Smart dictation

Smart dictation gives you a pad for your own words. You speak, and your words land on the pad as you said them. Dental terms and tooth numbers are corrected on the way in.

Opening a dictation pad

1. In an appointment, open + Create.
2. Under Inputs, choose Smart dictation.
3. A new tab opens, named for the time you opened it, such as Dictation · 2:41 pm.
4. If the scribe is listening on a computer or tablet, start talking. Otherwise, press Dictate first.

You can open more than one pad in the same appointment.

Where your words come from

On a computer or tablet, the pad uses the appointment's microphone while the scribe is listening. While the pad's tab is on screen, everything the microphone hears goes to the pad. That includes the patient. Leave the tab when you finish, and the scribe goes back to writing the note.

When the scribe is paused, the appointment has ended, or listening never started, press Dictate on the pad's bar. Press Stop when you're done. The pad also stops by itself after ten minutes.

On a phone, the pad can't share the scribe's microphone. Tap Dictate once the scribe has stopped listening.

What happens to your words

• Each sentence goes in once you finish it.
• Rebrief fixes misheard dental terms, tooth numbers, doses and brand names. It also drops stutters and false starts.
• It is meant to keep your words, in your order, without shortening or adding. Read each sentence as it lands.
• Correcting shows while a sentence is being checked. The words that just arrived stay highlighted for a few seconds.
• If the correction doesn't answer, your words go in as dictated. A short notice tells you.
• While the scribe is listening, your words also go into the appointment's transcript, as you said them.

The pad doesn't write the clinical note. The note on the Note tab is written separately.

Spoken punctuation

Say a mark and it's written for you.

• "period" or "full stop", "comma", "colon" and "semicolon"
• "question mark" and "exclamation point"
• "open paren" and "close paren"
• "open quote" and "close quote", or "unquote" to close a quote
• "hyphen" or "dash"

A new sentence starts with a capital letter. To start a new line, press Enter in the pad.

Fixing a mistake

• Pause, then say "scratch that" on its own. It removes the last thing you dictated. "Delete that" and "undo that" work too.
• Once you type in the pad, "scratch that" can't reach what you dictated before. Fix it by hand instead.
• You can type in the pad at any time.

While the pad uses the appointment's microphone

• Findings you say go into the pad, not onto the chart. Leave the pad's tab to chart by voice.
• You can still ask Rebrief a question out loud. Start with "Rebrief," and the question stays out of the pad. Ask it in one go, because a pause in the middle can leave the rest of it in the pad.

Saving, copying and PDFs

The pad saves itself as you go, and its bar shows Saved. It stays with the appointment, and closing its tab doesn't delete it.

• The copy icon on the pad's bar puts the text on your clipboard.
• The PDF icon makes a PDF on your clinic's letterhead.

Both work once the pad has some text.

Good to know

• Smart dictation uses your clinic's AI credits. If they run out, the pad says so and stops adding what you say. You can still type.
• Add the brands and abbreviations you use to My dictation dictionary. It is in Settings, under Notes & dictation. The pad spells them your way.