I Heard of Nurses Complaining of Doctors' Handwriting, Any Studies of Doctors Complaining of Other Doctors'?

Question

Perhaps the Problem is the Lack of Knowledge of the Terms.

Answer 1

it's not the lack of knowledge, you idiot. it's the handwriting.

we nurses can confuse one word for another. some medications sound almost the same with only a few letters as a differnce. same with diagnoses and procedures.

Answer 2

Well firstly, the nurses - and med students, for that matter - know the terminology just as well as the residents and the attendings.

The problem is laziness on the part of the doctor. As a med student, I understand that the doctors are rushed and very stressed - if you're in the ER, like me. But it's no excuse for a professional who has lives in their hands to write like a child because they can't be bothered to take the time.

Illegible scripts kill patients and it needs to be rectified ASAP.

Answer 3

None that I ever heard of but I know from my cousins husband that is a pharmacist, he thinks every doctor should have mandatory penmanship classes in college.

Answer 4

I don't know of any studies, but I can give testimonials. Eventually, we'll have to go to paperless systems, like everybody else. The systems so far are too costly and not compatible with each other. Twenty five years ago, I thought it would take about five years to get to where we are now in medical IT.

Answer 5

VD needs to be commended !

I didn't know any doctor even cared whether their writing were legible or not !!   Indeed lives can be saved when this is corrected !! (I worked in a hospital 35 yrs.)

Answer 6

I have heard of many doctors complaining of the handwriting of other doctors, often specialists who have been asked to consult on a case. They come in, examine the patient, and leave a note which sometimes can be a challenge. As VD notes it is dangerous and lead to errors. Many nurses are pretty good at deciphering hand writing, but it is nerve wracking and I have found that calling them up and asking what the h**l they wrote helps to send a message that they should write so we can read it, and avoid extra phone calls from the nursing staff. I instructed my staff never ever to guess at what an order said -- if in doubt, call. If they get abusive, let me know and we have ways to deal with that sort of behavior. Most doctors understood that we were just trying to make sure we did not do something wrong based on an order we could not read.  The handwriting of the housestaff (med students, interns and residents) was often excellent, it seems that once they become attendings the handwriting rapidly declines. Probably because as housestaff there were supervising physicians who had to be able to read the note and orders, but once they were on their own the need for clear handwriting seems to diminish.

BTW the handwriting of nurses is often nothing to brag about either!

Answer 7

I don't know but why do doctors have such bad hand writing, is it just do to being in a hurry all the time?

Answer 8

I reckon doctors don't complain about other doctors because they don't want to encourage the natives to revolt.  WE need to have some confidence in our Medicine Men and high priests - it's part of the cure.

Answer 9

I complain all the time about other doctors' writing.  Mine can be a little messy when I'm in a hurry, but is readable.  I've seen entire H&Ps that were worthless because of the chicken scratching.

That's why dictation is available.  Some should use it more.

The GI guy I work with has such bad handwriting even HE can't read it.  He dictates from his scrawlings right after the visits, when he remembers what he wrote.  If you show him something a year later, he has no idea what it is.