Knowing that Dragon Medical 10.1 is fully compatible with Windows 7 64-bit OS, I found it strange that I was having issues dictating into Microsoft Word. After consulting with the documentation, I found that Dragon Medical 10.1 does not support Microsoft office 2010 64-bit edition. It does, however, support the 32-bit version.

Details such as this often get overlooked during an upgrade, but can have great impact on the user. As more and more people begin updating both their hardware and operating systems, it is vital that they, or their IT support, investigate required specifications by all software.

As for me, I have 2 choices: I can reinstall Microsoft Office 2010 32-bit version, or I can switch to another similar solution such as the built in rich-text editor DragonPad. I am a creature of habit, and it is habit for me to open MS Word when I want to put thoughts into writing. However, I might just get into the habit of saying “Open DragonPad” instead.

Dragon Medical Network Edition (DM NE) is an enterprise-class application that not only offers client-side enhancements, but a suite of IT administrative tools as well. At the heart of this application is Nuance Management Server (NMS) which can run on both Windows Server 2003 and 2008. NMS allows control of user accounts, authentication, user settings, licensing, vocabulary updates and other great tools.

By allowing authentication using Microsoft’s Active Directory, NMS provides streamlined account creation as well as improved security and physician satisfaction with a single sign-on solution. There are other enhancements that physicians will notice as well. Nuance has developed companion software called vSync which enables improved interaction with published application on Citrix servers. Many organizations publish their EHRs on a Citrix server and vSync allows for better interactivity between the EHR and Dragon Medical.

Another key ingredient in the Dragon Medical Network Edition’s magic is the Profile Optimizer Server. This in conjunction with NMS allows for automated language and acoustic model optimization of a user’s profile. Before, this was a manual process that many Dragon administrators did not perform on a regular basis, or at all. Thus physicians were not seeing the level of accuracy that they might have, had this been done. With its easy installation and configuration, the Optimizer Server is a definite win.

So what has been our experience? In a few words: Great. This new server approach has eased administration of Dragon greatly, allowing for one administrator to easily manage hundreds or even thousands of users. IT pros will also be pleased with the increased security as well as Active Directory integration. Just as important, vSync creates a superior dictation experience for physicians using a Citrix-based EHR.

One of the past reasons that kept the demand for dictation products for the Mac relatively low, is that most enterprise EHR solutions were built for Windows platforms. Thus, even if a provider was a Mac user, the fact that he or she could not interact with the EHR on the Mac, usually meant that the Mac stayed at home and was reserved for personal use. Now, with the increasing popularity of web-based and cross-platform EHR’s, providers are increasingly seen with a Mac in tow.

In February of 2010, MacSpeech was acquired by Nuance, the makers of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. This acquisition represents an exciting time for Mac enthusiasts as Nuance will no doubt lend more research and development to the product.

With our large experience in integrating Dragon Medical in the ambulatory and institutional environments, we have been asked many times about speech recognition for the Mac. So today, we are excited to announce that we are carrying the MacSpeech Dictate Medical product in our online store. It is a fantastic product and comes complete with everything you need to dictate on your Intel-based Mac. With its broad specialty support (over 50 medical and dental vocabularies), MacSpeech Dictate Medical is a perfect solution for physicians who consider themselves inseparable with their macs.

–Mike

Well, some things have changed. First, our business has grown tremendously…mainly by word-of-mouth. We didn’t expect such great success up front, but quickly realized that there is a real interest in our services. Second, even though we are clinicians by trade, we found that it is a no-brainer that people (customers) want clear communication and good service. In fact, that is what we focus on. Our business is service oriented and in order to take care of our customers, we need to have clear and often communication, as well as good service.

One of the issues we have as a small company is that the amount of work to be done usually exceeds the number of hours in a day. Almost every week, we find ourselves working late into the night to take care of business needs. Early on, we realized that customers like buying microphones from us because they know and trust us. The requests for microphones can sometimes be overwhelming as this can be a time-intensive task on our part to process the orders and get the microphones to the customers. We are introducing our new online store to decrease the amount of time we spend on filling orders as well as increase the speed that we can get the products to our customers. Check it out and let us know what you think!

By now you are probably wondering who is authoring this post. My name is Mike…nothing like an introduction halfway into a conversation. I am an ER nurse by trade, although I worked in IT before I was a nurse. I have been tasked with writing these posts and plan to update this section on a regular basis. I also am communicating by twitter to our customers (@physiciandragon). Be sure to follow us on twitter…we will be updating regularly with insight into our company as well as tips/tricks on using Dragon Medical.

So what can you expect from this blog? My first goal is not to bore you. I will keep the writing informal. The topics will focus mainly on speech recognition and health care, with the occasional article about our company. We want to engage you and offer you something of value in the information we provide here. If there are any topics that you would like covered, let me know by emailing me or by twitter (@physiciandragon).

–Mike