
Pathology at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital Deploy Medical Dictation Software
The Pathology Department wanted to reduce the workload of secretaries and improve the turnaround times of their letters. Dragon Medical helped them achieve that.
- A medium-sized DGH Cellular Pathology department.
- Handling approx. 30,000 cases per year.
- Reducing the workload of secretaries.
- Improving turnaround times.
- Integrating software into pathology database/LIMS (Telepath).
- A reduced amount of secretarial and administration duties.
- Dragon was installed and functioned successfully on the Pathology database system LIMS.
- Free time available for more pressing matters.
Background
The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital Cellular Pathology Department is a medium-sized DGH Cellular Pathology department.
They handle approx. 30,000 histology cases per year, also with non-gene cytology work and coronial autopsies.
Furthermore, the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital became the main specialist centre for acute surgery. Their new Surgical Assessment Unit, Surgical short-stay unit, and Ambulatory Care facilities make their service extensive.
The hospital also provides a range of other services, including Accident & emergency, outpatients, diagnostics, inpatient medical care, and critical care.
Expert Technical Support
The initial reservation that Shrewsbury Hospital had with going ahead with speech recognition software, was primarily technical based.
There were concerns regarding Dragon’s ability to integrate within the hospital’s existing system (Laboratory Information Management System).
Following a meeting with our manufacturer, Nuance, the Shrewsbury Pathology Department recommended using VoicePower as a means of training and support.
This included the technical support needed to align Dragon with the existing database.
Most noteworthy, VoicePower is proud to be an official Nuance Premier partner and has worked with them for over twenty years.
Compatibility between the two systems was achieved over several months; with several onsite visits, scripting, and remote support, providing a bespoke solution.
Furthermore, VoicePower also assisted the department in constructing a ‘report template’, in which the professionals were able to dictate straight into.
The guidance was also provided by designing a reporting loop. Ultimately, this made it significantly easier for the pathologists to dictate as they were examining a specimen.
This means hands-free dictation, in which the pathologist can record their findings and send them off to the relevant persons.
Additionally, the client also highlights the ongoing support that the department has received since installing the software. Ranging from email, phone calls, and remote sessions.
User-Centred Software
Shrewsbury Pathology Department is a prime example of the way in which VoicePower can tailor Dragon software to suit the needs of its users.
VoicePower’s software solutions were so successful that it was then rolled out to the other consultants with the help of onsite training visits.
“We would certainly recommend VoicePower to other departments.” – Royal Shrewsbury Pathology Department
The Pathology Department also commended the “friendly service“ of VoicePower and their “technological know-how” and ability to “adapt the software for our individual departmental needs.”
Dragon Medical Dictation Software
With Dragon Medical, clinical letters can be dictated directly, up to three times faster than typing. This helps to meet targets to get discharge letters to patients within 24 hours.
With accurate reporting central to delivering optimised patient care, Dragon Medical’s accuracy rates of up to 99% ensure clear, accurate, and timely clinical letters.
To ensure consistent accuracy, Dragon Medical has been optimised for non-native speakers too. Importantly, it also includes new medical vocabularies covering almost 80 specialities and sub-specialities.
The technology uses acoustic models based on the unique way clinicians speak -audio, syntax, style, and structure – resulting in remarkable accuracy.
Dictate for real-time speech-to-text audio recordings to create clinical documentation.
See Dragon Medical in action at The Royal Shrewsbury Pathology department: