Avoid those “Few Extra Clicks” and Improve EMR Workflow

John DorskyHealthcare Leave a Comment

Every clinician who has lived through the age of paper records has seen their efficiency and productivity impacted by electronic medical records (EMRs). While access to information, images and lab results has improved—especially in large organizations—the burden of data entry has become overwhelming at times.

IT people might view this as “a few extra clicks of the mouse,” but the reality is that clinicians (i.e., doctors, nurses, physicians’ assistants, nurse practitioners, physical therapists, case managers, etc.) may need to look at/open three additional screens to get to the appropriate location for the “click.” Each new screen requires the user to visually identify the landscape of the screen, locate the position in which to move the mouse, and click… and then repeat the process with the next screen.

This is a lot of extra work that takes clinicians away from what we really want to be doing: caring for patients. The two, three, four additional minutes of EMR work per patient can easily increase an already-prolonged day by one or two hours.

That’s where the time-savings and efficiency benefits of speech recognition software really make a difference. Combined with customized commands, speech recognition can significantly improve EMR workflow through shortcuts. SayIt, with its robust command-enabling features (including a separate function key for commands), streamlines common tasks by making them as easy as clicking a hot key and using your voice.

Here’s an example: locating the diagnosis tab, clicking it, locating the diagnosis fill-in, typing “inguinal hernia,” pressing enter, looking at the new database match screen, finding the appropriate iteration of hernia and its associated code, clicking on it, and then pressing enter (yes, a lot of effort!) is whittled down to pressing F3 and saying “code inguinal hernia.” And the multiple screens and clicks required for ordering a common medication can be avoided by creating a command “order Septra.”

Imagine stealing back some of the time you spend in your EMR every day. Integrating voice recognition commands into your workflow can improve your efficiency and productivity.

For more information about SayIt, email sales@nvoq.com or call 866.383.4500.

About the Author

John Dorsky

MD FACS CPHIMS CHTS-CP Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University

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