PowerMic III and Other USB Microphones
USB microphones plug into the computer. The default USB microphone is PowerMic III. This microphone is made by Nuance to work with their dictation systems. They will be provided by AHS for circumstances where PMM will not work. For physicians this will be determined based on an assessment tool.
Should a physician simply prefer to use a USB microphone they can purchase from multiple online or in-store sources. AHS will assist on installing appropriate drivers on AHS computers or the physician’s personal computer. Physicians can look at the AHS Provincial Speech Recognition Insite Page to view a list of approved devices or email speechrecognition@albertahealthservices.ca for further information.
Please note that USB microphones do not work well in an Apple environment with DMO. As such when using an Apple laptop or desktop PMM will be your microphone.
Any other microphone that can plug into your computer or work with Bluetooth may work with DMO in a Windows environment. PowerMic III is not required and you may prefer another microphone. Our most up to date information on supported microphones can be found here. The better quality the microphone the better the speech recognition will be. Accurate well sourced information about performance of microphones with DMO in Epic is not easy to come by. One resource available on the web is the Dragon Medical One: Unofficial User Guide by Speech Recognition Solutions - the discussion of microphones and recommendations start on page 37.