For Staff Pharmacists ·
What you'll accomplish
By the end of this guide, you'll have Otter.ai set up to automatically transcribe your MTM counseling sessions. Instead of taking notes while trying to listen and counsel at the same time, you'll record the conversation, let Otter transcribe it, and then use that transcript to generate your SOAP documentation in a fraction of the time.
What you'll need
What you should see: The Otter.ai home screen with a large record button (circle with microphone icon) in the center. Troubleshooting: If microphone access is denied, go to your phone's Settings → Apps → Otter.ai → Permissions → Microphone and enable it.
Before using Otter.ai in any patient encounter:
What you should see: The recording screen shows a waveform moving as it captures audio, and a running transcription begins appearing on screen in near-real-time.
When the session ends, tap the Stop button (square icon). Otter.ai automatically saves the recording and generates a complete transcript.
What you should see: A scrollable text document of the full conversation, with different speakers labeled (Speaker 1, Speaker 2). Troubleshooting: If transcription quality is poor, try speaking more directly toward the phone and ensure you're in a quieter area of the pharmacy.
Copy the key portion of the transcript — your recommendations, patient responses, and agreed-upon medication changes. Open ChatGPT or Claude and paste it with this prompt:
Turn this MTM session transcript into a SOAP clinical note. Patient is [age, sex] with [diagnoses]. Format as: Subjective (patient's reported concerns and medication experiences), Objective (medications reviewed, clinical data), Assessment (issues identified), Plan (recommendations and patient education documented).
Transcript: [paste transcript]
In 20–30 seconds, you have a structured SOAP note ready to review and paste into your MTM documentation platform.