This idea seems so simple, I cannot believe it has not been raised previously (I did look but did not find).  With the popularization of tools like SIRI (IOS), and Vocera's strong speech recognition, it seems like a natural fit to allow a user to send a Text message to a user or group via a voice command.

Our case for this is an increasing awareness of the increase (not always appropriate or necessary) calls which sometimes become a distraction.  Our users are asking for simple ways to send text messages to others when delivery of a message that is important, but not critical or time sensitive.  Examples include:  Messaging a staff member who is known to be in a surgical case; administrative assistant alerting a manager (who is in a meeting) of a change of schedule, etc.  We currently have selected users messaging through the user console, which accomplishes the goal (and validates the value of text message delivery), but that is not an ideally suited tool for occasonal messages, especially for those mobile users.

While I belive the use model would be pretty simple ("Send Text Message to  _______"  (Response: Please speak your text message at the beep.  ), I am sure there are challenges on the development and implementation side.  Here are some suspected challenges with suggested mitigation:

1. Length of message - I would assume we would take a "Twitter" approach and limit the length of message to something reasonable to read on a badge.  This could be a training topic and could also be reinforced by a validation step (i.e. beep when message length exceeds a max; display text message on sender's badge for approval before sending).
2. Spelling and grammer issues with Voice recognition - As we have adoped Voice to text in the VCE solution, we have valued delivery of the spirit of the message over proper grammer and spelling.  I would propose a smilar approach to this tolerance for spelling and grammer.  A required user validation prior to sending would asssist (allowing user re-record)
3. Spelling and grammer (Option 2) - Text messages could be pre-programmed and "selected" from a pre-populated list (much like current commands), which I beleive was a feature of the Connect Console (may still be?).  These messages could include preformatted text and wildcards like "Call __(user or group name)____ when available"  "Ready for epdural in __(room number)__"
4. Priority of message delivery - System could prompt for "normal, high, urgent" priority after command to send message is initiated.  Or could use model similar to broadcast, embedding prioirty in command "Send text message" vs. "Send urgent text message"