Why do so many doctors have awful handwriting?

TeddyTedson

I was at the doctor during the week and he wrote some things down on a piece of paper (No, I'm not talking about a prescription pad smart arses:D) Anyway I can't read it at all now, it's just a few lines of scribbling.
I'm tempted to scan it in but I shouldn't probably.
I've never seen a doctor with good hand writing in my life:eek:
My only guess to as why this is, is that during college they are writing so much they go for speed and their handwriting just deteriorates with time, but I don't know if medical lecturers would even be able to read these scribbles.
Who knows though, maybe it's all just a coincidence or conspiracy of some kind...

RickRoll

^^ Good one :rolleyes:

cocoshovel

Probably because they have to do that kind of thing a million times a day and they dont about attention to detail with your standard prescription.

Mr Benevolent

It's to stop you knowing what you're taking. Most doctors print out prescriptions now. Where are you living, Rockall?

TeddyTedson

John Doe1 wrote: »

Cos you always try to them **** them off when they are writing you filthy pig:rolleyes:

English mutha ****a, do you speak it?

oppenheimer1

There have been plenty of peer reviewed studies on this topic surprisingly

http://noustuff.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/do-doctors-really-have-bad-handwriting/

TeddyTedson

Confab wrote: »

It's to stop you knowing what you're taking. Most doctors print out prescriptions now. Where are you living, Rockall?

I've never gotten a printed prescription. I'm in the South Side of Dublin loike.

Larianne

Its so if a mistake is made, they can't be done for what they wrote in the notes.

John Doe1

TeddyTedson wrote: »

English mutha ****er, do you speak it?

FYP

TeddyTedson

John Doe1 wrote: »

FYP

Would you not be better off fixing your own first?

WindSock

Harder to forge is my reckonin'

John Doe1

TeddyTedson wrote: »

Would you not be better off fixing your own first?

Tough day at the office?

DerekDGoldfish

its a secret code they have with pharmacists, they give the pharmasist all your personal info and they give it to the town gossip once a week. Thats how they always know "So and so has a case of x"

Larianne

WindSock wrote: »

Harder to forge is my reckonin'

They write crap in clinical notes in hospitals too though. Very annoying when trying to find information about a patient. I've only a short experience in this but compared to other health professional notes, some doctors handwriting is disgraceful. They should write in block letters. :mad:

TeddyTedson

John Doe1 wrote: »

Tough day at the office?

Now that you removed your post it sort of changes RickRolls post:pac: (I think:o)

John Doe1

TeddyTedson wrote: »

Now that you removed your post it sort of changes RickRolls post:pac: (I think:o)

I know, thats why i did it:)

ene

i was talking to a intern when on placement in a hospital and asked her about this,

she joked saying that there was a class on bad handwriting in college!

its actually cause they write so much that it just deteriorates but i do agree that they should be forced to write neatly in patients notes cause otherwise its just impossible!!

RickRoll

John Doe1 wrote: »

I know, thats why i did it:)

Smart ain't you, now do us all a favor and delete your other 1,373 posts.

TeddyTedson

This thread has gone all thunderdome

Zen65

TeddyTedson wrote: »

I've never gotten a printed prescription. I'm in the South Side of Dublin loike.

I'm on the southside too, and my Doc always prints the prescription. I think it is quite common.

Z

bleg

All should be typed and come in standard formats -GMS, Private, LTI etc... I thought Reilly was trying to bring in something like this but obviously he has forgotten about it.

El Weirdo

What about them little packets of peanuts you get on airplanes? Could they be any smaller?

af_thefragile

Cuz as a doctor you have to write lots and lots in very little time. You've gotta fill in charts, write referral letters, write discharge letters, write report results, medication reviews etc. etc. and you have to manage to do all this in the little time you get between seeing patients and doing other administrative things.

And hence when you try to write a whole page of words in under a minute, it usually ends up very unfathomable and you need hieroglyphic experts to decipher the script.

El Weirdo

af_thefragile wrote: »

Cuz as a doctor you have to write lots and lots in very little time. You've gotta fill in charts, write referral letters, write discharge letters, write report results, medication reviews etc. etc. and you have to manage to do all this in the little time you get between seeing patients and doing other administrative things.

Surely in this day and age, there's an app for that?

Temptamperu

Its a form of shorthand they use, that is all. Its different on the continent but still a scrawl unless you know what your looking at.

af_thefragile

El Weirdo wrote: »

Surely in this day and age, there's an app for that?

You wish there would be. Even in this day and age most of medical administration depends on paper work. Awful lots of paper work. Every little detail needs to be recorded and signed off to protect from litigation and such.

It is a breath of fresh air when you're going through a patient's chart and come across someone who has taken the time to write the report in clear handwriting. Most doctors themselves hate it when they get a hand written referral letter or investigation report etc. where they need to spend 15mins trying to figure out what's written in it because of the terrible handwriting.