Health Centre

Patient Administration at The Quarter Jack Surgery Revolutionised by Speech Recognition

The Quarter Jack Surgery in Wimborne, Dorset has made some recent changes to patient administration that should be drawn to the attention of the Modernisation Programme. The purpose built surgery, opened in 1992 is setting new standards in efficiency since implementing a digital dictation system based on ScanSoft's Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional speech recognition software and GHG document and workflow processing software.

Immense improvements in patient-related administration have been seen since all eight GP’s switched from manual to digital dictation. Most referrals are processed the same day and administrators are so much more productive that even the fastest typist is happy to use the system.

Sheila Scott, IT manager, explains that the new system is “Heaven! Within two weeks of installing the speech recognition solution we were completely up to date with all administration. We have easily doubled productivity and there are no Lloyd George tapes or paper notes to cope with.” Sheila modestly qualifies this by mentioning the nineteen letters that she produced in an hour and a half; notwithstanding the other tasks that she was free to do while the software processed the letters!

The partners used to dictate into analogue tape recorders. Accurate transcription was often made difficult by poor quality recordings. The medical secretaries then had to audio type to transcribe the files which were finally sent back to the GP for proofing. The whole process was relatively slow and labour intensive.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking® speech recognition was implemented in the surgery. Using Olympus DS 3000 digital recorders, the GPs dictate their notes and reports. The Olympus recorders include software which routes the files around the network and queues them for processing. They are then uploaded into Dragon NaturallySpeaking which converts them into digital documents. GHG DocPro handles the workflow associated with document transcription, proof reading and finished document production; sorts the documents and drops each one into the active file on the Premiere Synergy Clinician database. The medical secretary can edit the document as necessary and issue it immediately for final authorisation or despatch. The system has been carefully integrated by GHG Software Developments to provide a seamless workflow with minimal administrative interaction.

After thorough training the GPs committed to working with the new system. Initially an archive of old referrals was uploaded to populate the Dragon vocabulary to enhance accuracy with good results.

Now the practice is looking to streamline other routines with the technology. One of the partners, Dr Skule, has used the macro capability of Dragon NaturallySpeaking to build a command that automates the baby check. Both Dr Skule and Dr Reid have used the Voice Recognition software to enter longer clinical notes during/after consultation and saving typing time.   Sheila Scott plans to use the technology to administer flu jab schedules  faster and is confident that it can be leveraged further to combat the surfeit of bureaucracy. The bottom line is that it’s not only time that this system is saving. It’s clear that administrative staff costs can be reduced significantly too as productivity increases.

Since this report was produced all 11 doctors now have Dragon NaturallySpeaking® 7 speech recognition software on their desktop machines.