Voice to Text for Occupational Therapists
Your time belongs with patients, not typing documentation after hours. Blurt lets you speak your functional assessments, progress notes, and equipment recommendations while your hands stay free for demonstrations and patient care. Hold a button, describe what you observed, release. Text appears wherever your cursor is — in your EMR, Word documents, or email. No complicated commands. No learning curve. Just talk and document.
The Typing Problem
Functional assessments that take longer to write than to perform
You just spent 45 minutes evaluating a patient's ADL performance, grip strength, and cognitive function. Now you need to document every observation, measurement, and clinical finding. The typing takes another 30 minutes. You could dictate the whole assessment in real-time while the details are fresh, but instead you're reconstructing it from memory two hours later.
Adaptive equipment recommendations requiring detailed justification
Insurance requires extensive documentation to approve a wheelchair, bath bench, or specialized utensils. You know exactly why this patient needs this equipment — you could explain it clearly in two minutes — but typing the medical necessity letter takes 20 minutes. So you push it to tomorrow, and the patient waits another day for equipment they need now.
Progress notes piling up after a full day of sessions
Back-to-back patients all day. Each one needs a progress note documenting interventions, patient response, and goals addressed. By 5pm, you have eight notes to write. You stay an hour late typing, or you bring the laptop home. Your documentation is cutting into your personal time and your patience for the job you love.
Workplace accommodation letters with tight deadlines
An employer needs a functional capacity evaluation and accommodation recommendations by Friday. The assessment took two hours. Now you need to write a detailed letter explaining limitations, recommended modifications, and rationale. Your schedule is packed. The letter gets rushed, or the client misses their deadline.
Hand fatigue from typing all day after manual therapy
You spend your mornings doing hand therapy, manual techniques, and patient demonstrations. Your hands are working constantly. Then you sit down to type notes, and your own hands are aching. The irony is not lost on you — you treat people for repetitive strain while developing it yourself.
How It Works
Blurt works in every application occupational therapists use — Epic, Cerner, WebPT, TherapyNotes, Word, Outlook, anywhere you can type.
Hold your hotkey
Press your chosen shortcut. A small indicator shows Blurt is listening.
Talk naturally
Describe your assessment findings, patient response, or equipment rationale. Blurt handles punctuation.
Release and done
Text appears at your cursor. No copying, no pasting, no extra steps.
Real Scenarios
Documenting functional assessments in real-time
You just observed a patient perform a kitchen task. While the details are fresh, hold your hotkey and speak: 'Patient demonstrated decreased bilateral coordination during meal prep task. Required verbal cues times three to sequence steps appropriately. Grip strength insufficient for opening containers, compensated by using adaptive jar opener with moderate success.' The assessment is documented before you forget a single detail. No reconstructing from memory later.
Writing medical necessity letters for adaptive equipment
The patient needs a power wheelchair. Hold the button and explain: 'Patient presents with progressive multiple sclerosis resulting in bilateral lower extremity weakness, manual muscle testing two out of five bilaterally. Unable to self-propel manual wheelchair distances greater than 50 feet without significant fatigue. Power mobility required for community access and independence with instrumental activities of daily living.' Insurance justification done in 30 seconds, not 30 minutes.
Completing progress notes between sessions
Five-minute break between patients. Hold button and dictate: 'Patient participated in 45-minute session addressing fine motor coordination and visual perceptual skills. Completed pegboard activity with 15 percent improvement from baseline. Demonstrated increased frustration tolerance with challenging tasks. Continue current plan of care, progress to smaller pegs next session.' Note done before your next patient arrives. No staying late tonight.
Drafting workplace accommodation recommendations
An employer needs your professional recommendations. Hold and speak: 'Based on functional capacity evaluation dated December 15, recommend the following workplace accommodations: ergonomic keyboard and mouse to reduce repetitive wrist movements, sit-stand desk to allow position changes every 30 minutes, and modified schedule allowing two 15-minute rest breaks in addition to lunch.' Clear, professional, and completed in under a minute.
Communicating with the care team via email
The physician needs an update on your patient's progress. Instead of typing a lengthy email, hold the button: 'Good afternoon Dr. Martinez. Following up on our patient Mrs. Chen. She has made significant progress in upper extremity strengthening and is now independent with most self-care tasks. Recommend continuing outpatient OT twice weekly for four more weeks focusing on community reintegration skills. Happy to discuss further.' Email sent, coordination complete.
Writing discharge summaries efficiently
Patient is ready for discharge and needs a comprehensive summary. Hold your hotkey and speak through it: 'Patient discharged from occupational therapy after 12 sessions. Initial presentation included dependence in bathing and dressing secondary to left CVA. At discharge, patient independent with all basic ADLs using compensatory strategies and adaptive equipment including long-handled sponge and sock aid. Home program provided and caregiver training completed.' Discharge documentation finished before the patient leaves the building.
Documenting caregiver education
You just spent 20 minutes training a family member on transfer techniques. Document it while walking to your next session: 'Caregiver education provided to patient's spouse regarding safe toilet transfer technique. Demonstrated pivot transfer with gait belt, verbal and return demonstration completed. Caregiver verbalized understanding of safety precautions and proper body mechanics. Written handout provided.' Training documented, no extra time needed at day's end.
Why occupational therapists choose Blurt over built-in dictation
| Blurt | macOS Dictation | |
|---|---|---|
| Activation | Single hotkey, instant start | Click microphone icon or use system shortcut |
| Speed | Text appears in under 500ms | 2-3 second delay before transcription |
| Medical terminology | Handles clinical terms accurately | Frequently misunderstands medical vocabulary |
| Reliability | Consistent accuracy across sessions | Often fails silently or mishears |
| EMR compatibility | Works in any text field, any system | Inconsistent behavior across applications |
Frequently Asked Questions
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