The use of speech as an integral tool to clinical documentation and the capture of clinical knowledge continues to expand. In this piece from Healthcare IT News (Busy physicians want to leverage power of dictation) Dr Levine an OBGYN resident reports his experiences and states
speech recognition software allows me to "interpret out loud" and document at the same time. For example, when reviewing an electronic fetal heart monitor tracing or reading an EKG, it is much easier to say what I see, as I read it, than see, type, read, see, type, etc.
It really is easier, less distracting to the process and while some will find the experience difficult in front of the patient there are some benefits to this method that include engaging & educating patients and the additional check of the content by someone who probably has the biggest vested interest in the accuracy of the record and the contribution this has to a successful outcome
Don’t miss this boat – as Dr Levine states “I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until we all have workstations that have microphones, because speech recognition truly is the way of the future”. It may not fit in all instances and there are good reasons texting is popular, voice remains the fastest and most efficient means of communicating. Speech technology is integrating this into our healthcare world to make life easier and more efficient.
