Medical documentation is very important when it comes to patient care because it includes all healthcare details of the patient such as patient history, test results, diagnoses, procedures, providers and so on. It provides a complete picture of all outcomes and conclusions. Dictation is an easier option for physicians compared to entering all the required details in the electronic health record system. Today, EHR-integrated medical transcription is provided by medical transcription companies that allow physicians to continue with their practice of dictation. Professional transcriptionists will listen to the dictated medical data and enter all the required details into the EHR. Another option for physicians is to use reliable dictation software. Medical document production can be made more efficient and quick with speech recognition software and by outsourcing medical transcription.
Manually typing up data into a system amounts to wasting a good amount of time on something that could be automated. Nowadays automated speech recognition (ASR) software platforms are widely used by healthcare entities. The speech recognition software converts spoken words into text format. Automated speech recognition relies on deep learning models including deep neural networks and many of their variants.
This is not only convenient but also speeds up the rate at which text is entered into the system. There are also dictation apps that allow you to speak into your mobile device or computer.
Here are some reliable dictation software physicians can use to dictate their notes:
- Dragon Medical One from Nuance: This software is designed for speed, accuracy, and flexibility. It offers personalized vocabularies and templates that can be accessed and shared across a number of devices. A secure, cloud-based speech platform for medical professionals, it allows secure documentation of complete patient care in the EHR. This dictation software is highly versatile and allows the user to set up custom commands. It is also highly, almost 99%, accurate. Moreover, it learns better, the more you talk to it. By identifying your voice to a specific user profile, Dragon analyzes what you say and how you correct it to make it more accurate.
- Apple Dictation: By default, Apple Dictation requires the internet to work and for doing an enhanced dictation, you need OS X v10.9 or later for a speech of more than 30 seconds duration. It is a good choice if you own a Mac or iOS device. It is free and easy to use. Apple Dictation is also highly accurate. Disadvantages are that it is only available on Mac and iOS devices; and you cannot use it to dictate into Google Docs.
- Gboard: Available for both Android and iOS, it requires an internet connection to function. It has an accuracy of 90.1%. It is powered by Google and allows users to use their voice to enter text as well as search Google for any information you may need. Gboard transcribes everything you dictate in real time, without any time limit. It is the fastest dictation app with a low accuracy, and supports 185+ languages.
- Google Docs: Google Docs contains a built-in tool for dictation called Voice Typing, which is available when running Google chrome. Voice Typing offers many voice commands for formatting, editing, and navigating the page as you write. If you work primarily in Google Docs and are looking for a free dictation software, it’s a good option. It supports 119 languages and has an accuracy rate of 94.4%.
- ListNote: It is an app that can be used in Android devices. It works on the basis of classic notepad functionality with voice dictation. It offers password protection as well as backup and encryption options. It supports all languages offered in Google’s dictation services.
- Express Dictate: Express dictate performs digital audio recording with superb signal processing quality. The software works like a Dictaphone with its Voice Activated Recording feature, which avoids long silences in a recording. It lets you use your PC or Mac to send dictation to your typist by email, Internet or over the computer network.
The most important aspect in selecting a dictation software program is finding the one which suits your language and the purpose of using it. Dictation along with speech recognition ensures that your dictation files are processed into text files automatically. In this setup, transcriptionists provided by medical transcription services can work as editors, proofreading and editing the transcripts prepared by the software and ruling out any error. Another option is outsourcing medical transcription. You can send audio files safely and securely to a medical transcription company and get them transcribed within your required turnaround time. This is a much preferred option because it is much more cost-effective in the long term than in-house transcription. It also frees up the time of your in-house staff for other administrative tasks. Providers can also consider outsourcing transcription in peak times for a short term and thereby reduce backlogs and speed up patient care.
