Dragon Speech for Your Electronic Health Record
If you have questions about using Dragon Medical speech recognition software in your EHR, this article is just for you. Today, we’ll be reviewing Dragon features that relate specifically to your electronic health record. We’ll include tips on how to make dictation easier, both with application functions and microphones, and address a common question about using Dragon directly within your medical record.
My Computer and Dragon
This article is specifically written for healthcare professionals using the Windows-based Dragon voice recognition system with their EMR. While the Mac version of Dragon does share quite a bit with the Windows version, there are some big differences. If you have Dragon for Mac and want some assistance with dictating into your EHR, reach out to us for more information.
Since we’re talking about Dragon in a healthcare environment—and only for Windows computers—the application we’re using today is called Dragon Medical Practice Edition 2. If you are using this software, be sure you are fully up-to-date, as that can affect your ability to dictate into your EHR.
The tips we give in this article may apply to any EHR that can use Dragon Medical, including:
- Allscripts
- CureMD™
- eClinicalWorks
- Cerner
- Practice Fusion
- Epic
- athenaClinicals®
Your electronic medical record may be locally installed or hosted on a server and deployed over a remote connection. The deployment method will also factor in to how Dragon voice recognition works, which we will explore in a moment.
Dragon Medical Only
If you are using Dragon in an EHR/EMR, you are going to need some flavor of the Dragon Medical software. Non-medical Dragon editions are not intended for use in healthcare, and likely will not provide any voice dictation functionality in your electronic record.
How Dragon Works With Your EHR
For Dragon to be able to print your words inside of your medical record, it needs to be compatible with the edit controls of the text field you are using. Any field in your EHR that you can type text into has these edit controls. They essentially encode the field for text input.
When Dragon is compatible with the edit controls of a text field in your EMR, and your deployment method doesn’t interrupt this compatibility, you should have speech-to-text functionality there. If the edit controls are incompatible, you won’t be able to dictate. Let’s talk about what you can do in these scenarios.
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What Is Full Text Control?
Essentially, when we say that Dragon Medical has full text control in a text field, it means that Dragon can do everything that it does normally. If you want to know if a field in your EMR has full text control, click your mouse in the field. The green checkmark on your DragonBar should be lit up. If it is not, you may lose some or all of your Dragon dictation functionality in that field.
You may also hear this functionality referred to as “dictate at the cursor.” This term is similar to full text control, but actually refers only to the ability to dictate wherever you click your mouse. Consider it a subset of full text control.
To address these issues, we’ve already provided several tips that may restore dictate at the cursor and/or full text control in your EHR. If you these don’t work for you, there are three other approaches you might take.
1) Use the Dictation Box
The Dictation Box, included with Dragon Medical, is designed to enable you to dictate into windows where you don’t have full text control. In effect, it acts like a bridge between Dragon and the field where you need to dictate.
We recommend setting up the Dictation Box in Hidden Mode, to enable full Dragon speech-to-text functionality without having to switch between windows. If you have a Nuance PowerMic, you can program it to make using the Dictation Box even simpler.
2) Change Your Deployment
Changing your deployment means changing where you have an application installed and how you deliver it. It’s very possible that Dragon could have full text control in your EHR, but your EHR is coming to you over a remote connection. In many cases, these kinds of local-virtual relationships cut off full text control.
Locally Installed
An application that is installed locally is on your workstation. It is not coming over Citrix or Remote Desktop to get to you. If Dragon is installed locally, and you can install your EHR locally as well, consider working with your IT team to see if this is an option.
Please note that it’s possible your EHR may not natively support Dragon full text control, regardless of your deployment strategy. For instance, your EHR may already be installed locally. In this case, use the Dictation Box.
VDI and Remote Connections
If your EHR is coming to you over Remote Desktop or Citrix, you may have the option to install Dragon Medical on the server where your EHR is installed. While you’ll need to check with your IT team/EHR vendor before proceeding, Dragon Medical does support this scenario.
There are specific configurations that need to be made for this to work, but it is the supported method for deploying Dragon when working with virtualization. Again, be sure to verify that your EHR natively supports Dragon full text control before proceeding.
For your convenience, we have already developed a Citrix/Dragon resource for you to consult. You may also want a free consultation with one of our team members, to help determine your deployment strategy. We also provide Dragon installation services in VDI environments.
3) Dragon Software Developer Kit (SDK)
If your clinic, hospital, or EHR vendor wants to incorporate Dragon Medical functionality within your electronic health record, you can also purchase the Dragon SDK. This kit will allow your development team to bring Dragon functionality into your EHR natively. Do note that this is a high-cost investment, and will require programming expertise to implement.
Using Dragon Templates
Instead of dictating full reports into your EHR, you should consider creating Dragon templates. These pre-configured reports can be pasted right into your EHR, and then filled in with the specific patient information. Fillable fields can be added, which allow you to move between them with a voice command… or the press of a button.
Programmable Microphones
Dragon speech-to-text has all sorts of voice commands that allow you to control it and other applications. You can even control your computer, to some extent. If you have a programmable microphone, like the Nuance PowerMic or the Philips SpeechMike, you can assign some of these commands to buttons.
Imagine, instead of using voice commands or your keyboard and mouse, you can program your microphone buttons to:
- Turn the Dragon microphone on/off
- Call up one of your templates
- Move between fields in your report or your EHR
- Press hotkeys that your EHR uses
- Open the Dictation Box
- Transfer text from the Dictation Box to your EHR
- Open a program
- Train words, add words, add commands, and more
If you don’t know where to purchase one of these microphones, we’re happy to help you find a certified reseller to assist you.