Skip to main content
. 2012 Jan 25;25(4):504–511. doi: 10.1007/s10278-012-9455-9

Table 1.

Error types

Error category Error type Definition Intended/spoken phrase Transcribed/reported phrase
Nonsense Nonsense Passages/words/phrases that make no sense or have no sensible meaning The lungs are clear The lungs nuclear
Missense Missense—translational Translation error that changes the meaning of a phrase/sentence There is no opacity in the left lung There is an opacity in the left lung
Missense—omission Words not transcribed (omitted) that subsequently change the meaning of a phrase/sentence There is no pneumonia There is pneumonia
Missense—human Human error that changes the meaning of a sentence Right lower lobe pneumonia Left lower lobe pneumonia
Spelling/grammar Spelling/grammar—typographical error Grammatical/spelling error resulting in a typographical error that is not a nonsense/missense error The right lung is clear The rgiht lung is clear
Spelling/grammar—homonym Error Misuse of words or phrases that sound the same, but are semantically distinct The right lung is clear The write lung is clear
Spelling/grammar—grammatical error Standard grammatical errors including the use of sentence fragments The lungs are clear The lungs is clear
Improper period use error Duplicate periods or lack of a period at the end of a sentence The lungs are clear. The lungs are clear..
Omission/commission Omission—omission error (other) Omitted word/phrase that does not result in a missense or nonsense error The lungs are clear Lungs are clear
Commission error Retained statement from a standardized template that contradicts the dictated findings or impression There is a hazy opacity obscuring the right hemidiaphragm The lungs are clear. There is a hazy opacity obscuring the right hemidiaphragm
Translational Translational (other) Translation error that does not result in a nonsense/missense error. The resulting sentence still has sensible meaning, as opposed to nonsense errors The lungs are clear The lungs are clean