiff reality check. Voice recognition depends on computers. A computer s cold and calculating objectivity can cause problems for a doctor s ego. Others are trying to do three things at the same time while fielding interruptions from support staff.
Some doctors create well-organized reports that have a beginning, a middle and an end.
The following two examples are taken from dictation by a physician who used to be the chairman of his hospital s Medical Records Committee. The patient is a 30 year old right handed married mother of one child age four who is a former office manager in a family business in steel fabrication and who was placed on permanent disability in February of 1997. The patient is a 35 year old right handed woman who lives with a partner who has been pregnant on two occasions and who has had two abortions and who did take birth control pills which she discontinued about 10 years ago because of profuse bleeding. These are the stock in trade of most dictating physicians. While artificial intelligence can ask the computer to question potential contradictions, the truth of the matter is that the computer is an extremely democratic device.