Dedicated Recording Devices More Efficient For Dictation And Clinical Workflows
By Florian Schwiecker, leader of global sales, vice president and director, Speech Processing Solutions
Four out of five physicians use smartphones for patient care-related activities. Considering the ubiquity of smartphones in our culture, that finding is not very surprising. What is concerning is physicians who dictate may be using a voice recording application on their smartphone to capture patient care notes, content for letters, and other sensitive data to be later transcribed.
The problem is smartphones were not designed for dictation. While convenient, the devices create inefficiencies and data security and patient safety risks, especially if the voice recording apps are not properly designed for clinical workflows. Not to mention, they often don’t produce the highest quality recording, so it can be hard to hear upon playback.
A better alternative for clinical dictation is to utilize a dedicated, secure, professional mobile voice recorder that still allows the physician to use a smartphone to review patient data and other information, but does not interrupt workflow or create risks. A dedicated recording device also offers sound quality, storage, and battery life benefits that smartphones typically cannot match.
Smartphones Present Benefits And Drawbacks
Integration of smartphones into clinical workflows makes sense. Physicians need to be mobile to ensure they stay productive and are accessible to colleagues and patients. Plus, EHR systems offer their own smartphone apps, so physicians can complete their charting using just one device.
The efficiency and productivity benefits of being able to work from anywhere, however, are offset by the smartphone’s small screen and inability to record while multitasking. For example, when physicians are reviewing a patient’s chart on an EHR app, some voice recording apps force them to switch back and forth between apps to dictate, or do not record while another app is being used.
Switching between the EHR and recording apps, apart from being inefficient and irritating to the provider, also creates patient safety risks. Physicians must rely on their memory about the information they read on the EHR app before switching to the recorder. With data errors responsible for 20 percent of EHR-related medical malpractice claims, the risk of inaccurate data capture during this fast-paced task switching is too significant to ignore.
Dedicated Recording Device Allows For Uninterrupted Workflow
A dedicated professional mobile recorder means physicians never have to take their eyes off what they are examining, whether that is an EHR screen, a paper document or a patient.
Further, professional mobile voice recorders offer data security and features that make it even more convenient and aligned with clinical workflows than a smartphone. For example, professional dedicated recorders, unlike most smartphones, protect recordings with the highest level of encryption to date — 256 bit — compliant with the AES (Advanced Encryption Standard). Files are encrypted in real-time, which means even if the recorder is lost or stolen, the recordings would still be protected. Data confidentiality is further protected on professional dedicated recorders through a PIN code required to access files or play recordings.
Some mobile handheld recorders are designed with smartphone connectivity features so recordings can be securely transferred directly from the device to a cloud-based server where it can be accessed by a transcriptionist. The physician does not need to open a separate application to attach and share recordings, further improving efficiency. In addition, since the recordings would be encrypted during transfer and storage, the exchange would be compliant with the HIPAA Security Rule.
Sound, Memory, And Battery Also Factor In
Apart from these essential security and workflow features, professional dedicated recorders also offer superior recording quality, memory size, and battery life.
Physicians may be dictating in noisy environments such as busy hospital hallways, EHR workstations, and other locations in facilities where numerous voices can be heard. The microphone must be able to capture just the speaker’s voice to not only make the recordings sound clearer, but also to improve transcription promptness and accuracy. Sound clarity ensures the transcriptionist will only need to hear a recording once to understand and document all spoken words. Sound clarity is also crucial for achieving good speech recognition results.
The powerful microphones in dedicated professional recorders, however, do not diminish battery life which is much longer than the 14 hours of the top-rated smartphone battery. Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries in dedicated recorders are not encumbered by numerous other competing energy demands, so devices can record for 50 hours before needing a recharge. With that battery life comes abundant memory. Many professional dedicated recorders offer up to 32GB of memory just for audio files, which is the equivalent of 352 days of continuous recordings.
For physicians who rely on dictation to stay productive and efficient, a smartphone is likely not the best tool for capturing all the complex and detailed information needed to deliver safe and effective patient care. Rather, a dedicated professional mobile voice recorder should be used in conjunction with a smartphone, tablet or laptop to ensure that all data is captured and shared securely and efficiently to facilitate quality, cost-effective care.
About The Author
Florian Schwiecker is leader of global sales, vice president and director at Speech Processing Solutions, the manufacturer of Philips voice technology.