October 9, 2014

VUMC voice-to-text software named NEXT Awards finalist

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been named a finalist for the NEXT Awards for its implementation of the Dragon voice-to-text software program. VUMC’s Workforce Performance Operations partnered with the Vanderbilt Medical Group Systems Engineering team to deploy the Dragon voice-to-text project to all 3,000-plus providers for a do-it-yourself (DIY) installation.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been named a finalist for the NEXT Awards for its implementation of the Dragon voice-to-text software program.

VUMC’s Workforce Performance Operations partnered with the Vanderbilt Medical Group Systems Engineering team to deploy the Dragon voice-to-text project to all 3,000-plus providers for a do-it-yourself (DIY) installation.

The system, used in the clinical areas, allows providers to dictate patient notes directly into the health record system using a microphone. The self-directed DIY process reduced the total planned implementation timeframe from 18 months down to six weeks, allowing providers to choose how they want to learn how to use the Dragon software. Once enabled, Dragon allows providers more time to see patients because they can spend less time completing administrative tasks associated with health record data entry.

The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Nashville Entrepreneur Center will jointly present these awards on Nov. 20 to recognize the accomplishments of companies and individual entrepreneurs in five areas of business especially important to the Nashville economy: health care; technology; digital media and entertainment; social enterprise and sustainability; and products and services.

VMG Chief Medical Officer Paul Sternberg Jr., M.D., also assistant vice chancellor for Adult Health Affairs and associate dean for Clinical Affairs, will accept the award on VUMC’s behalf.

“In this project, we rolled out voice recognition software to help medical providers dictate notes from patient visits,” said Sternberg, also George Weeks Hale Professor of Ophthalmology and chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences.

“Our innovative rollout process acknowledged that each of us learn differently, by creating a menu of different ways to gain expertise: Self-directed learning, classroom instruction or one-on-one instruction. This enabled our medical group to embrace the new technology much more rapidly, recognizing our efforts to be agile, to respond to the needs of our workforce and to serve our patients in the best, most personalized way.”

Paul Sternberg was interviewed by NEXT Awards volunteer Clark Buckner from TechnologyAdvice. To listen to a podcast about the NEXT Awards, go here.