palmER
Dictation.
Speak into any palmER prompt box instead of typing. How dictation works, where to find the mic button, and how it differs from Ambient Scribing.
Every prompt box on the web platform has a Dictate button. Click it, talk, and your words appear in the box as you speak, exactly as if you had typed them. When you're done, review the text and press Send like any other prompt.
Dictation is built for the moments between encounters: telling the MDM Assistant what the workup showed, adding a follow-up instruction, or updating a chart section, all without touching the keyboard.
Dictation vs. Ambient Scribing
Both use your microphone, but they solve different problems and work in different ways.
| Ambient Scribing | Dictation | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Listens to your patient conversation and drafts the HPI and Physical Exam automatically | Turns your speech into text inside a prompt box, in place of typing |
| Who's talking | You and your patient, naturally, during the encounter | You, speaking directly to palmER |
| When to use it | At the bedside, during the encounter | Any time you'd otherwise type a prompt |
| What happens next | HPI and Exam notes generate automatically when you complete the session | Nothing sends until you review the text and press Send |
In both cases audio is handled the same way: transcribed and immediately discarded. No audio is ever stored.
The short version: Ambient Scribing documents the encounter for you. Dictation is just a faster way to type.
Dictation never sends anything on its own
Dictated text lands in the prompt box and waits. You can edit it, add to it, or delete it before anything is sent, exactly like typed text.
Where You'll Find It
The button sits immediately left of the Send button in:
- Assistant chats, including the HPI, Physical Exam, and MDM Assistants
- palmER Colab, in its compact prompt box
- Chart View, in the section composer at the bottom of the chart
How to Dictate
- 01Click the mic
Click Dictate in the prompt box. If your browser asks for microphone permission, click Allow (see Microphone Setup if you previously denied it).
- 02Speak
Your words appear live in the prompt box and refine themselves as you go: the text may adjust for a moment after you finish a phrase, then settle. Dictation keeps listening through natural pauses, so you can think mid-sentence.
- 03Add to what's already there
Dictation adds to whatever is already in the box rather than replacing it, so you can type or insert a snippet first, then dictate the rest. Typing is paused while the mic is listening. To edit by hand, stop dictation first; you can start dictating again at any time and it will pick up where the text leaves off.
- 04Stop, review, send
Click the red stop button to finish. Read the text over, make any edits you need, and press Send.
Browser Support & Privacy
- Supported browsers. Dictation is available in Chrome, Edge, and Safari. In browsers that don't support it (such as Firefox), the mic button simply doesn't appear; everything else works normally.
- Privacy. Dictation audio is handled exactly like Ambient Scribing audio: transcribed and immediately discarded, never stored. See Ambient Scribing for the full privacy guarantees.
Pro Tips
- Speak in complete phrases. Dictation is most accurate when you talk in natural sentences rather than isolated words.
- Don't polish your prompts. Rough, conversational input works fine; the assistants understand it either way.
- Dictating clinical detail? For anything said during the patient encounter itself, use Ambient Scribing instead; it's built to capture the full conversation and write the HPI and Exam notes for you.