"When high quality demands and practical reality diverge"

How Dr. Umhau gains structure and safety in daily practice with a high patient count.

Customer story Dr. Guido Umhau

ENT · Solo Practice · Legau (Allgäu)

Short profile

Dr. Guido Umhau is an ear, nose, and throat doctor in Legau in Allgäu (Bavaria).

The practice is purely conservative, without any surgical interventions, with a very high patient volume of over 3,000 cases per quarter.

Medicine runs in the family for Dr. Umhau – his father, grandfather, and uncle were all ENT doctors.

The practice operates as a solo practice with a lean team and a strong digital focus.

Initial situation: When documentation no longer keeps up.

The documentation was done traditionally during the conversation before Sikia. Dr. Umhau typed simultaneously into the practice management system during patient contact, often under significant time pressure.

From Dr. Umhau's perspective, the documentation could not consistently meet his own quality standards in everyday practice.

With this high number of patients, it inevitably remained bullet-pointed – sufficient to continue working, but not always sufficient to quickly, consistently, and completely recall cases later according to his own standards.

"My team and I have partially not understood my own documentation."

This led to real problems:

  • Uncertainties in rescreenings

  • Important information was not always documented

  • Increased organizational pressure to ensure traceability

"The documentation could not fully meet my own expectations for a long time."

The search for a solution

To consistently implement one's own quality standards in everyday life, a new solution was needed. Dr. Umhau early on sought alternatives. However, classic text modules in the PVS proved to be a dead end.

"That was an absolute disaster. Not intuitive, not practical."

At the annual ENT congress in Mannheim – and additionally through discussions with a colleague – he became aware of Sikia. It was crucial for him that the solution was consistently developed for ENT practices.

Skepticism towards AI

Before Sikia, Dr. Umhau had little contact with AI. He rarely used tools like ChatGPT, and the topic was generally approached with restraint.

"I have only just opened up to the topic of AI through Sikia."

The biggest surprise: reliability, especially with audio recordings and regional dialects. The cases he had to correct in the last month can be counted on one hand.

"I thought that the recording and the Allgäu dialect would be a disaster. The opposite was the case."

Usage in everyday life: Sikia as a central working tool.

Today, Dr. Umhau uses Sikia with every single patient.

While the classic PVS remains in the background, Sikia is the leading system in the treatment room.

The procedure:

  • Patient is called

  • Conversation is ongoing, Sikia documents

  • The documentation is briefly checked

  • With one click, everything goes into the PVS

  • A medical letter can subsequently be automatically generated with one click

"The letter is finished before the patient has closed the door."

Effect: Structure, Security, and Scalability

The introduction of Sikia has fundamentally changed everyday practice:

  • Meeting one's own standards
    Consistent and comprehensible documentation in line with one's own quality standards

  • Time savings
    Documentation now takes about 30 seconds instead of 5 minutes – a crucial factor with high patient numbers.

  • Automatable medical letters
    Once the documentation has been transferred to the PVS, the medical letter can be created with just one click.

  • Structured processes within the team
    The documentation is comprehensible for everyone in the team. This reduces misunderstandings.

"I have the feeling today that everything is well documented."

Added value for practice

For Dr. Umhau, the feeling of structure and security in daily practice is particularly valuable.

"With a high number of patients, a system like Sikia is needed to reliably maintain one's documentation requirements."


The solution is clearly economical as well:

"I will probably make up for the monthly costs in two days."

Patient perspective: Surprisingly positive

An initial concern – how patients would react to a microphone – has not been confirmed.

"There is little concern. On the contrary: The discussions are more pleasant for both sides."

More eye contact, less typing. This is perceived by patients as a clear improvement in quality.

Recommendation

Dr. Umhau highly recommends Sikia, especially for practices in underserved regions with many patients.

"If we want to care for more patients, we cannot do without systems like Sikia."