Thursday 10 November 2016

Doctors' Bad Handwriting and The Risk to Your Health

We’ve all noticed that doctors’ handwriting can be extremely bad, but according to doctorsecrets.com, their bad writing is “a matter of survival”.
A problem for doctors is the volume of paperwork that needs to be completed for each patient encounter. It is a legal requirement that everything that is done, found, or instructed has to be documented prior to a patient being discharged.


[Image Credit: CartoonStock.com]

Doctors know perfectly well that theses paper trails end in filing cabinets, never to be seen again, and that paperwork interferes with what’s really important – seeing and treating patients.
Doctors also realise that what they write is intended to be seen solely by themselves and their peers, and not the public. Their handwriting is mostly decipherable among themselves because they know what to look for, which proves that doctors’ handwriting is made and not born. (How could anyone get through university writing so illegibly?)

=> The Consequences <=
According to the website Faculty of Medicine for Doctors and Medical Students, doctors' sloppy handwriting kills thousands of patients every year.
“It could be that the doctor is focusing on the diagnosis and medication more than on writing the prescription,” argues Keya Shivadey, specialist Gynaecologist and Obstetrician at Aster Medical Centre in Dubai.

Written by:
Marvin Borcherds | Health24

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