One care provider already using this technology is Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which has integrated Dragon Medical One with its broader workflow technology4. The deployment has helped the hospital cope with a shortage of administration staff, to ensure patients’ notes are entered into their records and that outpatient letters are automatically despatched to those who need them.
In time, Nuance’s Dr Wallace sees the technology going further. The company is already experimenting with conversational artificial intelligence. “The doctor and the patient sit in the clinic with a whole array of smart listening devices and sensors, as well as voice biometrics to sign them into patient records,” he explains. “The technology captures the conversation, with natural language processing in the background picking out the key clinical terms and turning it into a structured codified note; at the end of the consultation, the doctor has the note in front of them and just has to sense-check it before signing it off.”