What is a Dragonism? I'm not sure who came up with the word, but think it was my old chairman, Bob (who I doubt reads this, but if you do, I'm crediting this to you).
A Dragonism is an unintentionally comical error made by voice recognition (VR) software. Many physicians, including myself, use them for dictating. The programs are great, they don't make spelling errors, BUT (and this is HUGE) they often mistake one word for another, especially when the words are long, or you're talking too fast, or they just want to piss you off. Usually they're simply stupid, but occasionally can be quite hilarious.
This is why it's CRITICALLY IMPORTANT for anyone using VR dictation to proofread VERY VERY CAREFULLY. Because many physicians don't. If you're one of them, I've seen your notes. They look like crap, and make you sound like a complete idiot.
The word Dragonism was coined because Bob used Dragon Dictate, which remains the most commonly used program of this type. Dragonisms, however, are NOT restricted only to Dragon Dictate. They also occur with it's competitors, such as ViaVoice and iListen. I've used all 3 at various times. Dragonisms just sounds so much better then "ViaVoicisms" or "iListenisms".
Anyway, today my VR system was out to aggravate me, and coughed up 3 gems:
Dr. Grumpy said: "She has an upper respiratory infection."
The computer said: "She has an upper breast infection."
Dr. Grumpy said: "Her symptoms are likely from lumbar disease."
The Computer said: "Her symptoms are likely from Wal-Mart disease."
Dr. Grumpy said: "I've ordered an echocardiogram with bubble study."
The Computer said: "I've ordered an echocardiogram with Bible study."
She probably does suffer from Wal-Mart disease. A problem in the spine due to pushing oversized shopping carts filled to the brim.
ReplyDeleteDragonism!
ReplyDeleteThat's simply wonderful.
I'd bet money that I've been in IT longer than you've had the letters M.D. after your name, and this is the first time I've heard that particular term.
That's hilarious. Isn't technology grand.
ReplyDeleteWhy do neurologists see upper respiratory infections?
ReplyDeleteMoppie- we don't. But I routinely do a review of systems, in which I note any acute changes in the patient's overall health.
ReplyDeleteI once worked for a chronic pain physician and part of my duties was to proof read his dictation. One of my favorites was dictation that read 'may need to consider a narrow surgical consult' when what the doc said was 'a neurosurgical consult'. Another one was 'Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy' which came across as 'Reflex some of the history'.
ReplyDeletewonder aloud- exactly! They don't make spelling errors, but often will turn one long word into several smaller one, or vice-versa.
ReplyDeletei have walmart disease... its called walmartavoiditis.... or the ability to avoid walmart.....
ReplyDeleteI'm a transcriptionist doing mostly VR editing. You definitely can't count on VR software. I think the best one I've had recently would be "bilateral testicular fixation to his head." Quite the word picture, eh?
ReplyDelete("to his head" should have been "as a child") =D
@bek
ReplyDeletehahahahhahahahhha!!! Dick head! hahhahahhahahahhahahhahahaha!
(I know its balls but whatever, minor details.)
ok i'm obviously over tired and going to bed now.
hahhahahahahahhahahha!
I love the term Dragonism. Thanks, Grumpy! It definitely spits out some weird shit sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, if you are concerned about the results of the echocardiogram, the bible study might be the better solution hahaha
ReplyDeleteIs this similar to what's used for closed captioning of live events? Usually it's a sporting event, and the announcers will say one thing, but the caption will say something completely different.
ReplyDeleteDragonisms . . . a whole new world of comedy.
My favorite "Dragonism" from my experience has been this gem: "The patient presents to the ED after awaking with an air of feminist left leg." While it would be disturbing to wake up with a slightly sexually liberated leg, I didn't think it could be medical emergency. I did some digging and found out that the dictation was supposed to be "an erythematous left leg." I laughed for days.
ReplyDeleteDragonism....hehehe
ReplyDeleteWe have the movie Ice Age on dvd. My husband bought it whilst in Indonesia. Even though it is in english, I love watching it with the english subtitles turned on because the words, while correct in and of themselves, are often totally out of context to the movie, and therefore make the movie much more interesting.
Oh, this is priceless-- I am a transcriptionist doing straight transcription as well as editing of VR reports. Dragonism-- what a wonderful word.
ReplyDeleteMay I have your permission to share your blog with my supervisor and coworkers?
GaiaOne- I'd be honored! Please do.
ReplyDeleteI'm another transcriptionist. I understand the poor voice-recognition system's difficult job. I was nearly stumped by a fast-talking doc the other day. I searched the internet for something called "an anthedited H17." After listening multiple times, I realized that the patient "had an aunt that died at age 17."
ReplyDeleteHa! Just discovered your entertaining blog. A favorite of mine was, "The patient was resuscitated with 10 liters of IV Crystal Light."
ReplyDeleteI demo Dragon with our EMR and although it amazes me with its accuracy; it indeed does produce rediculous and comical results at times. These are priceless!
ReplyDeleteToday I had
ReplyDeleteprofessional qualification-->fishing pole station
ROFL!!!!!!
Another IT guy here that had never heard the term before but loves it!
ReplyDeleteIn my non sysadmin life I'm a role playing game designer. A dragonism to me would be
ReplyDelete"Beware, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup"
In my sysadmin life I've seen some real odd things due to voice-rec software. Very few admins will use it "live" (i.e as the primary input to a system [vs keyboard/mouse]) due to the very real chance of doing some serious harm to a system. Not to mention the problem that #*(){}[]| all have several names.