About The Practice Plus Group

The Practice Plus Group is a team of specialised healthcare professionals, their breadth of expertise spans surgery, diagnostics, general practice, offender health and urgent care, with an unrivalled range of other services provided across the United Kingdom.

The Buckinghamshire practice, of which we will be speaking in this testimonial, specialises in Diagnostic Imaging such as MRI, X-ray, Ultrasound and Echocardiography. With an established patient base, they process approximately 2K patients every year.

In this case study, we are joined by Jeanette Jones, the Diagnostic Clinical Lead at Practice Plus Group Buckinghamshire, to discuss why they decided to implement Nuance Dragon Medical software across their site and the impact it had.

Time, Typing and Typos!

As with all of their clients, VoicePower took time with Practice Plus Group to understand what their current reporting method was at the time they enquired about speech recognition.

Not only does this provide an insight into why that site is interested in a new solution, but it also indicates what they want going forward in terms of choosing a new method.

It was at this point that Jeanette stated that the site was not using any form of documentation technology at that time and that their doctors were capturing patient notes and such by manual typing.

Jeanette explains:

In a recent survey conducted by Nuance Communications, 85% of respondents stated that clinical documentation is a significant contributing factor to burnout, so it is no shock that the Buckinghamshire team wanted to ditch typing for something less time-consuming and more efficient.

Furthermore, Jeanette highlighted the flaws in their previous typing process:

So, Practice Plus Group identified that they need to find a new workflow solution, but where to start? Well, that is where VoicePower Ltd come in!

Whilst a key part of their role is to supply the software and related equipment, the core part of their role is to advise businesses on the best option for them and to train and support them thereafter – and Practice Plus Group are no different!

Let’s find out how Jeanette and her team chose their new solution…

The Way Forward: Nuance Dragon Medical

We’ve established that the Buckinghamshire Practice Plus Group needed a new reporting solution, but how did they find the right one for them?

Well, when speaking to speech recognition experts, VoicePower Ltd, Jeanette and her team identified two main key points in terms of what they were looking for in their new technology:

A) A process that is much more time-efficient than physical typing and B) technology that can minimise the level of typing errors within their clinical documentation.

After reviewing how the group were doing things previously, and the goals they’d like to achieve, it became clear that Nuance Dragon Medical speech recognition would do exactly that.

Not only will Dragon Medical allow the doctors to speak right into their PACS software, seeing the words appear on the screen in real time, but it also has an in-built medical vocabulary meaning it’ll recognise the terminology that the practice uses often.

Let’s find out how they got on…

The Power of Speech Recognition

Speech recognition allows users to speak 3x faster than they can type, meaning that, with the right training and support, many save 1 hour every single day by using it!

Thanks to the support of VoicePower Ltd in the form of their workflow consultancy and personalised training, Practice Plus Group have been able to achieve a successful roll-out of the technology with a total of seven of their staff now using Dragon.

But what is their verdict? Let’s find out!

“Dragon has assisted clinicians with accurate reporting by reducing the number of typos and speeding up reporting time.” – Jeanette Jones, Diagnostic Clinical Lead

Most importantly, staff were able to dictate directly into their PACS system using the Nuance PowerMic microphone and the Dragon Dictation Box which in turn, allows them to look at examinations and dictate at the same time.

This was a workflow recommended by VoicePower as part of their training service and as you can imagine, this is extremely helpful due to the fact it eliminates the need to flick between different windows on the computer. Furthermore, it ensures accurate and in-depth assessments of the scans they’re seeing.

When speaking on VoicePower’s Dragon Training Course, Jeanette expresses:

The service which Jeanette is referring to is much more than just training, but a detailed look at how the speech recognition software will integrate into the team’s workflow and the most effective way of doing things.

VoicePower’s years of experience in integrating Nuance Dragon Medical speech technology definitely come in handy as they help their clients utilise unique Dragon features and advise on what works best.

What’s more, is that the Yorkshire-based company are also able to assist technically through their support package. The VoicePower team are on hand Monday to Friday, 9 am – 5 pm, to resolve any technical hick-ups or queries. The Practice Plus Group know about this first-hand: