Patient Satisfaction With Speech Recognition in the Exam Room: Exploratory Survey

BACKGROUND: Medical speech recognition technology uses a microphone and computer software to transcribe the spoken word into text and is not typically used in outpatient clinical exam rooms. Patient perceptions regarding speech recognition in the exam room (SRIER) are therefore unknown. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to characterize patient perceptions of SRIER by administering a survey to consecutive patients scheduled for acute, chronic, and wellness care in three outpatient clinic sites. METHODS: We used a microphone and medical speech recognition software to complete the “assessment and plan” portion of the after-visit summary in the patient’s presence, immediately printed the after-visit summary, and then administered a 4-question exploratory survey to 65 consecutive patients in internal medicine and pulmonary medicine clinics at an academic medical center and a community family practice clinic in 2021 to characterize patient perceptions of SRIER. All questions were completed by all participants. RESULTS: When compared to patients’ recollection of usual care (visits with no microphone and an after-visit summary without an “assessment and plan”), 86% (n=56) of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their provider addressed their concerns better, and 73% (n=48) agreed or strongly agreed that they understood their provider’s advice better. A total of 99% (n=64) of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that a printed after-visit summary including the “assessment and plan” was helpful. By comparing the “agree” and “strongly agree” responses to the neutral responses, we found that patients felt that clinicians using SRIER addressed their concerns better (P<.001), they understood their clinician’s advice better (P<.001), and receiving a paper summary was helpful (P<.001). Patients were likely to recommend a provider using a microphone based on the Net Promoter Score of 58. CONCLUSIONS: This survey suggests patients have a very positive perception of speech recognition use in the exam room.