Benefits of Medical Transcription: Medical Transcription vs Voice Recognition Software

When it comes to transforming medical notes or audio recordings into a text file, your medical practice has a couple of options. You can choose voice recognition software or hire a third-party manual medical transcription service provider.  Learn more about the Medical Transcriptionist pros and cons related to voice recognition software.

Voice Recognition Software

At the onset, the main difference between voice recognition software and medical transcription services is the mode of transcription. Voice recognition software utilizes computer technology to automatically convert audio into text.

• This method can be nearly instantaneous in the conversion.
• It does not require the use of a person to transcribe information.

As a result, companies consider this to be the most cost-effective and easiest solution. However, there are several underlying factors that prove this to be incorrect.

Benefits of Medical Transcription Services

The benefits of medical transcription versus voice recognition software give this method the advantage.

• Medical transcription services involve a transcriber, an actual live person, who manually transcribes audio into text.
• Since an actual person is handling the conversion of data, they are able to reduce mistakes and errors.
• Additionally, a human transcriber is fully capable of adding pauses, full stops, and corrections based on context.

In the end, the text is readily available without a need for a human reviewer for editing. Medical practices and healthcare providers end up saving time and money by using medical transcription rather than just relying on voice recognition software.

Disadvantages of Voice Recognition Software

If your medical practice wants to reduce the time required for transcription services, avoid seemingly speedy transcription software. Voice recognition software is billed as a quick solution for transcription needs, thanks to the use of human-speech recognition technology.

Here’s the low down regarding how long it actually takes to use this type of system for transcription:

• The technology allows audio to be transcribed into text in an instant.
• The text isn’t ready at that moment, though, because of the need to edit and polish by an actual person.
• It can take substantial time to review properly depending on the length of the content.
• If the text has to be heavily edited due to incorrectly transcribed diction, this adds even more time to the process.

Medical Transcription Services Save You Time

But will it take more time to transcribe information manually?

In actuality, no, because professional medical transcriptionists are adept at their job. They can transcribe, decipher, type, review, and edit in minimal time—all without the aid of an extra person to polish their finished product.

Bottom line, if your company wants to reduce the time it takes to transcribe, go with a medical transcription service involving an expert transcriptionist. 

Accuracy Issues with Voice Recognition Software

Along with taking too much time to transcribe, another one of the disadvantages of using voice recognition software is a lack of accuracy. The problem is that voice recognition software suffers from a higher rate of grammar and spelling mistakes.

• These mistakes can be as minor as a misspelled word here and there.
• These include the use of the wrong word with an incorrect meaning altogether.

This can spell disaster for most healthcare providers in need of medical transcription services.

Healthcare providers require perfection with medical transcription of patient and client information.

For healthcare providers, the benefits of medical transcription services ensure that patients will receive the right treatments and medications. Medical transcription services minimize the amount of errors and improve the accuracy of records when compared to the use of voice recognition software alone.

A human medical transcriber is far less likely to make a major grammar or spelling mistake based on incorrect file transfers.

Additionally, professional medical transcriptionists use spelling and grammar tools to back them up instantly when providing medical transcription services. Rather than waiting for a third party to handle editing and polishing transcribed records, a medical transcriptionist incorporates this process in the transcription itself.

Voice Recognition Software Quality Control Complaints

The actual act of using voice recognition software can lead to quality control problems. Any of the following can negatively impact results when using voice recognition software:

• If the person is speaking too loudly or too softly
• If the dictator has an accent or dialect
• If they have a speech impediment
• If the speaker talks too quickly
• If they mumble
• If the software picks up background noise and or noises within the system, such as brushing up against the microphone

All of these noises are misinterpreted and disrupt the flow of transcribed information. In the end, the voice recognition software does the best of its abilities, given the circumstances.

The results often leave you frustrated and unable to understand the context of words or phrases. Worse yet, there is no way to identify these quality control problems until the file has been transcribed, which is long after the actual audio recording was made.

Even in the instance that a healthcare provider can re-record an audio file, this takes valuable time away from their already busy schedule. So while voice recognition software is supposed to make transcribing simpler, it ends up being more of a hassle due to these quality issues.

Learning to Use Voice Recognition Software

Among the disadvantages of voice recognition software, the most variable is setting up the system.

• The dictator has to spend a significant amount of time learning how to operate this software.
• They must train the software to recognize his or her voice.
• Capturing the speaker’s voice correctly involves training the system to identify inflection and tone.
• Add in the use of unique words, such as industry lingo and abbreviations, and the software will require even more training.

A medical transcription service provider doesn’t have these problems, and they are equipped and specially trained to understand medical terminology. Medical scribes and transcriptionists have the advantage of understanding and anticipating the types of words and phrases they will be transcribing.

Whether you are interested in speedy transcription, affordability, or accuracy, there is a service best suited for your medical practice’s needs.

Medical Transcription Services Save You Time & Improve Efficiency

In the end, if you are interested in saving money and time on medical transcription, your best option is to choose a professional medical transcription service rather than using voice recognition software.

Your medical practice wins with accurate, consistent medical transcription results in a fraction of the time compared to voice recognition software. Your healthcare providers also win out by being less frustrated and more confident with using medical transcription services and medical scribes, which is a manual transcription by an actual person.