It's true that handwritten notes are optimized for speed of writing, but they're also optimized--perhaps secondarily--for the speed of reading, which happens at

It's true that handwritten notes are optimized for speed of writing, but they're also optimized--perhaps secondarily--for the speed of reading, which happens at least as often as writing (we can certainly hope). There's a third optimization at work, for small size, both for its own sake and as a byproduct of optimizing for writing speed. Less ink tends to be faster. Tufte frequently mentions the importance of saving ink when drawing charts, going as far as the rule of thumb that if any line can be erased without changing the meaning of the chart, the chart is better after doing so. But of course, it's not really about saving ink itself, it's just that total ink is a good proxy for the presence of distractions that impair clarity (chartjunk). Similarly, fast-to-write notes like the fishbone also tend to be fast for trained practitioners to read at a glance. Though they may not be exactly what we'd come up with if starting from scratch with reading speed as the sole criterion, they get much closer than the typical lab results report. Current electronic alternatives tend to be optimized for something else entirely: ease of printing on a fixed-pitch line printer. We can improve readability greatly by broadening the formatting options beyond that, to include options previously only possible with freeform pen and paper. An ideal layout optimized for readers and free from obsolete constraints (such as writing speed and legacy print engines) would probably abbreviate fewer words compared to handwritten notes, because unusual abbreviations slow down the reader. At the same time, it would get rid of common words that ended up being frequently repeated on computer reports (medjunk). It could include better graphical and formatting cues (selective boldfacing, symbols, sparklines, spatial layouts like fishbones, etc.) We can also take advantage of handheld devices like the iPad to allow trends and ranges to be brought up by tapping on a result, instead of trying to display everything all at once.