We used to have a solution to this: Clipboards. But I can't remember the last time I saw a doctor in my org carrying a clipboard.
Basically all those secretarial-type jobs—which used to be quite a bit of the workforce—went away, replaced by making experts use computers themselves, to enter data into usually-shitty-and-time-wasting systems. It's my understanding that a lot of the folks who are old enough to have done both despise the new system.
My mom had a job like this at a big bank.
The first thing she would do each morning is print out the e-mails for one of the V.P.'s.
The last thing she would do in the afternoon is take the dictation of his replies, and then send them as e-mails.
It's one of the reasons I roll my eyes when I see people on TV and the internet pretending to be "rich" with their multi-thousand dollar cell phones and gadgets.
Really rich people, and I mean really rich people, barely use electronics. They have people to do those things for them.
But the whole point of this thread is that the computers aren't getting the job done.
So why not use something has been proven to work, rather than something that is showing that it doesn't work?
Some of our peer services use tablets in the field. I hope we never switch over. Besides the nightmare of the horrible UI (because that's always the case with enterprise software), if the batteries die or you try to use them outdoors in bright sun, you're hosed.