2025-11-17 – Weekly Medical Transcription News : Strangest dictation moments shared

Last week, our community engaged in discussions that ranged from practical transcription challenges to personal stories and experiences. Members delved into the nuances of using apostrophes in eponyms, shared amusing transcription errors like “noncontrast CT” turning into “noncontract seat,” and reflected on their journeys into the field of medical transcription. There was also lively conversation around unusual dictations and the most challenging accents to transcribe.


This Week’s Hot Topics

Eponyms: apostrophe or no
This conversation dives into the grammar of medical terms, specifically whether eponyms should have apostrophes. It’s a detail-oriented discussion that could impact your transcription accuracy.
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Noncontrast CT became noncontract seat
A humorous thread about transcription errors that highlights the importance of attention to detail and the occasional laughs that come with the job.
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FAQ/Guidelines
This essential read provides clarity on navigating the forum, ensuring you can participate effectively and get the most out of our community.
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Admin Guide: Getting Started
If you’re new to the forum, this guide is a handy starting point to familiarize yourself with the platform’s features and etiquette.
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What Got You Into Medical Transcription?
Members share their personal stories about entering the field, providing inspiration and insight into our diverse professional journeys.
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What’s the Strangest Dictation You’ve Ever Transcribed?
This thread is a collection of odd and entertaining dictations that remind us of the unpredictability of our work.
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What’s Your Biggest Beginner Mistake?
An honest discussion about early missteps, offering valuable lessons for newcomers to avoid similar pitfalls.
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What’s the Most Mispronounced Medical Term You’ve Heard?
Explore the often humorous side of medical terminology with this thread on common mispronunciations.
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What’s the Longest Medical Term You’ve Ever Transcribed?
Dive into the complexity of medical language with this thread on lengthy terms that challenge even seasoned transcribers.
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What’s the Hardest Accent to Transcribe?
A lively exchange about different accents and the unique challenges they pose, offering tips and tricks for improvement.
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Looking forward to seeing your contributions in the upcoming discussions. Have a productive week, and happy transcribing!

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I keep a “gotchas” list in my expander: one rule auto-fixes “noncontract seat” to “noncontrast CT” and another forces me to review eponyms for apostrophes. It saves me from those drive-by errors, but I’ll toggle rules off in templates where quirky phrasing is intentional — autocorrect on espresso can be reckless. If something still looks off, I leave a brief QA note so the reviewer knows what I heard.

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Quick tip: I mapped my foot pedal to replay the last 2 seconds at 0.85x, which makes ‘noncontrast CT’ vs ‘noncontract seat’ clear and cut my corrections a ton. > still looks off, I leave a brief QA note so the reviewer knows what I heard. Same here — I add a tiny timestamped note, but the slow-replay pass usually prevents it; small slowdown, fewer QA bounces.

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Added a hard stop in my radiology template so I must choose “noncontrast” or “with contrast” before finalizing, which killed the “noncontract seat” slips; on eponyms, I do a fast end-of-job find and switch apostrophes per client style (, the inconsistency). If the dictation’s mushy, a slight 3 kHz boost on my headset makes “contrast” jump out.

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Piggybacking on @hazelcar804’s idea, I added a last-pass Ctrl+F for “contract” in imaging reports; if it pops near CT/MRI phrasing, I swap to “contrast” before sending… It takes five seconds and has caught a bunch of gremlins, though it occasionally flags legit terms like a “pain contract,” so I just check the context. Saves me from debating contract law with radiology.

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