Hints: Verbal Shortcuts for Longer Text

If you use Dragon for dictating, you can create verbal shortcuts for longer text entries by modifying your vocabulary.

For instance,  you can setup Dragon so that when you say the following utterance (Dragon-speak for dictated phrase) "lungs ok",  then dragon can fill in the following text:

Lungs clear, with equal breath sounds, no rhonchi, no wheezes
 
You can also set the properties on this phrase to put a new line before the text.

To do this, click on Words->View/Edit in the Dragon menu. This will open up the Vocabulary Builder window.

At the top of the window, type in the written phrase as you want it to appear in the left text box.

Lungs clear, with equal breath sounds, no rhonchi, no wheezes

In the right text box, type in the spoken phrase as you will dictate it.

"lungs ok"

Press the Add button.

Now, train Dragon to recognize the new phrase "lungs ok" that you have entered, by pressing the Train button and the Train Words window will appear.  Press the GO button, and following the commands, dictate the phrase.  When directed, press the DONE button.

The phrase should now be added to your Dragon vocabulary and when you dictate "lungs clear", Dragon should place the text "Lungs clear, with equal breath sounds, no rhonchi, no wheezes" in the document.

If you want to modify the entry, you will have to delete the old entry and then create a new entry, following the steps above.

Phrases using "abdomen" seemed troublesome for Dragon to recognize properly, so I used the spoken phrase "belly ok" to enter the phrase:

Abdomen: Soft, nontender, no peritoneal signs, no masses

This technique might also be useful for phrases you commonly use, but have not been able to get Dragon to recognize properly, such as saying "age spot" for "seborrheic keratosis", etc.

This technique is of course vulnerable to the usual Dragon weakness with some words.

If you do change your vocabulary, be sure to exit Dragon properly at the end of the day, so the changes will be saved.