Spanish Medical Speech Recognition Initiative

Philips Speech Recognition Systems' (Vienna, Austria) speech recognition technology, SpeechMagic, will be implemented by Spanish information technology (IT) provider Indra (Information Technologies and Defense Systems, Madrid) in all radiology departments of Spain's Castilla-La Mancha regional healthcare service (SESCAM).

SpeechMagic will be installed first in the three hospitals of the cities of Cuenca, Albacete, and Hellin, with the remaining hospitals to follow in 2007. The project represents a major achievement for Philips, whose document-creation technology is geared towards industrial-grade speech recognition installations that want to efficiently manage healthcare documentation.

SpeechMagic will be introduced within the framework of project "Ykonos," an initiative supported by the European Union (EU), which aims to develop and introduce a digital image-based diagnosis system. The third phase of the "Ykonos” project draws upon 8.5 million euros (U.S.$10.8m) and includes the installation of equipment for the digitization, storage, and display of radiology images, as well as a series of support services.

Ykonos will enable clinicians to share and access medical patient information without delay, providing faster and more efficient quality of care. By capturing this information through a speech recognition system, physicians now have a powerful tool that improves clinical documentation, as Ambrosio Rodriguez, IT director at SESCAM, explained, "We chose to extend our digital medical imaging system with SpeechMagic as it facilitates the immediate and complete availability of a patient's documents and allows seamless integration with our system.”

The Ykonos project is executed by Spanish IT provider Indra. Federico Aguilar Cazorla, director of health at Indra, stated, "SpeechMagic allows for the central management and administration of users, fulfilling all our requirements to roll out speech recognition as part of a region-wide project like Ykonos, which includes various hospitals and infrastructures.”

The Ykonos project was presented with the EuroPACS International Award in 2005.



Related Links:
Philips Speech Recognition Systems
Indra