Wolters Kluwer Health and Nuance Communications have joined forces to enable clinicians with easier-access evidence-based clinical-decision support via Nuance Dragon Medical One's voice-assistant capabilities.

WHY IT MATTERS
Through the partnership, providers now have voice-enabled access to relevant topics in Wolters Kluwer's UpToDate CDS resource, with Dragon Medical One's natural language processing capabilities.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is one of the health systems that's implemented the joint technology so far, and, in a press statement, Dr. Yaa Kumah-Crystal, assistant professor of biomedical informatics and pediatric endocrinology at Vanderbilt, noted its efficiency and ease of use.

"Having the ability to interact with a system that understands natural spoken words and provide the relevant desired information saves doctors valuable time," she explained. "This, in turn, allows them to focus on patient care."

THE LARGER TREND
Clinical Content Search, a new embedded voice-assistant tool in Dragon Medical One, uses so-called "conversational intelligence" to link physicians with relevant topics in response to specific spoken questions. Clinicians can access decision-support content in UpToDate, such as medication dosage schedules, drug interactions and other continuously updated clinical content.

"The addition of Clinical Content Search to Dragon Medical One is another valuable advancement in the intelligent digital enhancement of care delivery," said Kumah-Crystal.

ON THE RECORD
"Voice-enabled search allows the millions of clinicians using our expert solution, UpToDate, to get evidence-based content that they trust in seconds, freeing them up to spend more time with patients," said Priti Shah, VP of products and solutions for clinical effectiveness at Wolters Kluwer Health, in a statement. "We're bringing together proven technologies into the clinical workflow that can improve both the patient and clinician experience."

"We are excited by this partnership because it further empowers clinicians by making it easier to access relevant medical information at the point of care leveraging the power of Dragon Medical One," said Michael Clark, SVP of provider solutions at Nuance. "Wolters Kluwer is a trusted partner with a proven track record of applying technology to the practice of evidence-based medicine, and together we'll have an even larger impact on productivity and outcomes."

Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN
Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com
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