My friend is an anesthesiologist/ pain management physician who's
interested in purchasing voice recognition software so that he can
avoid taking written notes during patient examinations.  We're not
sure how reliable this type of software is for this type of purposes,
and what kind of software & hardware (wireless mic?), and add-ons
(speciality vocabulary add-ons) we should consider.

The software that seems to be used by most physicians is Dragon
Naturally Speaking Medical Suite 6.0
(http://www.speechtechnology.com/voicerecognition/medical.html).

A great answer to this question would include links/ information
directly from physicians that have used Dragon System's software (or
other software packages) for the purpose described above.

Hi, 

The first two links here seem to be what you are looking for,
discussions on what to expect, and how to expect them when using this
type of software. I'm not sure how the medical works with Dragon, but
I can tell you I've been very impressed with my own version. Medical
language is not everyday usage for me however.

VRUG medspeech VR v Medical Transcriptionist
http://www.voicerecognition.net/archive/html/voice-users/2002-03/msg00035.html

Voice Users Mailing List Threads
http://www.voicerecognition.net/archive/html/voice-users/2002-03/threads.html


Speechtechmage  -- New Products
http://www.speechtechmag.com/issues/5_2/newproducts/200-1.html

The Transcription Prescription Speech Technology Gives Doctors a Shot
in the Arm
http://www.speechtechmag.com/pub/7_5/cover/1157-1.html


If you need more information than this just let me know using the
clarification option and I'll see what else I can find.

Thanks, 

webadept-ga

From Medical Economics:
http://www.medicaleconomics.com/be_core/m/search/searchresults.jsp?xml=/be_core/m/search/search_xml/M_searchresult_voice_SPACE_recognition.xml&navtype=m

and a VR discussion from a transcription site:
http://www.mtchat.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=35&t=000002