Speech recognition vendors offer advice

By: Merlina Trevino

Whether radiologists think speech recognition technology is mature enough or not, companies developing it insist that the technology is indeed viable and that it can seriously reduce report turnaround time.

"It really works. Accuracy concerns about speech recognition technology from years past may have been well founded, but today's product is more accurate than ever and faster to train, making it much easier to use," said Bill DeStefanis, vice president of marketing at ScanSoft.

Still, some radiologists continue to worry about the amount of editing that is sometimes necessary with speech recognition, and they have been slow to make a complete move away from transcriptionists. Vendors accommodate this stepwise implementation strategy by providing systems that can still be used as a simple digital dictation tool. The products from Talk Technology and Philips Speech Processing allow radiologists to continue working the way they have always worked, since the speech recognition technology is located at the transcription rather than the radiology end.

For radiology departments thinking about making the jump into speech recognition technology, vendors offer a few pointers to help find the product most suitable to a particular department's needs.

"Recognition rates (as long as they are not below 95%) are not the crucial factor anymore," said Nina von Gayl, media relations manager at Philips Speech Processing. "Far more important is the increase of efficiency and productivity in the document creation process. This relieves the doctors and secretaries of unnecessary administrative work, and the time can be spent on patient care."

Tightly integrating speech recognition technology with the HIS/RIS/PACS is the only way to achieve the best increases in efficiency, according to von Gayl. This allows the radiologist to access patient files, scans, and other information while dictating a report. Having all information available at the same time ensures that the radiologist has an overview of the patient's history.

Other vendors believe radiology departments should check out a company's track record with established institutions and note how many radiologists are actually using the product. Perhaps the most import thing a radiology department can do when preparing to purchase a particular speech recognition solution is ask the right questions.

"Does it interface with the RIS being used in their institute? Can it be integrated with PACS? Does the provider stand behind the product with available training and project installation management, easily accessible after sales support and service? Ask if there is a continuous improvement program in place offering enhancements as technology improves or work methods change," said Nancy Moran, marketing manager for Talk Technology.