Medical professionals, including physicians, surgeons, psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, and more have long been hamstrung by medical dictation. They would have to find time after seeing patients update electronic medical records (EMRs) or try to fit dictation in during their busy days. But now, Dragon Medical One, a voice recognition software designed specifically for medical professionals is changing the dictation landscape. Here’s why medical professionals are praising this software for helping them become more efficient.

Real-time updates

Medical dictation is a chore that is universally disliked in the medical profession, not because doctors don’t want to update patients’ records, but because of the time, it takes away from actually attending to patients’ needs. This task is often put off in favour of assessing and treating patients, leaving holes in patients’ records until they can be updated.

Now, with Dragon Medical One, medical professionals are finding that they can update a patient’s EMR immediately after seeing a patient. Not only does this ensure that the notes are put in when they are still fresh in the doctor’s mind, but it also gets this necessary, but time-consuming task over right away. They don’t have to spend hours after seeing patients dictating their notes or sacrifice their weekends to get it done. 

This feature also offers benefits to patients. Since doctors can update their EMRs right in front of patients, they are able to ask any questions about their assessment or treatment right then and there. They don’t have to wait until they see the doctor again if they’re confused and they don’t have to wonder what is in their EMR. 

Medical term recognition

What separates Dragon Medical One from other speech recognition programmes is that it was designed specifically for medical professionals. This means that it recognizes medical terms and medication names that other software might not, which makes it easier for medical professionals to dictate their notes and not have to fix a bunch of errors. Accuracy is important for any speech recognition software, particularly for one that patients’ treatments rely on. 

Moreover, if there are terms that the software doesn’t recognize, they can be easily added to the program’s vocabulary list so that it only needs to be corrected once. This also works for acronyms, which most speech recognition software has difficulty with. For example, if the person speaks the acronym JHOC, they will need to add the acronym to the vocabulary list to teach Dragone Medical One to type JHOC instead of Jayhawk. 

Auto-text features speed up dictation

Medical professionals can also program the software to input specific sentences and phrases when they say a certain word. For instance, if they have the same follow-up instructions for every patient, they can simply say “insert follow-up instructions” and their pre-written instructions will appear in the correct place. This eliminates the need to repeat the same instructions over and over again.

Takeaway

Medical dictation is always going to be a critical part of patient care, but now, thanks to Dragon Medical One, it doesn’t have to be an inefficient, arduous process. Instead, it can be a part of every patient visit, infusing transparency and better communication into the patient-doctor relationship.

Robert Haynes did his degree in psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. He is interested in mental health and well-being.