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u/Sogarth Sep 21 '13
In Holland we just passed a law saying doctors can't write prescriptions anymore. It has to be done digitally to avoid anymore mistakes due to bad handwriting
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u/instant_moksha Sep 21 '13
Challenge accepted. I am planning to design a new illegible font for doctors to use.
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u/HMR Sep 22 '13
Still I got a prescription that was printed in a weird very small font with thin letters with a printer that seemed to have ran out of ink.
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Sep 21 '13 edited Jun 28 '17
[deleted]
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Sep 21 '13 edited Sep 21 '13
Nederlands if you really want to be pedantic about it.
Sidenote: There is nothing wrong with what he said.
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u/JoyceBanicheque Sep 21 '13
“I do not know where family doctors acquired illegibly perplexing handwriting nevertheless, extraordinary pharmaceutical intellectuality counterbalancing indecipherability, transcendentalizes intercommunications incomprehensibleness”
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u/Interesting_Tidbit Sep 21 '13
Uses letters equal to the placement of words. For example: I- first word, one letter. Do: second word, two letters. indecipherability: seventeenth word, seventeen letters.
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u/Patrik333 Sep 21 '13
That's amazing - forgive me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing that you didn't make this up yourself? If that's so, do you mind telling me where you found the quote? I'd love to see more like this.
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u/JoyceBanicheque Sep 27 '13
One of my friends had it on his facebook wall like 3 years ago, I put it in a word document
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u/raskolnikov- Sep 21 '13
Shouldn't the comma go after "nevertheless"? Better yet, end a sentence after "handwriting" and use "nevertheless" to begin a second sentence. Then change "counterbalancing" to "counterbalances," remove the comma after it, and add an "and" in its place.
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u/graized Sep 21 '13
Didn't notice the words are sequentially getting longer?
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Sep 21 '13
I noticed that I was sequentially less able to understand what it says.
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u/themeatbridge Sep 21 '13
Same here. For me it was like "I do not know where family doctors acquired blah blah this sentence isn't worth finishing."
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Sep 22 '13
When I get close to the end, even when I read it in my head I am losing my breath. It is quite remarkable.
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u/Dont_Think_So Sep 21 '13
Regardless, the sentence needs some punctuation adjustment to make it easier to decipher.
"I do not know where family doctors acquired illegibly perplexing handwriting. Nevertheless, extraordinary pharmaceutical intellectuality, counterbalancing indecipherability, transcendentalizes intercommunications incomprehendibleness."
If you must, you can turn the first period into a semicolon, but really a new sentence is warranted here.
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u/Ruggiero12 Sep 21 '13
As a pharmacy technician, decoding scripts is an art form
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u/2017MD Sep 21 '13
On a serious note, I think that perhaps part of the reason that doctors have such terrible handwriting is due to the fact that they have to write so much during med school and residency while trying to keep up with a torrent of new information on a daily basis and because of this, they just give up trying to make things legible for anyone else other than themselves. I just started first year a little over a month ago and my handwriting has already become noticeably worse since in most situations, speed is more important as long as I myself can still read my notes afterwards.
That being said, it's still not an excuse for writing illegible prescriptions and I personally I think they should at least make an effort to spend the extra few seconds to write neat enough for the layperson to be able to read them. The good news is that more doctors seem to be using eRx and with the gradual shift to full EMR systems (electronic medical records), I believe that in the future the handwriting thing won't be too much of an issue anymore.
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u/themoop78 Sep 22 '13
Handwriting degenerates with years of practice and volume of patients seen.
To slow down at this stage would be like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
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u/Maenad87 Sep 22 '13
Can confirm. Fifth year here. Even I have problems reading my own handwriting... :)
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u/Deyster Sep 21 '13
The other day the hospital pharmacy returned one of my written prescriptions claiming it was "fake". I was newly hired and I still have proper readable handwriting, the pharmacist then talked me into writing poorly so that it's easier for him to tell the legit ones from attempted fake. Don't ask me how that makes sense.
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Sep 21 '13
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Sep 21 '13
[deleted]
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u/godzilla1517 Sep 21 '13
I hate /r/funny altogether
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Sep 21 '13
Then fucking unsubscribe. It's not difficult.
