Medical Voice Recognition Technology - Pros and Cons

Medical voice recognition technology has reshapedhundreds of thousands of accumulated cost
the landscape of medical documentation. Now,savings as there would be no more need to hire
physicians and medical facilities do not need tomedical transcriptionists. Medical information could
wait for many days or weeks just to documentalso be made accurate and reliable.
important medical data about patients. With theThere could be possible disadvantages to using
advanced medical transcription technology,medical voice recognition in medical documentation
information could be easily filed in electronicprocesses. First, there could be limitations in the
medical records so that retrieval of data could betechnology, especially when it comes to
made accurately, quickly, and conveniently.recognizing phonetics, which is not also spared on
In the past, physicians needed to dictate theirhuman transcriptions. For example, the word 'urine'
narratives in tape recorders, which need to becould be transcribed by a voice recognition
turned over to a third-party transcription servicessoftware as 'you're in,' the word 'nitrate' could be
provider within a few days for transcribing of'night rate,' and so on. To remedy the situation,
information. The process is long, winding, andthe services of professional medical
tedious, aside from being costly. It usually takestranscriptionists may still be required.
about a week at the fastest rate to complete aAs usual, the output of medical voice recognition
medical transcription job. The fees could also beprogram needs to be proofread. Many
significant when accumulated in a year. Thus,practitioners and transcriptionists complain that it
medical transcription has made itself a lucrativeusually takes longer to proofread and correct
sector of the medical industry. Now, with theerrors than to transcribe the voice recordings.
advent of medical voice recognition technology,This is one limitation that designers and
medical documentation would not need to rely tomanufacturers of the technology are still working
medical transcriptionists. Medical facilities couldon. Many doctors also complain about accuracy of
have their text format data on their own just bytranscriptions and the quality. There are more
installing and using appropriate voice recognitionsophisticated programs that could offer more
and transcription software.solutions and fewer setbacks, but they are more
The advantage of the technology is quite obvious.expensive than the rest.
Time is significantly cut short. Now, medicalLastly, investing in medical voice recognition could
documents could be transcribed for electronic filingbe costly. One-time costs for purchasing and
in just a day or two as against a week in theinstalling the software could be expensive, but
conventional practice. Medical facilities could benefitmany users attest that it would all be worth it. In
significantly from that. Costs overall could also bethe end, disadvantages would be outweighed by
reduced. When taken annually, there could bethe practical advantages of using the technology.