Dictate in any app · Clinical

Voice typing in Epic

Epic is where clinicians lose hours to documentation, and dictation is the usual escape. Hold a key and talk: Typally transcribes and types it into Epic without you touching the keyboard.

Written by the team behind Typally. Epic's own features are described as accurately as we can — check them yourself before switching anything.
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In short

  • Epic's own dictation: Many Epic deployments integrate a specialist clinical dictation product such as Dragon Medical, configured by the hospital rather than the individual.
  • What Typally does instead: types into the focused window, so it works in Epic and everywhere else you write.
  • Best used for: narrative note sections

Does Epic have built-in dictation?

Many Epic deployments integrate a specialist clinical dictation product such as Dragon Medical, configured by the hospital rather than the individual. Whether you have it, and what it costs, is your organisation's decision — a lot of clinicians discover their site never licensed it.

Why dictate in Epic at all?

Note bloat is the defining complaint of modern clinical work. The structured fields are click-driven, but the narrative sections — history of present illness, assessment, plan — are prose, and prose typed at the end of a twelve-hour shift is how burnout happens.

In practice people use it for: Narrative note sections, assessment and plan, patient instructions, referral letters, and inbox message replies.

How to dictate in Epic

Because Typally types at the system level rather than plugging into Epic, setup is the same everywhere:

1

Install Typally

Windows or macOS, then sign in. No card for the free tier.

2

Put the cursor in the Epic field you are filling

Make sure Epic has the cursor in the intended field; that is the only thing that decides where words appear.

3

Hold the hotkey and talk

Say the whole thought, then let go. No time limit.

4

Read it before you move on

Typally is not HIPAA-certified and audio is sent to a third-party service for transcription. Do not dictate protected health information with it. Check your organisation's policy before using any general dictation tool near a clinical system.

What Typally adds in Epic

Typally is not a clinical dictation product and must not be used for protected health information — it is not HIPAA-certified and audio is transcribed by a third party. What it is good for is the writing around the chart: teaching material, research notes, committee minutes, administrative email. For patient documentation, use whatever your organisation has licensed.

What this looks like in practice

A consultant writing a teaching handout for junior doctors dictates it in ten minutes at home. The same person uses the hospital's own approved dictation inside Epic for anything touching a patient record, because those are two different compliance situations.

One habit that makes it work better

If your site licenses clinical dictation, use it — it is trained on medical vocabulary and sits inside your compliance boundary. General-purpose tools are for the writing you do outside the chart.

What to watch out for in Epic

Typally is not HIPAA-certified and audio is sent to a third-party service for transcription. Do not dictate protected health information with it. Check your organisation's policy before using any general dictation tool near a clinical system.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use Typally for clinical notes in Epic?

Not for protected health information. Typally is not HIPAA-certified and sends audio to a third-party transcription service. Use your organisation's approved clinical dictation product for patient data.

What do most clinicians use to dictate into Epic?

A specialist medical dictation product integrated by the hospital, most commonly from the Dragon Medical family. Availability depends on what your site has licensed.

Is there anything Typally is useful for in a clinical job?

The writing around the chart — research notes, teaching material, administrative email, committee minutes — where no patient data is involved.

Try it in Epic

There is a permanent free tier of 100 minutes a month. Pro costs $7.99/month and raises the limit.

Try Typally free

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