Development of an Electronic Documentation System for Voice Therapy: A New Teaching and Clinical Research Tool

Abstract

Although research on the outcomes of the treatment of voice disorders is widely discussed, there is a lack of information regarding the specifics of the methods and tasks undertaken during the therapy sessions. One reason may be a lack of a clear, standardized method of documentation for the voice therapy. Therefore, this article discusses the development of a new electronic documentation system for voice therapy. The goals of this documentation system are to create a user-friendly, flexible system that implements the standard terminology and structure proposed in the recent voice therapy taxonomy (Van Stan, Roy, Awan, Stemple, & Hillman, 2015). This documentation system stores all the information from the therapy session in a local database, which is accessible for analysis within or between patients. This allows large-scale datasets to be compiled for future clinical research. This documentation system includes definitions for all terminology and includes hierarchies, which are not required, but can be followed for additional structure. This documentation system can be used as a teaching tool, with the ability to accommodate the needs of both the novice and expert clinician.