Expedience often demanded writing many brief, later illegible progress notes. One is extreme time pressure. Gladstone suggests that instead of teaching the Baroque style of cursive, schools should revert back to the Italic handwriting method that predates Baroque cursive. There exists a large body of anecdotal reports, and a small but growing body of research, suggesting that the Italic style of handwriting is more legible at high speed, than conventional forms of cursive. Witt also found that transcription services improved physician productivity, satisfaction with medical records, and the legibility of physicians' records.
Computers already play a major role in solving the handwriting problem.
To minimize the potential for adverse drug reactions and miscommunicated orders, many hospitals are using computers for decision support and to order medications. Such systems eliminate written drug orders and serve as a data repository, allowing access to drug information. Computers also note potential drug interactions, allergies, and side effects, suggesting dosage adjustments based on patient data such as age, weight, and height. These systems can also provide detailed therapy recommendations from a database of commonly prescribed drugs. In various specialties, computers play different roles in documentation.