Documentation
Glossary
This glossary defines key technical terms, acronyms, and product-specific names used throughout the Suki developer documentation.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| ABORT | A WebSocket streaming event that terminates the current audio stream due to interruption while keeping the session active for later resumption. Note generation continues with audio received before interruption. |
| ACO | Accountable Care Organizations. Healthcare entities that coordinate care for a patient population and are accountable for costs and quality outcomes. |
| AES-256 | Advanced Encryption Standard with 256-bit key length. A symmetric encryption algorithm used by Suki to encrypt data at rest. |
| Ambient API | The specific set of APIs used to create clinical notes from conversations. |
| Ambient Session | A single, time-bound instance of an ambient recording for a specific patient encounter that captures clinical conversations. |
| API | Application Programming Interface. A set of rules and tools for building software and applications. |
| ASR | Automatic Speech Recognition. Technology that converts spoken language into written text, used by Suki for transcribing clinical conversations. |
| Assessment | A clinical note section (LOINC: 51848-0) containing the clinician’s medical assessment of the patient’s condition. |
| Assessment and Plan | A clinical note section (LOINC: 51847-2) combining the clinician’s assessment with the treatment plan. Often used as the default PBN section. |
| Audio Chunking | The process of dividing continuous audio streams into smaller segments. Suki requires 100ms audio packets for optimal performance and latency balance. |
| Background Processing | The capability of SDK features to run passively during consultations without disrupting the provider’s workflow, such as ambient note generation. |
| BAA | Business Associate Agreement. A contract between Suki and healthcare customers that defines how patient data is handled in compliance with HIPAA requirements. |
| Base64 Encoding | A method of encoding binary data (like audio) into ASCII text format for transmission over text-based protocols like WebSocket. |
| Bearer Token | An authentication token format where the token holder (“bearer”) is granted access to resources. Used in HTTP Authorization headers. |
| Bitrate | The amount of data processed per unit of time in audio streaming. Suki requires 768kbps bitrate for optimal performance. |
| CANCEL | A WebSocket streaming event that completely terminates a session without generating any clinical note from the recorded audio. |
| Chief Complaint | A clinical note section (LOINC: 10154-3) describing the primary reason for the patient’s visit in their own words. |
| Clinic | A healthcare facility where patients receive outpatient care, often part of a larger organization in the partner structure. |
| Clinical Note | The final structured medical documentation generated from a patient encounter, organized into standardized sections using LOINC codes. |
| Clinical Workflows | Standardized processes and procedures used in healthcare settings to manage patient care and documentation. |
| Clinician | A healthcare professional who provides direct patient care, including doctors, nurses, and other medical practitioners who use Suki’s documentation services. |
| Coding Assistance | AI-powered functionality that helps with medical coding tasks, such as assigning appropriate diagnosis codes or procedure codes to clinical documentation. |
| Context-Aware Processing | AI technology that intelligently organizes medical conversations into appropriate clinical sections based on the context and content of the discussion. |
| De-identification | The process of removing personally identifiable information (PII) from data. Suki de-identifies audio by chunking files and removes PII from transcripts for model training purposes. |
| Diarization | The process of distinguishing different speakers in audio recordings without identifying who they are, used to separate patient and clinician voices in ambient sessions. |
| Dictation | The process of speaking aloud to create written text, often used by clinicians to create medical documentation using voice input. |
| Early Access | A phase where new features or APIs are available to select partners before general availability, such as the Ambient Clinician Note Generation API. |
| EHR | Electronic Health Record. A digital version of a patient’s paper chart containing comprehensive health information. |
| EMR | Electronic Medical Record. Digital version of patient medical records maintained by healthcare providers. |
| Encounter | A single interaction between a patient and healthcare provider, typically corresponding to one visit or appointment. |
| Encounter ID | A unique identifier for a specific patient encounter, used to group multiple ambient sessions that belong to the same visit. |
| Encryption at Rest | The protection of stored data by encrypting it when saved on disk or in databases. Suki uses AES-256 encryption for data at rest. |