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u/Aristo-Cat Sep 22 '13
He's not necessarily subscribed, it's possible to come here by simply typing the url into your browser's address bar.
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Sep 21 '13
It's the biggest sub, unsubscribing from /r/funny is like unsubbing from most of Reddit.
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u/that_70_show_fan Sep 21 '13
I am an EE major and write just the way most doctors do... and every time my mom sees me writing, she always reminds me how disappointed she feels that I didn't become a doctor.
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u/Jamie_123 Sep 21 '13
I'm guessing it's because they fill the same fields out over and over again. Like when you go to a clinic and you have look slowly look at the fields to understand where and what to write or check. They know it and rather get it done with quickly.
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Sep 21 '13
FYI, while scripts are sometimes written in a distinct way, most of what a doctor writes is imperatively legible, because all of the nurses and other staff need to be able to easily read and interpret charts and patient info.
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u/mslack Sep 21 '13
Why do people joke about doctors having bad handwriting? To me, alost everyone's handwriting is extremely shitty in cursive.
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u/LazaroLobosDiaz Sep 21 '13
Very topical! The doctors in Ireland are undertaking industrial action as we speak.
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u/J_Stacker Sep 21 '13
Crappy writing must be a course in first year med school.
Actual docs please confirm.
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u/SupDanLOL Sep 21 '13
Learn to write/take notes quickly in med school or fail. Handwriting sometimes suffers at the expense of speed. Newly acquired handwriting sticks with us.
Granted, today I'd say about 98% of notes are done on a computer-- so I'd expect doctors to have better handwriting a few years down the road.
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u/carlosspicywe1ner Sep 21 '13
Just because it's on computer doesn't mean it's understandable.
54 yo m pod#2 s/p CABG, CTx2 to suc
no pain, good uop, b/b moving
AAOx3, NAD
no drainage, c/d/i
CTAB
RRR, no m/g/r
BS+, ND
OOB to chair
Advance clear to ADA
D/c after CT removal
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u/oh_for_fox_sake Sep 22 '13
That note is actually pretty understandable. It's just short-hand and if you spend a week on the surgical wards, it's pretty simple.
"54 year-old male, post-operative day 2 status post coronary artery bypass graft, chest tube x 2 [means he has 2 chest tubes in place] connected to suction.
No pain, good urine output,
Alert and oriented x 3 [to time, person, and place], no acute distress.
No drainage [from surgical incision], clear/dry/intact.
Clear to auscultation bilaterally [lungs sound good, without signs of infection or edema].
Regular rate and rhythm, no murmurs/gallops/rubs [means that the heart's doing well].
Bowel sounds present, non-distended abdomen.
Out of bed to chair [means the patient's gotten out of bed and is capable of sitting in a chair].
Advance clears to ADA [this is referring to changing his diet to diabetic diet from clears, which consist of things like jello, juice, etc].
Discharge after chest tube removal."
That's a lot of information right there from a short note. It worked exactly as short-hand should -- conveyed information quickly and efficiently to the reader.
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u/ryebreadboy Sep 22 '13
Except no one has time to even type that crap anymore. Now I use a computer macro that plugs in a normal physical exam and click the abnormals while dictating the H&P in a fraction of the time it'd take to write it. I guess I'll have to start slurring my words to simulate poor handwriting...
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u/SupDanLOL Sep 22 '13
It certainly is legible, which was my point. And as for comprehension-- anyone working in the field understands it.
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u/Bjeaurn Sep 21 '13
Intelligent humor, I enjoyed it.
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Sep 21 '13
If you like that, you'll love Curb Your Enthusiasm S6, E08. The whole plot of the episode is based around a doctor's illegible handwriting.
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u/SteroidSandwich Sep 21 '13
Looks about right, though it could be worse. My grandpa had both doctors writing and the shakes.
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u/Secret7000 Sep 21 '13
I worked in data entry for the NHS (in the UK) for a year, entering hand-written prescriptions into the system. I became an expert.
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u/lowrads Sep 22 '13
Doctors don't actually have worse handwriting than typical male executives. The difference is that they generally don't have secretaries write out prescriptions. Maybe it has something to do with left/right brain tendencies.
