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Doctor says it is faster, more accurate and less frustrating
WARREN
Doctors at Mercy Health’s St. Joseph Warren Hospital have tested new electronic medical-record technology, which they say is freeing up time, improving accuracy and removing some of the frustration associated with required electronic record keeping.
“Since I started using the software, it has really cut down the time I have to spend on the computer,” said Dr. Marc Saunders with St. Joseph’s.
Instead of typing out their notes as they had to in the past, doctors at St. Joseph are trying out a software known as Dragon Medical, which allows them to speak their notes into a microphone. The software then transcribes the notes and adds them to the patient’s electronic medical record, which can be immediately accessed by the patient’s other caregivers, Dr. Saunders said.
Also, he said the new software is easy to learn to use.
“You just have to talk about 20 minutes until the software learns your voice. It doesn’t require a person to transcribe notes. If you speak at a normal talking pace, it will understand you,” Dr. Saunders said.
Doctors are required to maintain electronic records, which required that everyone learn how to type.
“I spent a lot of time correcting typos. We had better communications when we were handwriting notes. Now corrections are very, very rare,” he said.
The software has improved communications between doctors, and that makes for a better experience for the patients, he said.
“You can use it for orders you want to put in, dictating letters and other tasks. It interfaces very well with the software. It is a great way to get our true voice heard and down on paper, so to speak. Basically, it has made it easier to do our jobs,” said Dr. Saunders, who is also in private practice in Warren.
In house, all caregivers have to do to access Dragon is create an account and log in. Caregivers outside the hospital have to buy appropriate software to access the program, he said.
It also is faster.
“What used to take 20 minutes takes five minutes or less,” Dr. Saunders said.
“The best part is it is improving patient safety because the notes are complete. They are thorough, and the different care providers, when they access the medical records, see exactly the picture for the patient,” said Kathy Cook, president of St. Joseph.
St. Joseph was chosen to test the software because a number of its physicians already use Dragon Medical. The hospital’s parent company, Mercy Health, is considering implementing the software in all of its Ohio hospitals, officials said.
The pilot project has been extended for three more months, and it is being expanded to additional users.
About 70 participated in the initial phase. The goal is to have about 100 users participate in the second phase, said Dr. Justin McGoldrick, Mercy Health associate medical informatics officer.
Dr. McGoldrick said response so far has been “overwhelmingly positive” with physicians reporting that their notes are more detailed and the process more efficient. Also, results of the pilot program indicate the more time physicians spend in the hospital, the more likely they are to be heavy users of Dragon.
Dragon will continue to be available at St. Joseph after the pilot program ends.
Results of the pilot program will be presented at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society annual meeting in April 2016, hospital officials said.