Follow-up on voice-recognition software
Tech Talk. By Tom Savel, MD, amednews contributor. Feb. 26, 2001.
I'd like to thank everyone for their comments about my column in the Jan. 29 American Medical News regarding voice-recognition software. Here are a few of the comments, as well as my responses.
Question I have been testing VR software for the past three years with hopes that it will, one day, work. Despite what your column said, it is not here yet. I have changed microphones and have a computer with 256 MB of RAM, yet the best I can achieve with VR is between 75% and 80% recognition. The time I must spend checking the results, let alone correcting misrecognized words, keeps sending me back to two-finger typing, which is faster and more accurate. I believe your column was premature, but I hope that within the next couple of years VR will become feasible for everyday use.
Answer I agree. More advances must be made in the technology before it can become widely accepted in the health care industry.
One useful feature found in most of the software packages, which you may already be using, is the ability to create "macros" or "templates." This feature will not only speed up your note generation but also help you standardize your notes.
You can be quite global, or get very granular, all depending on your preferences. In other words, you can quickly build a note using multiple macros or one large one. For example, you can build a normal abdominal exam macro, a complete physical exam macro or a hypertension follow-up visit macro.
[...]
Full text of
American Medical News content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2001 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
SHARE
