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The Importance of Having Accurate Transcriptions
Since a transcription document is essentially a written version of what someone has said, it’s important that they are done accurately. While some forms of transcription have a little more room for error than others – in fields like HR, media, legal and medical – one small mistake could change the context of an entire document, and potentially put reputations, credibility, jobs or even lives at risk. In these situations, automated transcriptions just don’t cut it – you need a professional who can provide you with accurate transcriptions every time.
Why Do You Need Accurate Transcriptions?
In competitive industries, mistakes can be incredibly costly. Errors in transcription, even small ones, can have significant knock-on effects. In certain industries or situations, the wrong word or phrase in a transcription or a quote being attributed to the wrong speaker, can cause damage to people’s reputations, careers and lives. So every care must be taken to ensure transcriptions are correct from start to finish. On the other side of things, having an accurate representation of discussions can be essential to making key decisions – like whether an employee is at fault for something, if a defendant in a case is telling the truth, or what the side effects of a new trial medication are. Again, the slightest inaccuracy could influence the decision unfairly, so accurate transcription is essential.
In our experience, there are three industries that rely on transcriptions being 100% correct at all times, and who need to find a transcription partner they know they can trust: HR, law and medical.
HR
HR is a huge role with many moving and often changing parts, and one of the biggest challenges they face is paperwork. Meetings, phone calls, virtual conversations, all need to be recorded for legal and ethical purposes, and ensuring they are high quality, comprehensive and accurate is essential. Performance reviews, KPI developments, disciplinaries, recruitment and offboarding interviews are all things HR departments need written records of, but often don’t have the capacity to take accurate notes in the moment. If these meetings are recorded, they can be transcribed for a precise record without making extra work for the HR teams.
But accuracy is key here to make sure everything is done correctly, and no one is mistreated. Inaccurate transcription of a disciplinary meeting, for example, could result in an employee receiving a mark on their record they didn’t deserve, or having the length of a punishment extended because the transcriber wrote a ‘2’ instead of a ‘1’. There is also a need for HR transcription to be confidential, since many of the matters discussed are highly sensitive. Again, this is where outsourcing to a reliable and trustworthy transcription company can be useful, as they will be removed from the company and can have an NDA in place for your protection.
Legal
Whether the matter being discussed is large or small, there is no room for error in most legal cases, and errors in transcribing can be catastrophic. A simple mix up between ‘did’ and ‘didn’t’ could lead to an innocent person being on record as confessing to a crime, which can cause a whole host of problems. That might sound extreme, but in Australia a simple mistranscription – changing the phrase, ‘Did you stop anyone from moving?’ to, ‘Did you push anyone?’ – caused a mistrial in a criminal case, costing thousands of dollars and the inconvenience of a full retrial. Judges have complained that poor quality transcriptions can cause a lot of issues within the court system and can make it difficult for them to make fair decisions. Add to that the fact that the accuracy of a transcript can be used as grounds for an appeal if it isn’t 100% accurate, and it’s not difficult to see why transcription is such a crucial role within law firms. Lives hang in the balance with legal transcriptions in the form of criminal convictions, appeals, civil convictions, financial restitution and reputational damage. This is why legal firms need to use a transcription service that is not only thorough and accurate but has the legal knowledge to understand more complex audio recordings and transcribe them correctly.
Medical
Precise and accurate medical transcription services is a lead priority in healthcare. Any mistakes made during a medical transcription can cost medical practices time, energy and money, as well as put a patient’s health and medical care on the line. Transcription errors can have an impact on such critical things as diagnoses, demographics, terminology, dosage, lab results, operation dates and omissions. Small mistakes really can have a massive impact in the medical world, and making sure your transcriptions are 100% correct could literally be the difference between life and death. If you think that’s an exaggeration, in 2013 a medical facility was fined $140 million because they outsourced their transcriptions of doctors’ orders to a firm in India, who mistakenly wrote ’80’ instead of ‘8’ for an insulin dosage, resulting in the death of a patient. It’s a very real concern for medical professionals, which is why only the best transcription services will do.
At McGowan Transcriptions we provide high quality, accurate transcriptions to a wide variety of businesses, including HR and legal firms, medical teams and more. Our skilled teams understand how vital accuracy is to you, and your transcription will go through rigorous checks to ensure it’s 100% correct before it’s sent on to you. We’ve been transcribing since 1993, so you can be sure we have the experience, expertise and technology to provide you with the most accurate transcriptions possible for your business. If you would like to know more, please just get in touch with the team today.
