If you record your consultation using the app, after the recording finishes you will be able to review:

• a transcription of the consult

• a medical summary, provided in a standard SOAP format

• a referral letter (if required)

You should check the outputs and edit them where relevant, then copy them to the clipboard and paste them into the EHR in the relevant page.

You should review carefully the output of the summary note and letter. You can edit the contents by clicking “Open Summary” or “Open Letter”. In this new window, you can edit the contents of the summary and letter, before proceeding to copy it.

The three outputs are available in the TORTUS app chat interface, within the consultation widget. As long as you stay logged in and keep the app window open, you will be able to scroll up and access these. If you close the application, these will no longer be accessible. It is recommended that you copy and paste the relevant information into the EHR as soon as convenient after the consultation, to keep your note taking contemporaneous.

No, you must check carefully the content of the note and letter prior to transferring either of these into a patient record. As a clinician, it is still your professional responsibility to ensure the validity of any documentation added to a patient record, just as it would normally be.

1. Prior to starting a clinic, check your audio set up. Create a test consultation, ensuring your microphone is visible as an input, and the microphone audio bar is detecting audio. Record some test audio of at least 30 seconds and transcribe the content, review the transcription to confirm that audio input is functioning correctly.

2. The transcription system is highly accurate, but requires a microphone of sufficient hardware quality to optimise. Most internal laptop microphones are sufficient. If your device has insufficient recording capabilities (i.e. fails to capture clear audio) consider purchasing an external USB microphone or webcam with an omnidirectional microphone. For the best results, we recommend these wireless lavalier microphones – as both the clinician and patient can wear them.

3. During a consultation, try to ensure one person is speaking at any given time. Using closed loop communication, repeating back important pieces of information to the patient, also boosts performance.

4. During a consultation, try to place the device or microphone as close to yourself and the patient as practical, and ensure background noise is minimised where possible.

5. Transcription errors may occur, you must thoroughly check through the generated clinic note and letter for errors.

6. If a patient mentions medication names, we recommend repeating these back to improve transcription quality.

7. You should use the edit function to replace any transcription errors captured in the summary note or letter.

To begin recording the consultation, click the ‘Start new consultation’ button in the chat. A widget will appear where you can change the default microphone device that the app will use. Then when ready press the microphone icon to start the recording. Once the consultation has concluded, click the pause icon and then the ‘Finish Consultation’ button. If you want to resume the consultation after pressing pause, you can press the microphone icon (if ‘Finish Consultation’ hasn’t been pressed yet) again, and you can continue with the session.

Please be aware that you cannot restart the recording once ‘Finish Consultation’ has been clicked.

The TORTUS app will prompt you for microphone access the first time you start a consultation. If you accidentally deny access, you will have to grant permissions manually. How you do this will depend on your operating system, so please follow the appropriate guide below:

• Windows 10

• Windows 11

• MacOS

Certain networks, particularly NHS or Hospital networks, restrict what apps can work on the network. This can cause issues when you try and login or use the app’s functionality.

First, follow these steps to see if it resolves the issue:

• Check that you are connected to the internet

• Change your network, try the app on your home network, or even your phones hotspot connection. If this now works, then it is likely your network’s firewall that is restricting the app

In the case where it could be a firewall issue, it is neccessary to get approval from your IT administrator before you are able to use the TORTUS app. We have prepared a guide that you can provide them to help you get setup. We’re happy to work with your IT team where needed to provide any clinical safety or technical details they may require. Send an email to [email protected] and we can help facilitate.

Yes, although TORTUS may struggle to transcribe fully in particularly strong accents. If a patient has a strong accent, we recommend using closed loop communications, repeating back key parts of the consultation, and especially medication names.

1. Create your template
   
   • Navigate to the “Templates” page in the user dropdown and click “+ Create New Template” at the bottom
   • Give your new template a name
   • Select a template to use as a base
   • Adjust the style toggles to reflect your preferences
   • If you wish to make changes to the headings, click on “Advanced”
   • Add or remove headings and edit the descriptions contained within the square bracket
2. Save your template
   • • Once you’ve completed the template, click the “Save” button at the bottom of the form.
     • You can see your template under “My Templates”, and can edit the template further by clicking the pen icon.

1. Test your template
   
   • Give your template a try by running a mock consultation and checking that the headings and style are as you wish.
   • If it is not quite right, make some further edits
2. Use your template
   
   • Once you’re happy, you can use your new template for your consultations

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