Medical Transcription Software and Electronic Medical Records
Voice Recognition Software (VRS)
Voice Recognition Software (VRS) systems have improved steadily over the past two decades, but are probably not yet sophisticated enough to be a cost-effective medical transcription solution. VRS is computer software that transcribes digital voice recordings. VRS systems specifically designed for medical transcription are considerably more expensive than general transcription VRS. If you (or your healthcare facility) are trying to determine whether to use VRS, consider the following points:
- Time Factor: VRS takes time away from the physician. Using it entails continually ‘retraining’ the program, which is very sensitive to changing speech patterns, different accents, and does not recognize many words and names.
- Clarity of Recording: Non-verbal noises that commonly exist in the dictation process seriously affect the functioning of VRS.
- Linguistic Factor: VRS will type what you say – and the language will appear unstructured. While poor speech habits complicate the transcription process for medical transcriptionists too, a medical transcriptionist is able to mark reports as unintelligible, but VRS will transcribe the unintelligible word(s) from the existing database of "learned" language.
- Formatting: Part of a professional transcriptionist’s work is to format the final medical transcript. Most VRS do not perform this function
Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
Electronic medical records are extremely useful support tools for healthcare providers, and are generated in one of two ways: Medical Transcription, or ‘point and click templates.’ In the medical transcription process, doctors dictate medical information into a phone or a recording device, and a medical transcriptionist receives the digital dictation and transcribes it. The digital medical transcript file is e-mailed to the healthcare provider or transferred to a website to be downloaded by the provider later. The second option is for physicians to enter medical data directly into the EMR by selecting (pointing and clicking) the appropriate choice from lists of choices in pre-designed templates, producing a document that is very much like a medical transcript. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages of point and click templates
- Physicians can control or change the layout of the template
- Accuracy (medical errors are reduced since the data is documented in customized forms)
- Enhanced storage / organization of medical data for subsequent retrieval
- Turnaround time (medical information is created within the EMR and is available immediately upon completion)
Disadvantages of point and click templates
- The process takes up much of the physician’s time
- Customization of templates may be difficult and costly
- Unacceptable to health care providers who are not technically inclined
- The final document is too standardized
- Impracticality of noting patient information on a computer in the presence of the patient
Advantages of Medical Transcription
- Medical dictation is the more familiar and least time-consuming means of data entry
- Convenience (physicians can dictate anytime, anywhere using PDA, Dictaphone, or telephone)
- Medical dictation requires no training
- More freedom to express patients’ individuality
- Medical dictation is less time-consuming
- Keeping in mind the value of a physician’s time, medical transcription may be just as cost-effective as the “point and click” option
Disadvantages of Medical Transcription
- Transcribed medical reports are not immediately available
- It is possible for the health care provider to omit important details if too much time elapses between patient consultation and dictation
Evolving medical transcription software programs are valuable tools when used by skilled medical transcriptionists, and most medical transcription service providers have adopted new technologies such as digital dictation and electronic signature.
The increased use of VRS has not eliminated the need for transcriptionists. On the contrary, it seems to have increased the demand for experienced medical transcriptionists. This is especially true for what is known as “Back-End Voice Recognition” where a physician dictates into a digital dictation system and both the draft document produced by the VRS and the original voice file are sent to a medical transcriptionist who must edit the draft and finalizes the medical transcript.
The shortcomings of medical transcription software mean that transcriptionists using it must have highly developed editing skills. Listening and strong keyboard skills remain essential, too, because medical transcriptionists listen to the recorded content and compare it to the VRS draft. Today, many experienced medical transcriptionists spend more time editing draft-quality documents – produced by inexperienced medical transcriptionists, by VRS and, more recently, by offshore medical transcriptionists.
While Transcriptionsouthcarolina.com can certainly meet all of your digital transcription needs, we do not rely solely on medical transcription software in completing medical transcription projects. We believe that there will always be a need for human medical transcriptionists to ensure quality control of transcripts, dictation, and typing services. Only with the continued support of expert (human) professional medical transcriptionists to manage the process of transcription, can we honor our 99% word-for-word accuracy guarantee on all our transcription, dictation, and typing services. |
