We all want our medical practices to run as efficiently as possible. Countering human error with software solutions that eliminate repetition is a great way to get started with boosting efficiency.
Currently, many medical organizations force employees to handwrite or type in pertinent patient data, and this is a time-consuming process that is subject to errors. In fact, if your workers are already feeling stressed out about entering data, their efforts to type faster may have the reverse effect of slowing them down because they have to correct mistakes so often.
The electronic health record or EHR software that you use to keep things running well at your practice will be even more effective when you give your staff alternative methods to input new information into the system. With that in mind, here is why having multiple methods of data entry within your EHR is extremely efficient.
Handwriting
Users of MedicsDocAssistant EHR enjoy a number of benefits over practices that use less sophisticated software. This application supports handwriting recognition. Now, let’s just skip the old jokes about physicians having poor penmanship. While there is some truth to the matter because doctors are often quite pressed for time when issuing instructions for patient after care, many physicians can communicate quite clearly when they write with a pen.
To save time, though, you’ll want to add handwriting recognition to use within your EHR. Every stroke of the digital pen is recorded by the software, which translates the movements into words, letters and phrases with great accuracy.
Typing
Templates in MedicsDocAssistant EHR will help your staff drastically cut down on typing time. A template includes data fields to capture the most-often used information.
This helps you reduce errors and avoid leaving out information, since you can set it up that the staffer must input all required data before going further. Menu options are easily located just when you need them, saving more time and making sure that each patient’s information is entered in a consistent way.
Simplifying data entry in this way is an obvious method to avoid people getting carpal tunnel syndrome caused by excessive repetitive motions.
Speaking
All your medical staff workers need to do is speak and they will see their words accurately transformed into text on the computer display. It’s easier for people to speak than write, and they can get more information down just by talking.
The Dragon Dictate software included in MedicsDocAssistant EHR gives you speech recognition so medical professionals can input patient details faster. What’s more, you won’t need to send out recordings to a third-party transcription service, saving you even more money and time.
Since no typing will be involved, each person who dictates information into your EHR will be less troubled by injuries due to repetitive motion, even more so than the movement reduction afforded by typing when using a template in the EHR.
Are you enabling your staff to enter data in the most efficient and pain-free way? Your EHR will give you a much better return on the investment when you use it in conjunction with handwriting recognition. Typing will go more smoothly with templates and the use of voice recognition will reduce wear and tear on your employees’ fingers.
Key Takeaway
- Don’t settle for merely entering patient data into your system with a computer and keyboard.
- Typing into a template with your EHR will cut down on mistakes and speed up the process.
- Handwriting recognition translates human penmanship into machine-readable text for greater efficiency.
- Deploy voice recognition in your medical practice to let your team simply speak to make changes in the patient record.
