Speech recognition problems are common. However, the technology is become more advanced by the day. The problems are becoming very few and far between. In the healthcare industry, these problems range from a lack of acceptability among senior clinicians to problems in the software itself.
Making use of speech recognition software has helped to a great extent, but problems can arise. Let us take a quick look at a few of the problems that are currently being faced by speech recognition software, especially as far as the health care sector is concerned:
Strict Regulations
The healthcare industry is under strict regulations in regards to protecting medical records. Over time, these regulatory requirements end up consuming a lot of time. This, in turn, has a direct effect on the average number of patients that a clinician can see in a day. The more time they spend taking care of the paperwork, the less time is dedicated to the patients. The same also applies to the support staff as well.
Senior Clinicians
Today’s newest doctors are pretty comfortable with using technology. However, many of their senior counterparts in hospitals all over the country tend to have a more traditional outlook. We often hear that they believe that new technology is not for them and prefer to manually write things down – the way they have done it for years. These seniors have considerable power in the administration of the healthcare facilities they work for. Thus creating many hurdles for the successful implementation of new technology in their workplace.
Background Noise
Creating patient health records is an extremely delicate task that requires a lot of concentration. Should the software pick up ambient background noise or mistake a word or phrase, then it can be downright dangerous. Unfortunately, many types of speech recognition systems are not able to distinguish between background static and actual words being spoken.
Reviewing Documentation
While cutting-edge speech recognition technology is helping us make progress in the healthcare industry, mistakes do occur. They have to be rectified before the data enters the system. This takes up valuable time and resources. In order to ensure a zero mistake environment, many clinicians have to check and double check their work, which again takes a lot of time.
Future Healthcare
It is evident that speech recognition technology is not perfect. But it is certainly a step in the right direction, and may very well be the future of healthcare. With the passage of time, technology is continuously evolving.