spelling and grammar in EMS run reports

[Just Plain Ruff]

Does spelling and grammatical errors in patient run reports indicate shoddy or poor patient care? Please discuss!

this is bound to get some heated responses but it's something Dust and I have been discussing via private messages.

[akflightmedic]

Does it indicate poor care?.....No, I dont think so..What it really does is imply or gives off the impression of poor care.

I use this mode of thinking when evaluating anyone. If my medical records are filled with nothing but poor grammar and spelling errors by my doctor and nurses, I would begin to question their intelligence, then that would lead me to question the answers they have been giving me for whatever treatment I have been receiving.

So, if I were a lawyer in court and their report I received was filled with errors, you bet your arse that I am going to attack the education and training of the medical provider to prove a point and make everything their fault.

I do understand minor mispellings will occur from time to time, but if it never improves, then there are deeper issues. I have to check my work all the time due to the fact that I transpose letters and numbers quite frequently. Little touch of lysdexia(lol).

[Dustdevil]

Of course, here in the forum, there is no excuse for it. One literally has to go out of their way to scroll past the "Spell Check" button to hit the "Submit" button. It is literally easier to post a spell-checked message here than to post without it, yet people still do it.

So, my point is that poor grammar is usually a sign of much, much more than poor writing skills. It is frequently a sign of ignorance, laziness, a refusal to abide to established standards, a willingness to settle for substandard performance, and just an all around poor attitude. I wouldn't tolerate it form my medics.

[Michael]

Eye halve a spelling chequer

It came with my pea sea,

It plainly marques four my revue

Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word

And weight for it two say,

Weather eye and wring oar write

It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid

It nose bee fore two long,

And eye can put the error rite

Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it

I am shore your pleased two no,

Its letter perfect awl the weigh

My chequer tolled me sew.

-Sauce unknown

[akflightmedic]

Kind of funny that I made the very same mistake I was writing about. Anyways, I edited it. There is a reason I do not use spellcheck ever. First of all, I am constantly making myself practice by trying to slow my racing thoughts as I type and force myself to go back and reread my work several times looking for errors. Despite all this, I still transpose letters unless I come back 30 mins or later I usually don't catch it right away. I think we as a society rely on assistance aids way too much instead of learning the correct way in our brains first. If you read my posts, you will see they all have been edited at least once, unless I have had enough time to let it sit before submission.

ok I caught my 2 mistakes on this one before submitting...proud of me Dust??

Aside from the spell check, I have to agree with most of Dust's comments.

Dang it, found another..had to edit..lol

[bandaidpatrol]

Just because I can't spell the world longest medical term, doesn't mean I was a bad medic.

[vs-eh?]

Admittedly, even though I am fairly verbose on this forum and on ACR's, I am terrible at spelling and grammar. I have been all through highschool, university, and college. Anytime I did any type of formal essay or anything I would always have a friend/significant other read it over (even after spell checks) to make sure it "jived".

Unfortunately ACR's lack a spell check. But fortunately nobody can read my handwriting. Suffice it to say, doctors don't bug me about forms. :thumbleft:

Unless there are a lot of gross spelling and grammar errors that even an average person would say "whoa, who is Johnny Grammarstien here?" Then I wouldn't necessarily call it into a lack of intelligence.

[Ridryder 911]

I have became too lazy on spell check.. but what the heck. Now in other forums I have to google some dictionary...LOL Usually it always the simple words, like i before e..

I do agree that charting should be accurate and grammar as possible. I have a partner, that can not spell CPR.. so I bought him medical pocket dictionary to carry at all times. The i review his run report. It is also as essential to have a flow of the sheet, not just plugging things here and there.

Be safe,

R/R 911

[Dustdevil]

The dictionary is a good point, Rid. When I was a cop, I noticed that every guy I worked with had a dictionary in his briefcase. And they all used them frequently when writing reports. In fact, it was stressed in the police academy.

Your partner would be the first medic I have ever known to carry one. It's pretty damn sad that cops are more professional about their documentation than us so-called medical professionals. Again, I would not tolerate it from my medics. They are too easily replaced.

Sure enough, spell check caught two in the above post!

[rat115]

I have to admit that I drive some of the folks on my service up the wall when I point out the grammatical errors. I try to have someone go over mine for spelling errors because I know that spelling is one of my weeknesses. I'm waiting to see if our new computers have a better grammer and spell checker than our old computer in the shed.

I think it's important to put our best "foot" forward in our reports. I know that errors are human, but that doesn't mean that consistent mistakes in writing the reports is a good thing. I, also, agree with idea of keeping a dictionary near. The rest of the folks that are on the crew here have no idea of what all is carried in my purse.