| Encryption in Transit | The protection of data while it moves between systems over networks. Suki uses TLS 1.2 for data transmission encryption. |
| EOF | End of File. A WebSocket streaming event that indicates the closure or completion of an audio stream. |
| ES6 | ECMAScript 2015, a version of JavaScript that includes modern features like arrow functions, classes, and modules. Required for browser compatibility with Suki Web SDK. |
| Federated Authentication | An authentication model where multiple systems trust a single identity provider, allowing users to access multiple services with one set of credentials. |
| Form Filling | AI-powered capability that automatically populates clinical forms and templates based on conversation content and structured data extraction. |
| Headed SDK | An SDK that includes pre-built User Interface (UI) components. Our Web SDK is headed. |
| Headless SDK | An SDK that does not include pre-built UI components, allowing developers to create their own UI. Our Mobile SDK is headless. |
| HIPAA | Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. U.S. legislation that provides data privacy and security provisions for safeguarding medical information. |
| Hospital | A healthcare institution that provides patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. |
| HPI | History of Present Illness. A clinical note section (LOINC: 10164-2) describing the chronological development of the patient’s current health issue. |
| HTTPS | HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure. An extension of HTTP that uses encryption for secure communication over a network. |
| IDP | Identity Provider. An acronym for a system that manages user identities and authenticates users. Examples include Okta, Auth0, Azure AD, and custom authentication systems. |
| Identity Provider | A system that manages user identities and authenticates users. Examples include Okta, Auth0, Azure AD, and custom authentication systems. |
| JWT | JSON Web Token. A compact, URL-safe means of representing claims to be transferred between two parties, commonly used for authentication and information exchange. |
| JWKS | JSON Web Key Set. A set of keys containing the public keys used to verify any JWT issued by the authorization server. |
| JWKS Endpoint | A publicly accessible HTTPS endpoint that hosts cryptographic public keys for JWT token verification. |
| Keep Alive | A WebSocket streaming event sent every 5 seconds during paused states to maintain connection and prevent timeout disconnection. |
| Latency | The delay between sending audio data and receiving a response. Suki requires unloaded latency under 50ms and loaded latency under 150ms for optimal performance. |
| LINEAR16 | An uncompressed audio format with 16-bit depth, used for high-quality audio streaming to Suki’s platform at 16KHz sampling rate. |
| LLM | Large Language Model. Advanced AI models trained on vast amounts of text data to understand and generate human-like text, used by Suki for clinical note generation. |
| LOINC | Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes. A standardized vocabulary for identifying clinical sections and medical concepts. |
| Medically-tuned Dictation | Speech recognition technology specifically optimized for medical terminology and clinical language patterns. |
| Model Training | The process of using de-identified and anonymized data to improve AI model performance. Suki uses this data to enhance clinical note generation capabilities. |
| Mono Channel | Single-channel audio format required for Suki’s platform, as opposed to stereo (dual-channel) audio. |
| Monologue | A single-person speech recording, such as when a clinician dictates notes alone, as opposed to a conversation between clinician and patient. |
| Multilingual Support | The capability to process clinical conversations in over 80 languages while generating the final clinical note in English. |
| Natural Language Voice Interaction | Technology that allows users to interact with systems using spoken natural language commands and queries. |
| NLP | Natural Language Processing. AI technology that helps computers understand, interpret, and generate human language. |
| Note Archive | A Web SDK component that allows users to view and manage both current and historical clinical notes associated with a patient. |
| Note Editor | A rich-text editing component in the Web SDK designed specifically for AI-generated clinical content, supporting editing, formatting, and section-level interaction. |
| Note Generation | The automated process of creating structured clinical documentation from recorded patient encounters using AI technology. |
| OAuth 2.0 | An industry-standard authorization framework that enables secure delegated access to resources without sharing passwords. |
| Offline Mode | A capability that allows certain SDK features to function without an internet connection, enabling users to work in environments with limited connectivity. |
| OpenID Connect | An authentication layer built on top of OAuth 2.0, providing identity verification and user information access. |
