The Open Recordings Automated Logging System (ORALS)
Principal Investigator
Paul J. Barr, PhD (Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College)
Public Health Relevance
As up to 80% of clinic visit information can be immediately forgotten after finishing a visit with their physician, older adults with multimorbidity are in need of tools that will help them better manage their care. An automated means by which their own visits could be transcribed, tagged and cross-referenced to reliable information would function as a huge-step forward to this goal. Having key medications highlighted, or being provided a direct link to a trustworthy explanation of their given condition, would lessen the burden on this patient population both in remembering every little detail from their visit and reduce the chances that they might be detoured to a less-than-reputable source of information regarding their condition. Additionally, providing a means by which these patients can directly share a recording of their visit with their family or caregiver, would allow them to further involve people in their care, should they choose, without diminishing the quality of information shared.
Funding Source
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Project Period: December 2015 - June 2019
Other Project Staff
Dartmouth College: Michelle D Dannenberg, MPH; Craig H Ganoe, MS; William Haslett, PhD; Rebecca Faill; Saeed Hassanpour, PhD, MMath; Amar Das, MD, PhD; Haley Reicher, BA; Jesse Schoonmaker, MD, MPH; Wambui Moraa Onsando, MD, MPH; Glyn Elwyn, MD, PhD; University Texas Medical Branch: Meredith C Masel, MSW, PhD; Ryan Family Practice: James Ryan, DO; Patient Partners: Roger Arend, BS; Sheryl Piper
Project Summary
In this project, we will develop ORALS (the Open Recording Automated Logging System). ORALS is a recording system that will:
Use speech-to-text software to transcribe recordings of the primary care clinic visit
Use machine learning to highlight (tag) parts of the clinic visit most important to patients and their families
Co-develop a secure website with patients to share the ‘tagged’ audio recordings of the patient’s clinic visit
With ORALS, we hope to increase patient and family engagement in healthcare by providing important medical information that is easy to navigate.