Patient reports sent in error to physicians with same last names

Call it the case of the two Dr. Meiers.

Dictated patient reports that were meant for Dr. Pamela Meiers in Saskatoon were sent to Dr. Suzanne Meiers in Regina, according to reports recently released by Saskatchewan’s Information and Privacy Commissioner.

In one report, dated Nov. 22, commissioner Ron Kruzeniski outlined two incidents in which residents dictated patient reports meant for Dr. Pamela Meiers, but did not include her first name. In the first incident, Dr. Suzanne Meiers reported she had received a patient report meant for the Saskatoon doctor to the privacy commissioner’s office on July 25. She reported a second, similar incident on Aug. 11. The Saskatoon Regional Health Authority was deemed responsible.

In a second privacy commissioner’s report, Kruzeniski outlined four incidents (one reported in July, one in August and two in September), in which residents dictated reports meant for Dr. Suzanne Meiers in Regina, but they were mistakenly sent to Dr. Pamela Meiers in Saskatoon. The Regina Qu’Appelle Regional Health Authority was deemed responsible.

In all cases, transcripts were created from verbally dictated reports as part of a joint effort by regional health authorities, the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency and 3S Health to create a provincial transcription service with Fluency for Transcription software. Kruzeniski found the Provincial Transcription Services Dictation Manual specifies that the person dictating should include the doctor’s first and last name, specialty and user ID number in their reports. The Provincial Transcription Services Style Guide also states that the transcriptionist is not responsible for finding information that is not included in the dictation.

“In both incidents, the dictating residents did not follow the instructions in the PTS Dictation Manual by neglecting to specify the first name of the doctor nor did they spell out the first and last name of the attending physician. Then, the transcriptionists did not follow the PTS Style Guide when they had insufficient information to select the correct doctor to distribute the patient report,” Kruzeniski wrote in the report pertaining to the SRHA. A similar finding was noted in the report.

Kruzeniski recommended that both health regions and 3sHealth create a process to allow transcriptionists to track instances where a physician’s first name isn’t included in the dictation. He also recommended the health regions and 3sHealth provide annual privacy training to transcriptionists.

Kruzeniski found that the regional health authorities investigated and contained the breaches and notified the affected people.

The dictating residents did not follow the instructions in the PTS Dictation Manual by neglecting to specify the first name of the doctor nor did they spell out the first and last name of the attending physician.