Why is doctors handwriting unreadable

For example when I was working as an intern, one of the senior doctors in the Emergency Department was looking at a patient. So Ankit this is a 68 year old male who presented to the ED with 2 hours of central chest pain and shortness of breath on exertion. On examination he is sitting out of bed but looks otherwise well.

His vitals are within normal limits. He has dual heart sounds with no murmurs and his lungs are clear. The Chest xray is clear. The plan is for telemetry and serial troponins. The time pressure and high volume slowly leads to your handwriting becoming a mangled version of its former self. You may end up with handwriting that looks like chicken scrawl.

But there is an even deeper reason for the stereotype that doctors have bad handwriting:. The researchers explained that majority of the poor handwriting of doctors is attributed to the times when doctors are in a rush when writing prescriptions, during their rounds or peak hours, or when they experienced fatigue.

Medication error is any preventable event that may pose harm to the patients. To prevent medication errors due to poor handwriting of doctors, the researchers suggested developing a program on writing prescriptions that can be easily understood by everyone. They also pointed out that abbreviations in prescriptions should be avoided as they lead to more confusion. Lastly, the researchers advised adapting a computerized prescription system if possible.

Learn more about the Philippine government, its structure, how government works and the people behind it. You may opt-out by clicking here. More From Forbes. May 6, , am EDT.

Feb 9, , am EST. Feb 4, , am EST. Brocato, who adds that she can usually read her own writing. So what gives? For one thing, doctors have to write more than just about any other job. Anything you talk about behind closed doors needs written evidence for your medical history. Curious what your handwriting says about you? This handwriting analysis will tell you. Long days plus tons of writing equals a very tired hand.

If doctors could spend an hour with every patient, they might be able to slow down and give their hands a rest.