Why do doctor's all have bad handwriting?

Question

Is it on purpose? Or part of their schtick?

Answer 1

Great question.

A bunch of my family members are doctors and their handwriting is terrible.

It may have to do with the fact that they fill out so many forms on a daily basis. It may also have to do with prescription fraud, the harder it is to duplicate handwriting, the harder it is to forge a prescription.

Just a thought though...

Answer 2

My guess is they don't have the capability of writing neatly. My family has a lot of doctors, lawyers and other "white collar" jobs. The most intelligent of my family write illegibly. ADD runs in my family, and I've often wondered if that is why so many people in my family have trouble writing legibly.

http://newideas.net/adhd/child/adhd-in-school
"Is the child working at grade level? Is he working at his potential? Does he/she stay on task well? Does he fidget a lot? Does he have poor handwriting?

Most ADHD kids have trouble staying on task, staying seated, and many have terrible handwriting."

I can't find any statistics to back up my claims, but I have read a book by Daniel Amen about the incidence of ADHD in adults and what careers they are likely to choose. Most ADHD adults end up in careers that have a lot of stimulation, like EMS workers, ER doctors, actors, pilots, truck drivers... So, I'm thinking there are more people with ADHD who are doctors, and that would partly explain the illegible handwriting.

Answer 3

Hey! it isn't just doctors, in my opinion it's men in general, lol. I've been a nurse for thirty years, and in all those years, one and only one male doctor wrote legibly. If I had one penny for everytime I've had to call a doctor and ask him what he wrote, I'd be a rich woman...it's really funny when they can't read what they wrote either. On the other hand, female doctors for the most part write very clearly and legibly, nurses love them.
But I have seen the writing from men of a great many professions, and not one of them would win any prizes for penmanship.

Answer 4

I have always heard that the bad handwriting was used to prevent fraud but I really think that someone in medical school told them that this was a status symbol and they now had the right to do the chicken scrawl and the harder it is to read the better it was.....

Answer 5

In the beginning, it was so that prescription couldn't be duplicated, however, it has gotten so out of hand that even pharmacists cannot read the prescriptions anymore.

Worked with doctors for over 7 yrs.

Answer 6

I've been writing in medical records for 37 years...my handwriting wasnt great to begin with, now its awful, and that's why.

Answer 7

I can have nice handwriting when I want to but when it comes to my signature, I do so in the style of more of my scribbling to make it harder to duplicate in the case of fraud when it comes to check writing and I would suspect that same would be for Drs. with prescriptions.

Answer 8

loads to write n jot down in a very short period. so they try to note things fast n so over the time thier handwriting gets bad...even my handwriting sux...i also was in a health care school..lol

Answer 9

That's one of those questions the layman will never know the answer to. They teach it in Doctoring 101 and they don't share that insider info with us.

Answer 10

Actually my doctor has really nice handwriting. Compared to mine anyway. Its like, all joined and swirly and he does it -really- quickly. I asked him to teach me, and he said "Lets just inject you with this painkiller first kay? Kay."