How medical speech recognition software can improve doctor experience

The doctor-patient relationship is under increasing strain thanks to the additional responsibilities’ clinicians face. Yet, doctors need to be able to get to the core of a patient’s problems to effectively diagnose and treat them.

To achieve this, clear communication is key, and doctors and patients need enough time to build a significant connection. But today’s doctors have so many responsibilities in fulfil outside of their patient-facing roles. This includes tasks like data entry into their Electronic Health Record systems, where they must update patient records to ensure everyone has access to the right clinical information.

To boost hospital’s operational efficiency and give doctors more time with patients, many tools have been developed on top of their existing EHR system to help boost productivity.

Digital dictation and speech recognition are two such tools, which allow doctors to reduce their paper-intensive (and often antiquated) document workflows, ultimately to save time and spend more time with the patient.

What’s more, digital dictation and speech recognition can improve the doctor experience across the patient workflow. When it comes to dictation systems, healthcare professionals need to make the right choice. Here’s how these tools achieve this:

#1 Less paperwork

T-Pro’s Speech Recognition system reduces paperwork for doctors at both the front-end and back-end.

Using front-end speech recognition, doctors can dictate their consultations directly in the EHR or any third-party system, while at their desk or on the move using their preferred device. They can create patient reports in real-time, where their words are transcribed onto their screen, can be self-edited and signed, once complete. This eliminates spelling errors and saves hours of precious time that can then be spent with patients.

Our T-Pro Dictate solution also handles all the stages in the documentation process, allowing clinicians to create, sign and distribute patient reports in real time.

What’s more, using T-Pro’s integrated speech recognition, clinicians can use their voice to navigate or fill forms and reduce “click fatigue”. They can also use voice commands to insert frequently used text paragraphs.

When it comes to back-end speech recognition, doctors can dictate the patient encounter “at the point of care” with greater flexibility using T-Pro’s mobility apps or telephone-based dictation. With T-Pro, clinicians can easily document, review and sign however they want and wherever they want across multiple platforms.

Medical secretaries then receive this pre-processed text, including command-based events, standard text and patient-based information. Compared to paper-based systems, these transcription workflows save time for clerical staff and improve the turnaround time of documents. They also capture corrections from the user, as well as from the wider user base, which are fed into the models to produce increased, system-wide accuracy.

This is all handled in a highly autonomous manner to help you realise further time savings. T-Pro’s speaker-independent, AI-driven speech recognition means that users are not required to train the software and will have a highly accurate speech recognition conversion tool, right out of the box.

In other words, your clinicians are not tied to their desk. Doctors can dictate from anywhere. If you use a solution that works across desktop and mobile devices, this gives clinicians greater freedom, also allowing them to capture the patient encounter at the point of care.

For example, using T-Pro’s mobility apps, clinicians are empowered to record their dictations, access and report on patient appointments, and review and manage documents – all while using a smartphone, tablet or other mobile device.

#2 Better patient care

In the “analogue tape” era, transcription turnarounds were often measured in days. Using front-end speech recognition, that process can take as little as a few minutes.

The information can go directly into an Electronic Health Record (EHR), where it’s shared instantly with other healthcare professionals, billing staff, and the wider health ecosystem. Because patient data can be shared faster than ever before, the quality of care also soars.

The move towards electronic recording and storage of data has also allowed for a more accurate audit trail. This in turn leads to a greater level of standardisation, which in turn contributes to a reduction in clinical risk as a result of more reliable and accurate information.

#3 Improved workflows

Digital files are easier to handle, compared to analogue recordings, and can be integrated with your EHRs to save the doctor time and streamline their documentation processes, automating many manual, repetitive processes.

For example, our system integrates with any health information system, including RIS, PACS, PAS and EHR systems. This allows select patient data to be displayed for clinicians, and also demographic, clinic/visit information to pre-populate letter templates, improving turnaround and reporting accuracy.

What’s more, hospitals can leverage our computer-assisted coding to build workflows that capture structured terminology (ICD-10, SNOMED-CT etc.) from the patient narratives.

Using such systems, recording the patient’s medical journey is a more efficient and straightforward process. Thanks to the reduction in the time it takes to send letters to the patient, for example, patient notes are distributed with greater speed and accuracy.

Captured data can also be recorded in a structured way and analysed in order to provide deeper insights and to forecast future healthcare requirements – allowing doctors and clinical directors to more proactively care for patients.

Dictation systems healthcare professionals need

The T-Pro Dictate solution is a mobile-first enterprise digital dictation and speech recognition solution for healthcare organisations looking to increase productivity, reduce costs and drive innovation. It helps doctors spend time on what matters most – patient care. Click here to find out more.