Electronic Health Record Interactions Through Voice: A Review

Overview

Journal Appl Clin Inform

Publisher Thieme

Specialties Health Services
Medical Informatics

Date 2018 Jul 25

PMID 30040113

Citations 34

Authors

Yaa A Kumah-Crystal

Claude J Pirtle

Harrison M Whyte

Edward S Goode

Shilo H Anders

Christoph U Lehmann

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Usability problems in the electronic health record (EHR) lead to workflow inefficiencies when navigating charts and entering or retrieving data using standard keyboard and mouse interfaces. Voice input technology has been used to overcome some of the challenges associated with conventional interfaces and continues to evolve as a promising way to interact with the EHR.

Objective: This article reviews the literature and evidence on voice input technology used to facilitate work in the EHR. It also reviews the benefits and challenges of implementation and use of voice technologies, and discusses emerging opportunities with voice assistant technology.

Methods: We performed a systematic review of the literature to identify articles that discuss the use of voice technology to facilitate health care work. We searched MEDLINE and the Google search engine to identify relevant articles. We evaluated articles that discussed the strengths and limitations of voice technology to facilitate health care work. Consumer articles from leading technology publications addressing emerging use of voice assistants were reviewed to ascertain functionalities in existing consumer applications.

Results: Using a MEDLINE search, we identified 683 articles that were reviewed for inclusion eligibility. The references of included articles were also reviewed. Sixty-one papers that discussed the use of voice tools in health care were included, of which 32 detailed the use of voice technologies in production environments. Articles were organized into three domains: Voice for (1) documentation, (2) commands, and (3) interactive response and navigation for patients. Of 31 articles that discussed usability attributes of consumer voice assistant technology, 12 were included in the review.

Conclusion: We highlight the successes and challenges of voice input technologies in health care and discuss opportunities to incorporate emerging voice assistant technologies used in the consumer domain.

Citing Articles

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Merkel S, Schorr S JMIR AI. 2025; 4:e55673.

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Co-design of a voice-based app to monitor long COVID symptoms with its end-users: A mixed-method study.

Fischer A, Aguayo G, Pinker I, Oustric P, Lachaise T, Wilmes P Digit Health. 2024; 10:20552076241272671.

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Understanding Barriers and Design Opportunities to Improve Healthcare and QOL for Older Adults through Voice Assistants.

Chen C, Johnson J, Charles K, Lee A, Lifset E, Hogarth M ASSETS. 2024; 2021.

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Effect of Ambient Voice Technology, Natural Language Processing, and Artificial Intelligence on the Patient-Physician Relationship.

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Acceptance of voice assistant technology in dental practice: A cross sectional study with dentists and validation using structural equation modeling.

Warren S, Claman D, Meyer B, Peng J, Sezgin E PLOS Digit Health. 2024; 3(5):e0000510.

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