What makes doctors have rough handwritings? Is it due to the long duration of training or due to time constraint or some other factors? Every opinion is welcome, let's educate ourselves in this seemingly irrelevant topic. Your child could ask you this question as the future unfolds, what will your response be? SHALOM.

But if he wants 2 issue u ur bills,he will writes it clearly 4 u 2 see.They only 've a rough handwriting when it comes 2 drugs prescribtion,.Alashe.

Lol. . . Noticed it too and asked my parents. . . Told me it is sign of bein busy wit heavy work loads.

This is a very good question.Let a medical doctor in the house help us to answer it.

I would love to know too.

oluwatobi01:

But if he wants 2 issue u ur bills,he will writes it clearly 4 u 2 see.They only 've a rough handwriting when it comes 2 drugs prescribtion,.Alashe.

yeah its clear wen d bill is bunky, wen it comes 2 drug mayb dey dnt knw d spellings ~guess~.

@abatvic. You are right, doctors don't always know the right spelling for the drugs hence they write it roughly, that's why another drug is being sold for you at times

I will like to know bcuz I've noticed it from my uncle but am so careless to have asked him.

This is a very important question, you see most times when the doctors write, you may not read it clearly, in that case the goal of writing like that(which is to conceal every health information of a person from someone who is not in the health field eg medical or pharmaco, ) is achieved. So it is a delibrate writing. Ever thought of why only the pharmacist can read it efficiently and administer or dispence drugs?

It is called medical Medical Short Hand.

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.

my sister is a doctor and she told me it's because they don't want patients to see the contents of the prescription. some patients may abuse the prescription if they see it. somehow, the pharmacists almost always knows what the doctor wrote.

It is medical handwriting system for them to write using the medical name and writing method. They were thought to write in such manner that will be difficult for a layman to interprets.

Yea, its to conceal prescription drugs, of-course if we all see the full names of the drugs prescribed, we will go buy at a cheaper shop

Yea, its to conceal prescription drugs, of-course if we all see the full names of the drugs prescribed, we will go buy at a cheaper shop

desperatem:

@abatvic. You are right, doctors don't always know the right spelling for the drugs hence they write it roughly, that's why another drug is being sold for you at times

Lol. My dear that's not true, just get the first two letters and scrawl a line and. Everyone in the field understands it

I guess its cos of d fast paced dictation dey hav to take while in medical school.I hav a doctor friend and his writin is barely legible now.yet in secondary school,he had d best handwriting and all through 6yrs as classmates,he was d official note copier on blackboard.so his writing changed only when he went to university

I agreed with their short-hand like pcm instead of paracetamol etc,

but in another vein to confuse the patient, and that will make him to look for some one or pharmacist.

THIS IS THE TRUE OLD STORY.

A PATIENT COMMITTED SUICIDE FOR READING DOCTOR'S MEDICATION REPORT TO BE AMPUTATED AFTER A VEHICLE ACCIDENT.

ALSO THERE ARE MANY SITUATIONS IN THE HOSPITALS WHERE PATIENTS WILL SNEAK OUT OR RAN AWAY FROM CLINICS AFTER THEY HAVE SEEN THEIR MEDICAL REPORTS WRITTEN BY THE DOCTORS.

THEN IT BECAME A MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ETHICS THAT MEDICAL DOCTORS SHOULD ALWAYS WRITE IN WAY THAT CANNOT BE EASILY READ OR UNDERSTOOD BY THEIR PATIENTS.

YOU CAN JUST IMAGINE PATIENT'S REACTION ONLY WHEN TO BE GIVEN AN INJECTION NOT TO TALK OF AMPUTATION.

Well as a medical student who is almost through I think this is quite a funny question but its also quite true.
Sometime ago I  noticed my handwriting was much more worse than when I got in. Infact at a stage I stopped trying to make it better and now I purposely write roughly.
Some of the reasons I think are responsible include:
1. The volume of what you are expected to write in exams and quizes to get the pass mark. This is particularly true because the deterioration of my writing started in my 2nd year when I had to write volumes to get a  little above 50 especially in my anatomy quiz
2. The lecturers are also not helping matters especially in clinical classes where they expect you to copy slides as fast as they read it. So you have to write fast and also use alot of abbreviations
3. It gets to its peak as a House Officer where you have to write notes in the patients folder as fast as you chief is speaking to avoid being insulted and embarrassed in front of students and patients (like young man which school did you finish from? How did you even pass your exams?)
5. You have to learn from your predecessors and do likewise
4. I know this may sound weird but I think its cool to write roughly


But we should also note that not all have bad writing. Many of the females have nice and legible writing but as for the guys its really bad (like where chicken dey scatter ground)

It is kind of a display of their skills, expertise and confidence.
Surprisingly nurses and pharmacists have no problem with the damn (chicken dey scatter ground) hand-writings.

For those of you saying they do it to confuse their patients. I think that is absolutely wrong
Why not look at fresh graduate from med school or house officers and see if theirs is any better.
Also in most where hospitals the patient is not allowed to handle their folder, you could take a look into it and see whether you can read what is being written
The idea of patient not understanding what is written is just an added consequence and not necessarily an advantage as you can ask you doc for both the names of your drugs and he/she would tell you

Hahaha, its just to conceal prescrition info & even d patients ailments as well. Little wonder its only nurses & pharmacists dat can read that. My brother has one of the most beautiful writings ive ever seen, but i cant even go thru his notes or jotter when he was still in med school. So i wud say its d long yrs of jottn down in short words what the lecturer is saying & also a way to conceal things & prescriptions to patients.

well we medicos get use to writing that way
cos
1- saves time
2- cant be easily interpreted by a layman

and mind you this writing doesnt neccessarily affect other non medical functions

Cheers

they write things that only their pharmacists can decode, so u dont have to buy d drugs outside.

nakedwire:

It is kind of a display of their skills, expertise and confidence.
Surprisingly nurses and pharmacists have no problem with the damn (chicken dey scatter ground) hand-writings.

They should have no problem reading it cos most of the statements are kind of pre-determined and follow a particular rhythm. So you know what you are expecting to see next.
Also there are alot of words localized to the medical profession and most of them have standard short-forms.
So all-in-all bad writing + numerous short-forms = where chicken dey scatter ground

Dat means my hand writing will soon change, let's wait & c.

lol. Interesting!

if you see some doctor handwriting,walai you go think say na arabic you dey read.

coded writing, interesting

Lol, Why would I wanna write oxygen instead O₂ and also write tetraoxosulphate(iv)acid instead of H₂SO₄ and save  my time for something else since that is accepted and understood by everyone in the profession?