Why dictating the patient report is less time consuming than writing it ?
Studies have shown that physician productivity can be enhanced when ER visits, Progress Notes and other Medical Reports are dictated rather than handwritten. According to industry sources, when comparing the writing of Medical reports versus dictating, the average person can dictate at a speed of 85-95 words per minute compared to 20 words per minute for writing. To illustrate, a document of 85 lines takes 25 minutes to write versus 5 minutes to dictate. This translates to a ratio of about 5:1; i.e., 5 minutes of writing takes only 1-minute to dictate. Using this time savings ratio, one can conclude that a dictating physician, saves many hours per eight-hour shift.
