Dragon Copilot (nurses) verbalization guide

Purpose of this guide

This guide helps you master verbal documentation using Dragon Copilot’s ambient technology. It provides practical strategies to build confidence and fluency in verbalizing patient observations, assessments, and interactions—so more of your documentation is captured seamlessly and in real time.

Head-to-toe assessment: Conversational examples

This section provides examples of what a patient interaction may look like using the conversational approach during a comprehensive head-to-toe assessment.

Note: The sample outputs shown are illustrative examples generated by ambient technology; your results may vary.

Body system	Verbalization example	Sample ambient output
HEENT	Nurse: "Your throat appears red and inflamed. Are you still experiencing frequent coughing?" Patient: "Yes." Nurse: "When you cough, does anything come up?" Patient: "No, it’s just dry."	Throat: reddened. Cough type: Dry and non-productive.
Respiratory system	Nurse: "I’m going to listen to your lungs now. You have chest congestion on your right side due to pneumonia." Nurse (in room or away from patient): ”Patient has crackles in the right bases.”	Breath sounds: Crackles in the right lower lobe.
Cardiovascular system	Nurse: “Your heart sounds are normal.”	Heart sounds: S1, S2.
Gastrointestinal system	Nurse: "I’m going to listen to your belly. Is there any tenderness when I press on it?" Patient: “No, it feels fine.” Nurse: “Your bowel sounds are normal, and your abdomen is soft and nontender, which is good.”	Bowel sounds: All quadrants normoactive; Abdominal palpation: All quadrants soft and nontender.
Neurological system	Nurse has natural conversation to assess neuro status. Nurse states (either in the room or away from patient): “Alert and oriented x4.”	Oriented x4, alert.
Musculoskeletal system	The nurse assesses the patient and notes left-sided weakness. Nurse: “Left-sided weakness to upper and lower extremity. Right side normal.”	Motor response: RUE 5 - normal strength; RLE 5 - normal strength; LUE –weakness; LLE weakness
Integumentary system	Nurse: " Your skin looks good." Nurse states: ”Skin warm, dry, and intact.”	General skin condition: Warm, dry, and intact.
Genitourinary system	Nurse: “I see there’s some urine in the urinal. Are you having any problems when you pee?” Patient: “No.” Nurse: “Okay, good.”	Voiding characteristics: voiding spontaneously without difficulty; x1 urine occurrence.

Verbalization use cases

This section provides common scenarios for recording assessments during a typical shift and provides practice exercises to help you become familiar with the solution before incorporating it into your workflow.

Monologue: To build confidence with ambient technology, start small—use Dragon Copilot to record simple observations as a monologue. Sample monologues are provided.
Dialogue: As you grow more comfortable, expand to include patient interactions for a more comprehensive documentation experience. Pair up with a colleague, taking turns as nurse and patient, to practice the “care out loud” approach. Refer to the sample conversations for inspiration.

Scenario 1: Vital signs

Monologue: “Temperature is 100.5, taken orally. Heart rate of 98. Respirations 18. Blood pressure is 100/50 on left arm. O2 sat 98% on 2 liters of oxygen via nasal cannula.”

Dialogue:

[NURSE / CARE PROVIDER] I'm going to be using new technology that helps me with documentation by listening for medical information while we talk. We can talk normally but you'll hear me either repeat your answers or say some things out loud. Is this okay? [PATIENT] Okay, sure. [NURSE / CARE PROVIDER] I’m going to check your vitals. [PATIENT] Okay. [NURSE / CARE PROVIDER] Temperature is 99.1 orally, heart rate 88 auscultated, respiratory rate is 18. BP is 120 over 65 on an automated BP machine. O2 sat is 98% on room air. Okay, I’ll check back in a little bit. Use your call button if you need anything.

Scenario 2: Pain assessment

Monologue: “Complains of lower back pain, radiating to left leg. On a 0-10 pain scale, he rates it as 6. Described as sharp, shooting pain. The patient stated pain goal of 3. Medication administered.”

Dialogue:

[NURSE] I'm going to be using new technology that helps me with documentation by listening for medical information while we talk. We can talk normally but you'll hear me either repeat your answers or say some things out loud. Is this okay? [PATIENT] Okay, sure. [NURSE] How are you feeling today? [PATIENT] Oh, my knee is throbbing. Really aching. [NURSE] On a scale of 0-10, how's the pain? [PATIENT] I'd say a 7. [NURSE] So your pain is a 7 out of 10. Has it changed? [PATIENT] Yes, it's a lot worse after PT. [NURSE] Okay. I am going to give you some IV Dilaudid for the pain. [PATIENT] Is it going to make me woozy? [NURSE] It certainly may make you a little sleepy, but in the short term we need to manage your pain. [PATIENT] How soon will the pain go away? [NURSE] You should start to feel better in 15-30 minutes. I’ll be back in a little bit to check on you.

Scenario 3: Neuro assessment

Monologue: "Pain is 8 on a scale of 0-10. Pupils are equal, round, reactive to light and accommodation. No focal deficits. Lungs are clear to auscultation bilaterally. No edema noted to upper and lower extremities bilaterally, capillary refill <2 seconds. Abdomen is soft, non-tender, no masses palpated."

Dialogue:

[NURSE] I’ll be your nurse this afternoon. I'm going to be using new technology that helps me with documentation by listening for medical information while we talk. We can talk normally but you'll hear me either repeat your answers or say some things out loud. Is this okay? [PATIENT] Okay. [NURSE] How are you feeling? [PATIENT] I have a really bad headache that started this morning. [NURSE] Okay... on a scale of 0-10, how is your pain? [PATIENT] Oh, like an 8. [NURSE] What does it feel like? [PATIENT] I've had migraines before, but this feels different. I am dizzy too. [NURSE] Okay. Let me examine you. Pupils are equal, round, reactive to light and accommodation. No focal deficits. [PATIENT] That's good, right? NURSE] Those are all normal findings when looking at your pupils. The doctor will be in and may do some tests. [PATIENT] Oh, okay. [NURSE] Take a deep breath... Lungs are clear to auscultation bilaterally. No edema noted to upper and lower extremities bilaterally, capillary refill <2 seconds. I'm going to check your belly... Abdomen is soft, non-tender, no masses palpated.

Dragon Copilot (nurses) verbalization guide

Purpose of this guide

Head-to-toe assessment: Conversational examples

Verbalization use cases

Scenario 1: Vital signs

Scenario 2: Pain assessment

Scenario 3: Neuro assessment

Related topics

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