Award-winning Philips Technology Now Available to IGEL Healthcare Users

Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. - 22nd February 2008 – IGEL Technology, one of the world’s leading thin client vendors, today announced that they have partnered with Philips Speech Recognition Systems to bring advanced digital dictation and speech recognition solutions to its Linux firmware. This solution is expected to offer substantial savings and optimization potential in the healthcare sector because it enables attaching digitally captured findings directly to patient files where additional information can be added and stored. IGEL Technology will present the comprehensive dictation and speech recognition capabilities on Linux and XP embedded thin clients at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s annual meeting in Orlando, Florida.

"IGEL users will now have seamless access to modern dictation devices, such as the Philips SpeechMike and industrial grade dictation and speech recognition technology. This will enable doctors to dictate their reports as audio files and record them on the server via an IGEL thin client which reduces the time spent on administrative activities, leaving the doctors more time to focus on patient care,” said Erhard Behnke, president, IGEL Inc. “Immediately after their rounds, doctors can record their findings via the thin client and assign them to the appropriate patient files. This process can now be optimized even further using IGEL's ProScribe mobile thin client tablet, which supports dictation at the patient's bedside."

Industry experts estimate that digital dictation and speech recognition systems are capable of achieving time savings in medical reporting of up to 50 percent, particularly in large hospitals. The faster availability of medical information can improve treatment results and help reduce medical errors, as it provides better decision support to healthcare professionals. 

“Medical errors occur in all areas of the treatment process and typically involve the wrong medication, improper treatment, or incorrect or delayed test results. Together with IGEL we created a solution for users of thin-clients that leads to higher accuracy, convenience and efficiency in clinical documentation and can help provide physicians with better patient insight – because knowledge is safety; in healthcare even more so than in any other field,” said Marcel Wassink, managing director of Philips Speech Recognition Systems. 

Attendees of the annual meeting of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) in Orlando, Florida can experience IGEL thin clients powered by SpeechMagic™ live at booth 6443, February 24-28 in Orlando, FL.

This new functionality is available immediately upon request.  Please visit, www.igel.com/ for more information.