Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Dragon or other programs

Have been using Dragon Medical 10.1 for years, dealing with issues. Constant errors after retraining and ok with it as it really beats typing (cant really live without it) However, when I dictate on my iphone, seems to do a better job.

Wondering if I can do better than this.

I use a relatively cheap microphone which may be the issue.

SO.....

Need advice re:

1) Reasonably priced microphones?

2) Is it really necessary to upgrade to a better dragon? which one? Any videos available to see this in action.

Much appreciated!

Dragon Medical 10.1 was quite stable. I currently am on 12.5. Better microphone is much better than upgrading Dragon in my humble opinion. I use Phillips SpeechMike 3500, The new Grundig microphone USB also may be a good option. Knowbrainer has treated me well with these supplies.

I use the SpeechWare 6-in-1 TableMike. Has good ratings with Dragon, even in a noisy environment.

I use a SpeechMatic Travel Mike (from KnowBrainer). Very accurate, and you can dictate from a reasonable distance from the mike with little loss of accuracy.
Interestingly, the version 13 (not available in medical as far as I know) is by far the most accurate, and even will work pretty well with the built-in microphones on laptops.
Best mikes are in cellphones. No idea why they can't be made into standalone mikes -- but with Dragon you can use your smart phone as an input device. Works ok if you have a good WLAN, but somewhat touchy.

One of the problems I have is I am not even sure it is a microphone issue. I have a I7 3.6 8G Ram machine, so doubt that is the issue. However, I use the "Play that back" feature, it sounds clear, but doesn't transcribe what I said.

My local hospital has dragon with a different Mic, seems to work faster and is more accurate.

I log in to their system and my dragon is just as bad, so don't think its AC.....

Neil --
I would contact Tom Hamilton at KnowBrainer. He is often on this board.
A gold mine of information.

Neil, how do you dictate on iPhone?

Also, to everybody, I use Dragon 11 with PowerMic II. Is it worthwhile upgrading to Medical Practice Edition 2?

Sorry Dino, not really connecting iPhone to dragon although wish I could...just saying that it works better...!

Currently using wired headset microphone, more accurate for me as I move my head around a lot and want both hands free for keyboard, looking stuff up, etc. Can get a very good one for $130 and up, "theBoom O" is very close to the most accurate with the best noise cancellation and considerably cheaper than some of it's competitors. Wireless raises the price a lot for comparable accuracy.

I am planning on using a Philips SpeechMike Premium in the room, but very expensive. I'm going to haul it from room to room, have USB extension cables draped over the desks. Hoping by dictating in front of patient that 1) They'll be quiet for a minute and let me enter some data, and 2) they'll be distracted enough to stop thinking up new problems to (try to) add to the visit.

I'm still using Dragon Medical 11, I hear that the newer version (Dragon Medical 2) is much snappier to start entering words, possibly because it can use multiple threads (multi-core processor) while Dragon 11 uses only a single core and thread. However, I haven't been convinced that it's wildly more accurate. I agree that accuracy will go up more with a better microphone than with a new Dragon version, but it still helps to articulate. That does not mean stopping between words, accuracy is actually better for entire sentences (if they make sense, or if you have trained an entire phrase).

I also use Knowbrainer, they have a lot of good advice and microphone comparisons to look at. One caution, I think you can only upgrade 2 steps (e.g. Dragon Medical Practice Edition 10 to Dragon Medical 2, or 11 to the next upcoming version) so consider that in delaying upgrade. More than 2 steps and I think you pay full price.
Good luck!

Don,

I think you will pull your hair out trying to dictate in front of the patients. In my experience, they think that you are talking to them when you are trying to dictate or they want to interrupt as you are trying to collect your thoughts. I gave up because it was too cumbersome to leave a tongue depressor in their mouths during the time I was trying to dictate. If you can pull it off, please post a solution that I can use. I think that the time saved by getting in and out of the exam rooms and going back to your office to dictate will be considerable. I have been using DRAGON since 2004. Every version is a little better but the type of computer you have and the microphone you use always play a big role. I am using a Sennheiser headset as it seems to be the most reliable of all the ones I tried.