When working with VetRec's Records Recap, you may encounter different types of PDF documents. Each type can impact how quickly and effectively VetRec can summarize your patient's records. Knowing the differences can help you get the most accurate and speedy results possible.
There are three main types of PDFs you might come across:
Text PDFs (Preferred)
Scanned Documents
Handwritten Notes
Text PDFs (Preferred)
Text PDFs are the most accurate and faster records for VetRec to process. These documents already contain selectable, machine-readable text, which makes summarization both quick and highly accurate. You can easily check if a PDF is a text-based PDF by opening it and trying to select the text with your cursor. If you can highlight the text, that means it's text-based, and VetRec will be able to summarize it much faster than scanned documents.
Common Examples:
Medical records downloaded directly from your Practice Information Management System (PIMS).
Digital lab reports or referral documents received from other practices.
TIP: Always try to use text PDFs when possible to get the fastest results from Records Recap. When saving the file to upload to VetRec do not use the "Print" option.
Scanned Documents
Scanned documents are essentially images of paper records. These are created when a physical document is scanned using a scanner or if you print a PDF using your PDF reader when trying to save the file. Because they contain images instead of text, VetRec needs to perform extra processing to extract information. This can take a bit longer compared to text-based PDFs, but VetRec will still get the job done, extracting crucial details from these images.
Common Examples:
Printing a Text PDF with your PDF reader when trying to save the file.
Old patient records that were printed out and then scanned.
Lab results that were printed, filled out by hand, and scanned back into a computer.
Note: Processing times for scanned documents may be slightly longer since VetRec needs to "read" each image to understand the content.
Handwritten Notes
Handwritten notes are also scanned documents, but they require extra attention because the text quality may vary. These could include handwritten consultation notes, diagnostic sketches, or other manually written records. VetRec requires extra processing to analyze handwritten notes, and variations in handwriting style can influence how effectively the notes are summarized.
Common Examples:
Personal notes taken by the veterinarian during patient consultations.
Handwritten diagnostic records or observations.
TIP: If your handwritten notes are clear and legible, VetRec can better identify and summarize key information.