| Organization | A healthcare entity or health system that partners with Suki to provide AI-powered documentation services to their providers and clinicians. |
| Partner | An organization or company that integrates with Suki’s platform to offer AI-powered clinical documentation services to their users. |
| Partner ID | A unique identifier assigned by Suki during onboarding that links an application to its configuration in the Suki Developer Platform. |
| Partner Token | A secure, digitally signed JWT issued by a partner’s identity provider after user authentication, passed to Suki SDK for user verification. |
| PAUSE | A WebSocket streaming event that temporarily halts audio transmission while maintaining the session connection. |
| PBN | Problem-Based Note. A clinical documentation format that organizes information around specific patient problems or diagnoses rather than traditional SOAP format. |
| Personalization API | The specific API used to configure individual provider preferences for note styling and formatting. |
| Physical Exam | A clinical note section (LOINC: 29545-1) documenting the physical examination findings during a patient encounter. |
| Provider | A healthcare professional (such as a doctor or nurse) within an organization who uses Suki’s services to document patient care. |
| Real-time | Processing and response that occurs immediately or with minimal delay, such as live audio transcription and streaming to Suki’s platform. |
| Reseller Program | A business program that allows partners to embed Suki Platform’s core technology directly into their own solutions and sell applications powered by Suki’s assistive technology. |
| REST API | Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface. An architectural style for designing networked applications using standard HTTP methods. |
| RESUME | A WebSocket streaming event that restarts audio transmission after a pause. |
| RSA | An asymmetric cryptographic algorithm used for secure data transmission and digital signatures, commonly used in JWT token verification. |
| Sampling Rate | The number of audio samples captured per second, measured in Hertz. Suki requires 16KHz sampling rate for optimal audio quality. |
| SDK | Software Development Kit. A collection of tools, libraries, and documentation to help developers build applications for a specific platform. |
| Service Contract | A formal agreement between Suki and healthcare customers that defines service levels, data retention policies, and compliance requirements. |
| Session | A single, time-bound instance of an ambient recording for a specific patient encounter. |
| Session Timeouts | Automatic disconnection that occurs when no audio data is sent for 25 seconds (active state) or 30 minutes during pause with keep-alive events. |
| SHA-256 | Secure Hash Algorithm 256-bit. A cryptographic hash function used for data integrity verification and digital signatures in security protocols. |
| SOAP Note | Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan. A traditional clinical documentation format that organizes patient information into these four standardized sections. |
| Speech Recognition | Technology that converts spoken words into written text, enabling voice-to-text functionality for clinical documentation. |
| Structured Data | Organized medical information extracted from clinical conversations, such as diagnoses, medications, allergies, and vital signs, formatted for integration with EHR systems. |
| Suki Developer Platform (SDP) | The official name for the entire suite of Suki’s developer tools, including all APIs and SDKs. |
| Suki Token | The access token returned by Suki’s authentication API, used to authorize subsequent API requests to the Suki platform. |
| TLS 1.2 | Transport Layer Security version 1.2. A cryptographic protocol used to provide secure communication over networks, required by Suki for data transmission. |
| Transcript | The text version of recorded audio from clinical conversations, generated by automatic speech recognition and used as input for note generation. |
| Upload Speed | The rate at which data can be transmitted from a client device to Suki’s servers. Suki requires minimum 768kbps upload speed for optimal performance. |
| Voice Commands | Spoken instructions that trigger specific actions within the Suki platform, enabling hands-free interaction with clinical documentation features. |
| WAF | Web Application Firewall. A security service that protects web applications by filtering and monitoring HTTP traffic between applications and the internet. |
| Webhook | A mechanism that allows Suki to send real-time event notifications (like session_summary_generated) to your application’s server. |
| WebSocket | A communication protocol that provides full-duplex communication channels over a single TCP connection, used for real-time audio streaming to Suki’s platform. |
| WebSocket Secure (WSS) | The secure version of WebSocket protocol that uses TLS/SSL encryption for protected data transmission during real-time audio streaming. |