Facilitating Patient Documentation with Voice Recognition Software for EHRs
Though electronic health record software is relatively new to health care, voice recognition software has been around for quite some time. In the past, healthcare professionals used the software to dictate notes when charting on paper, and the notes eventually made it into patients’ charts with the help of medical transcriptionists. With EHR software, however, things have changed.
Most EHR systems, for example, now include a voice recognition feature – and its capabilities are much more advanced than they were even a few short years ago. In the past, when the software produced a block of text, it had to read carefully and edited for spelling and grammatical errors and other inconsistencies. Today’s voice recognition software, however, is much more complete. It includes medical vocabularies for multiple specialties, and it can learn speech patterns, voices and inflections.
Doctors are able to use speech recognition software to document patient data in real time, eliminating the middle man and saving time. Instead of dictating notes for a transcriptionist, for example, physicians can simply talk into a mic and see their notes in front of them on the screen, already in the patient’s chart. This helps ensure that EHR software records are kept up to date and that the most accurate information is being saved in each patient’s chart at the time of the encounter.
Aside from allowing doctors to add free text into patients’ charts, voice recognition software also allows healthcare professionals to perform other tasks. This includes selecting items from drop down menus within the EHR and navigating through other options within visit templates and EHR menus and screens. This not only makes documenting patient visit easier, but adds to the ease of use of electronic health record software.
Are you considering switching to an EHR and looking for a software system with voice recognition capabilities? Learn about the cost and time-saving benefits of medical speech recognition software by contacting us online today.