Technology Leading the Way, Physicians Prosper

Time is money, especially for clinicians who may see up to a hundred patients a day. But technology is rapidly expanding to meet the needs of these healthcare providers and free them to do what they do best, take care of patients.

Smart phones, speech recognition, and text management are all part of what’s now available to physicians to help them organize and run their days more efficiently and productively.

Sennheiser, a worldwide manufacturers of microphones, headphones and wireless transmission systems recently announced its DW Pro1 wireless headset, now being used by many clinicians to easily and accurately capture patient data, according to a story at tmcnet.com.

Text management solutions by Entrada are another way technology is making it easier for physicians. Entrada’s solutions let physicians not to “be slowed down with text fields, drop-down menus or checklists to create and edit clinical documents.”

They can still dictate their notes but now instead of having to write them down, then search endlessly later for the information through dozens of pages, they can now speak into speech-recognition devices that record their notes as they speak and then have these notes filed and stored in places like Entrada's data center for fast, accurate conversion to text.

But it doesn’t end there. Physicians using Entrada solutions can then review, edit, and sign their notes electronically, and have them automatically shared with all requested facilities, according to Entrada. The company offers a series of applications to help physicians, including its core applications Entrada Desktop™ and Entrada Mobile™ that “sync with a provider’s existing practice management software to build the physician’s active worklist, pre-populated with patient demographic information and organized by  office visits, surgery, consultation, etc.”

Through a user interface on their computer or mobile device, Entrada says that physicians can securely use this list to capture high-quality voice dictation files. “Then, with a tap of a finger, these voice files are processed, edited and then tagged with essential, searchable data that facilitates EHR data capture,” the company says. If a patient cancels an appointment, the physician’s work list updates in real time on all of his or her devices, improving workflow.

Mobile apps on iPhones are another way technology is reshaping the healthcare provider’s world. Using these apps, physicians can do everything from advising on kidney stones to looking up dosage information and prescribing, all on the go.

Perhaps the most popular technology being used by physicians now is the tablet, notably the iPad. Several industries have taken an interest in the iPad since its inception, according to Brian Reed, chief marketing officer and vice president of products for BoxTone, a mobility management company, in a story by Pamela Lewis Dolan at ama-assn.org. But "health care is one that lit up like a neon sign."

Dolan attributes physician attraction to the iPad for its ease of use, size, portability, long-lasting battery power and relatively low cost of adoption, allowing clinicians “the best thing to paper charts, for a price that (doesn’t) break the bank.”