Monday, March 6, 2017

Dragon makes me sound racist

I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with the dictation program Dragon.  It dictates everything you say in real time, which is good because you can correct errors as you go, but bad because the only one reading your notes to make sure they're correct is yourself.

Now I always read over my notes.  But I'm a human being and mistakes can be missed.  One of the more annoying mistakes that Dragon makes with horrifying frequency is:

Patient --> Asian

So instead of my note saying, "Patient is feeling well," the note says, "Asian is feeling well."  Which is a mistake that I really don't appreciate.  Especially if the patient is Asian.

It also sometimes dictates "patient" as "Haitian."

8 comments:

  1. Try enunciating on the last letter a little bit more so that the t comes out a little more crisp/noticeable. By picking Asian and Haitian it's almost there, but not quite and it's trying to guess the right word. If it were using patience instead of Asian, it's going in the opposite direction in terms of trying to find the word that matches with the sound you're producing.

    So try saying the ending more crisply and see if that clues it into choosing the word you want, then eventually learning that word for your pronunciation. Which might be asking a bit much of the program but there's always hope!

    ReplyDelete
  2. i listened to a colleague of mine try to teach Dragon swear words for over an hour. He wanted to be able to directly quote foulmouthed pt, but didn't want to bother typing in the colourful metaphors

    ReplyDelete
  3. Having the word "Asian" does not make you sound racist. I checked with my Asian wife and she agrees with me. Now the words "Celestial" or "Oriental" might ring some bells...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dragon is a wonderful program! I have a severely disabled friend who uses it. It has made her life so much easier even when it makes errors.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Try saying Mr or Ms and using their last name. It is even more proffesional and shows you are trying to actually think of the patient as a person

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am sorry, but this is ridiculous how the political correctness got crazy! We are afraid to say anything and we need to explain everything to "don't be a racist". You're not! This program isn't as well! :) It's just a funny mistake, that's all. :D

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am a little surprised people are coming hear to shout about political correctness? So you should totally be cool with this in the medical record if it weren't for those crazy PC liberals these days?
    "Asian" is not a noun! You don't say "The White was feeling well". Its even weirder when they aren't Asian, of course!

    ReplyDelete