[Digital speech recognition in dermatology: a pilot study with regard to medical and economic aspects].

Background: Economic factors dominate more and more the healthcare systems; modern technologies advance every day and offer opportunities for savings.

Material And Methods: In a pilot study, digital speech recognition based on Dragon NaturallySpeaking, Version 7 was compared with common dictation in dermatology.

Results: The conventional method took 24.1 minutes per page and reports could be sent out after 16.8 days; in sharp contrast, the reports dictated by digital speech recognition took 15.8 minutes per page and were sent out after 3.2 days.

Conclusion: Digital Speech recognition in dermatology has advantages compared to ordinary dictation, if the dictating person is trained with the software and it is implemented in a digital patient documentation system.