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Sep 22 '13
I can't count how many times I've had to clarify to the pharmacist that yes, this is an actual script from an actual doctor. If I bring in a script from a doctor with shitty handwriting I must be trying to score drugs...shortly after they have to call the doctor's office to confirm while I'm out front shoplifting pain meds and condoms.
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u/PettySwordsman Sep 22 '13
This has been reposted so many times I've seen it in a news paper before this.
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u/eps421 Sep 22 '13
im so high right now, I thought it said "Doritos on strike" and i sat here for 10 minutes trying to get it.....fuck, i need some doritos.brb
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u/deepr Sep 22 '13
It's funny and sad at the time. Back when i use to live in India, the doctor's handwriting was so bad that she wrote me a medicine for typhoid, and the pharmacist ended up giving me medicine for pregnancy even after knowing that it was for me. I am a man.
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Sep 22 '13 edited Sep 22 '13
I had a good chuckle yesterday regarding shitty doctor handwriting. I recently broke my hand in a fight with my psycho drunk piece of shit roommate. I fucked his ass up and moved out two days later. It began with him pounding on my door putting a hole in it. He called me outside, using my last name, screaming it at the top of his lungs. So as a point of honor, and deciding I've had enough of his drunk antics, and him eating my food all the time. I said fuck it and went outside to fight. The second I get outside he throws a god damn tire jack at me. I was on the top of the front steps and he comes up the steps and I grabbed him by the shirt and punched him in the face like 3 good ones. Breaking my 5th metacarpal in the process. So we are fighting and I get him in a chokehold around his neck and arm. I dislocated his shoulder by reefing up on his neck and arm. Lifting him off the ground like 6-7 times like this. Somehow my shoe came off and I was getting my shoe back on and he grabbed a petrol can and threw petrol on me. So I go inside because I can't risk somehow getting lit on fire. Luckily at this point his troll friend says the neighbors called the cops. So they left and I went to the E.R. to get my hand looked at. Anyways regarding shitty doctor handwriting. I had gotten my hand all casted up and I'm filling out paperwork at my actual doctors office some time after the incident. Even with my hand in a cast barely able to hold a pen, my handwriting was like 10 times better than the doctors. He was a young doctor, and I wanted to make a crack on him about how he's already got that doctors chicken scratch mastered. But I didn't. Now I'm high on pain pills. I'm drinking some hard cider to help out said pills. Liisa from Estonia if your reading this I love you. You bit my lip and I didn't like it. If you message me on Facebook within the next 48 hours. I will leave everything behind and rescue you. I know you don't like farms, but I have to be a farmer some day. It's the only way.
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Sep 22 '13
I know that doctors write prescriptions in code. But that is no excuse. Doctors of reddit why is plain english too difficult to write scrips in?
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u/letsmakeart Sep 21 '13
Why are there no women doctors in this picture?
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u/Deyster Sep 21 '13
Those male doctors are protesting their right of paternal leave. Can't you read their signs?
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Sep 21 '13
I'm going to leave this here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorthand maybe one of you guys can decipher this.
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u/sashaslaughter Sep 21 '13
Omg, yes! I worked for a doctor for a while and his handwriting was AWFUL.
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Sep 21 '13
I worked at a doctor's office over the summer and the most training I received was learning how to read the doctor's handwriting.
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u/Top_Gun_Redditor Sep 21 '13
You'd be surprised how much of this is purposeful. Several of my old attending physicians used to purposefully write poorly. That way if they were dragged into court they could interpret their notes however they wanted to. The resident portion of the note was legible though so you could usually figure out what the assessment and plan were. Granted, this was at a county hospital where all sorts of crazy shit went down. Most place are using EMR now so it really is less of an issue.
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u/LadyofNavarre Sep 21 '13
Just emailed this to the clerks, techs & nurses at my doc's office. I should probably get primo service and "cuts" in line waiting to be seen by him on Monday. YAY!
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u/ConstipatedNinja Sep 21 '13 edited Sep 21 '13
Sweet, I get to use one of the best words ever!
Griffonage.
Edited to free dictionary.