Our researchers have developed the connection of Automatic Speech Recognition to electronic medical records to enhance the physician/patient encounter.
Background & Unmet Need:
The traditional encounter in healthcare consists of a communication, mostly face-to-face, between the healthcare provider and the sick patient. Arriving at an accurate diagnosis is fundamental to this interaction. A detailed history of illness in the context of each patient’s pertinent past history, along with a comprehensive physical examination is imperative to narrow the list of different diagnoses. The importance of something as simple and basic as a comprehensive clinical evaluation to arrive at the diagnosis and reduce the need for unnecessary investigations has not been explored. Paper based medical records are rapidly being replaced by computerized documents, or EMR (electronic medical records). Improving on current technology would improve efficiency and effectiveness of care as well as being advantageous to the physician/patient encounter.
Technology Description:
Our researchers have developed a new process of using current voice recognition and free- text audio recognition tools to enrich the patient-physician encounter in real time. They hope to improve the patient visit that is recorded in the electronic medical record by recording the communication between the patient and the provider into text form as a real time function, and enrich this history taking by suggesting questions/requesting tailored details based on the historical information to ensure completeness of the examination. The device would be mobile and able to record the conversation and covert the audio data into text using the technology Automatic Speed Recognition (ASR). It can be incorporated on existing EMRs as a software enhancement.
Commercial Applications:
Stage of Development:
Preliminary version in testing phase
Competitive Advantages:
- Allows for tailoring of interaction to patient’s history
- Uses currently available electronic tools
- Can reduce variation in differential diagnoses
- Can reduce the need for unnecessary testing
- Can be incorporated to existing systems
- Can improve efficiency of patient care
Intellectual Property Status:
Patent application filed
Related Publications or Citations of Work
None