Why do Doctors Write so BADLY?!!!

Writing badly for a doctor is a matter of survival! In one eight hour shift s/he can write their signature alone fifty or more times! The problem is the volume of paperwork that needs to be done for each patient case. For legal reasons, everything done, found, or instructed, has to be documented on paper prior to discharge. Many doctors eventually realize that most of this.

paper-trail ends life stuffed in filing cabinets never seen again, and interferes in what is really important - seeing and treating patients!

Many also realize that what they write is not intended for the public to see, only for themselves and their peers, and as you'll see, the way we write is decipherable amongst us once you know what to look for. And you'll see that doctor bad handwriting is made not born (how could anyone get through college far less med school writing so badly?).

How to Write like a Doctor

• Abbreviate - It's much faster to write 'SOB' than 'shortness of breath'.
• Write small - distance takes time so writing tiny saves time.
• Skip vowels - can u rd ths sntnce? Most sentences can be read without vowels.
• Write the first two or three letters legibly then Scrawl. Doctors use the same words over and over so it only takes one or two letters in context to recognize a specialized word eg.

The problem with this kind of writing is when doctors get so in the habit of writing bad that they write everything to their peers and public in this medical shorthand no-one else - and often they themselves - can't read. So it's important to remember that it has limitations like any other tool in the medicine bag. Luckily, computer records are quickly making hand scribbled records a naughty thing of the past as more docs either type or dictate their chart notes.

Sexy

30/6/2009 3:23 pm

Now i no y the crap docs cant spell "wheeze"
- Docs r sexy

amany

12/6/2009 11:40 am

hehe, very nice article

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Why Doctors Write Badly

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