Why is it difficult to understand the writing of the doctors ?

Question

when the doctor give a medical prescription to a patient , why is it difficult for the general patient to understand the writing of their's ?

Answer 1

I guess it's all those years of school. It turns their hands into mush. And to think, these people that can't write if their lives depended on it are the same people that will cut us open and perform surgery on our insides when something serious happens. Comfort...
No, but seriously. They're in a hurry? They probably write pages of that $hit out everyday.

Answer 2

The prescription its designed to be handled by the person who dispense the medications, eg: the pharmacist.

Most Doctors use abreviations and a kind of code that its easily interpreted by the pharmacist or any other doctors.
here i give you few examples:
tds/tid = 3 times a day
bd/bid = twice daily
LBM = liquid bowels movement = diarrhea
tbsp =tablespoonfull = 15ml
tsp = teaspoonfull = 5ml

there are many others and if you intersted easily accesible in the net.
try medical terms in search.
Also since Doctors do lots of writting and note taking during their training, most develop a short hand way of writting. and also add to their mistique that they are more intelligent than the rest of us.

It took me a while to understand the love notes that i was founding at the fridge door.

Answer 3

I was a pharmacy technician for CVS/pharmacy. When patients would bring in their prescriptions they usually knew what they were getting. It is difficult to understand physicians' handwriting because they have numerous patients to see and not enough time in the work day to meticulously write out every Rx. That's it, no secret coding. If you really want to read your doctors writing better, or understand it better, ask the doctor or at least your pharmacist.

Answer 4

b/c they write stuff your not sapposed to know about like this patient is crazy give them some sugar pills and you think your getting the good stuff or the write in code your a druggy and just to give you so many with no refil and uhhhhhhh the write other secret messages to the pharmacist so when you pull up they are laughing at you in their head and you have no idea so next time you pull up to refil you herpies meds just know we are laughing at you behind the glass and there is an entire medical code that only so many people understand to letter can mean supraventricular tachycardia and instead of writing it all out they just put ST and mabe throw in some slashes

Answer 5

I can't say I know why their writing is so cryptic but here is another, better question for you....what is the logic behind 99% of the thinking they use when they prescribe these crazy drugs.....I mean they hand some of this crap out like candy especially antidepressants yet when you are writhing in pain they won't give you a damn thing except to tell you to take motrin....Can you explain the logic behind that??? These docs don't know a fraction of the side effects of the s h i t they are handing out to people but yet they hand it out anyway....I would be more concerned about that than the handwriting.....

Answer 6

They have to write that way because if they don't it would be to easy for someone to forge their hand writting and make out their own prescriptions. That and they have to write so much during a day that they write quick and sorta chicken scratchesk.

Answer 7

I can usually understand it, but thats only because I'm used to reading scribble/chicken scratch. Doctors write messy because they are in a rush and tend to just scribble things out quickly.

Answer 8

They do it on purpose. They do not want you to be able to forge their name and prescriptions. If they did it really simple the druggies would be making fake prescriptions.

Answer 9

They are now required to have print outs of prescriptions,from small "computers." I saw my doctor using it.

Answer 10

doctors take alot of notes in college so they r required to write really fast and kinda messy so they can get as much notes as possible