Commentators on meaningful use often focus on the “meaningful” part of the phrase: what the government considers constructive deployment of electronic health records.

But the “use” part is important as well. A sticking point in some deployments is the human interface. To wit: physicians may balk at having to key-in patient data.

Dr. Reid Conant, chief medical information officer at Tri-City Emergency Medical Group, in Oceanside, Calif., said EHRs use templates that let doctors click on discrete data elements–a drop-down box of symptoms, for example. The data entry job becomes more taxing, however, when it comes to filling in a narrative in a patient’s electronic chart. That might include a clinical history of the illness, doctor’s interpretation of lab results and discharge instructions— all usually keyed into an EHR.

Conant believes speech recognition offers a better option. “Typing takes far longer and it is a frustrating way to document,” Conant said. “Providers that use speech…have a rapid way of dictating in the narrative and telling the complete story.”

“As we all know, physicians are not typists,” added John Shagoury, president Nuance Healthcare,