Physicians Laboratory efficiency improved by up to 20 percent

The private pathology lab praises the “freedom” and “fantastic accuracy” of Voicebrook’s pathology reporting solution

Introduction

Physicians Laboratory, Ltd. is a private lab in Sioux Falls, South Dakota providing anatomic and clinical pathology services to physician offices, clinics and small surrounding-area hospitals. It employs 15 pathologists and 5 pathologists’ assistants across three locations, utilizing SoftPath as its AP/LIS.

Challenges

Physicians Laboratory sought to upgrade their pathology reporting solution, in order to improve speech recognition for its pathologists, reduce the burden of transcription, and offer pathologists more flexibility in completing their cases in a timely manner. 

“I really never liked working with any voice recognition program before, because of my accent,” says Physicians Laboratory pathologist Dr. Tao Guo. “The systems I used before hardly recognized my speech and it was really miserable. And, as pathologists, we use a lot of different words that can be difficult for a system to understand.”

Solution

Physicians Laboratory invited Voicebrook to demonstrate VoiceOver PRO, with voice recognition powered by Speechkit. The VoiceOver PRO software application incorporates speech recognition, digital dictation, customizable templates, CAP eCP, and an assortment of input devices, providing direct integration with the user’s Anatomic Pathology (AP) system.

Dr. Raed Sulaiman, Medical Director of Pathology and President of the practice, recalls his immediate reaction to seeing VoiceOver PRO in action. “When Voicebrook came and did the demo, I was the only foreigner in the practice. I wanted to try PRO myself, because I really wanted to see how that dictation would work with my accent. I remember we were in a conference room on the big screen and everyone was watching my dictation. It was just so impressive. And right there, I said, ‘I’m in.’”

Physicians Laboratory’s VoiceOver PRO implementation project kicked off in late 2022, with the lab’s official Go-Live in Summer 2023. 

Results

Almost immediately the benefits of VoiceOver PRO were felt throughout the practice, starting with the speech recognition that had so impressed Dr. Sulaiman. “With the new upgrade to Speechkit, I think the accuracy rate is fantastic,” Dr. Sulaiman confirms. His colleague Dr. Guo concurs: “The first time I used PRO, I felt a big, big difference. I immediately felt that this system definitely can recognize my voice much better. I feel like the PRO voice recognition is really fantastic. Honestly, I think this is the best system I have ever used.”

The trickle-down effect of the stellar speech recognition was observed in the flexibility PRO afforded to the staff.

“I can summarize it with one word,” says Dr. Sulaiman. “VoiceOver PRO gave me freedom, the freedom of being able to dictate whenever I am able to, be it evening, morning, or before people come to work. I'm not relying on the transcriptionist to be available to type in the report for me and get it ready. I can now dictate my cases at any time. I have a very busy meeting schedule. I can complete my cases early in the morning or after hours without needing transcription. Speech recognition with Voicebrook gave me that freedom to dictate whenever I can, and actually made my schedule easier. With Voicebrook and VoiceOver PRO, I am in full control.”

Physicians Laboratory leadership have noticed a marked improvement in efficiency. According to Dr. Guo, “PRO definitely improved my work efficiency, by up to 20 percent. Before using PRO, I had to type all the time. Now I can speak or type, whatever I prefer.”

Dr. Sulaiman notes the benefits of time saved, accuracy improvements, and improved patient safety. “The flexibility and freedom of dictation saves us time, and time is important. Our accuracy rate has improved tremendously,” he says. “It's really easy to use. It's very intuitive. It's very simple. It makes your day because you're not frustrated trying to figure things out. You get to focus on the microscope and the details of what's important for that report and the patient.” 

Physicians Laboratory has also appreciated the seamless compliance and improved accuracy of VoiceOver PRO’s CAP eCP functionality. “Aligning with the CAP cancer protocols is essential,” Dr. Sulaiman says. “Before we had Voicebrook and PRO, I used to print out the CAP protocols because you don't want to miss something. We created our own checklists as a template and had to copy and paste. But now I don't do copy and paste. I just work through each protocol in PRO. So that's very slick.”