For companies that pay attention to progress, every advancement in technology helps streamline an existing process, even if it was once thought it couldn't get any better. With dictation, cassette tapes were first used to help offload the documentation of patient visits by freeing up some of the provider's time. As telephone systems became popular, getting these audio files to typists that were off-site became easier, and reduced turnaround time for reports. The internet had an almost immediate affect on how the dictation and transcription process could be made easier - transcriptions were now able to be transferred back to the physician electronically. And as digital recorders became popular, physicians were able to use the software that came with these devices to transfer audio to the typists via e-mail or FTP. But no system was available that really took advantage of every kind of dictation method, while keeping security of the process in mind.
The number of people on the internet has boomed. Third party research shows high-speed access to the internet increased 40% over the past year, making the internet a viable solution for dictation and transcription. With typists working at home with a broadband internet connection, instant access to dictation files and completed transcription has become a reality.
But what about all the choices for dictation devices? Some doctors prefer the freedom that a handheld recorder provides. Others like the ability to dictate using their telephone, which gets the audio file to the typist even faster, even when away from a computer. Still others prefer to dictate into a computer, where they can easily reference prior patient records or radiology images while dictating. The Emdat system takes all of that into account.
For digital recorders, the Emdat InSync application directly supports many models, from Olympus, Phillips, Grundig, Voice-It and Uher. Doctors don't even have to touch the computer to upload from these devices - they just dock the recorder and everything works. Additionally, if a provider has his own preferred recorder, the software that comes with the recorder can still be used to obtain these files and transfer them to Emdat.
For telephone dictation, Emdat has it's own server that can be used, or larger facilities can purchase one to put internally. Additionally, Emdat has integrated with many other dictation servers, such as DVI, so that we can accept dictations created from these external systems.
In addition to these traditional methods, PDAs have advanced medical documentation and provide a method of integrating a physicians schedule with a dictation device. Emdat is releasing it's own PDA software this quarter, but also integrates with other vendors that produce audio files via a PDA device.
Finally, the InSync application can be used to directly dictate via the PC, with the audio transferring over the internet to the typist. Or, if they physician prefers, he can continue to use cassette tapes and send them to the typist - and Emdat will still allow for those typed transcriptions to get back electronically to the medical facility.
In summary, I do not know of any other system which integrates every possible method that a provider may use to dictate, from devices to third-party systems.
