Doctor's handwriting

I tell my staff not to use up incredible amounts of nursing time trying to decipher poor handwriting- call the doc and tell him/her you can't read the order because the handwriting is so poor and ask him/her what he/she ordered! They may get mad, but too bad- we can't implement the orders if they're not legible!! I think nurses and secretaries need to hold the docs accountable. Can you tell this is a "hot" issue with me?

There are many generic names for medications that are incredibly similar to one another. Trying to decipher a doctor's handwriting is ridiculous. If you aren't SURE of what the doc has written, call and get it verified. If a med error (or something worse) happens with the patient - no one is going to discipline the doc for bad handwriting - it will be a nurse's butt on the line for not verifying the order.

On one particular day I was trying in vain to decipher the dr orders, and he happened to still be on the floor. Went up to him and said that I had lost my "dr-to-english" dictionary, and thus was unable to translate the orders. I knew he had a great sense of humor, and sure enough he got a great laugh out of that.

To this day, he seems to write a bit more on the legible side.

Soon we will be going to all computer generated orders-that will be interesting to see some of the older docs manage a computer- so the docs will all be entering their orders. You know it's bad when the doc can't read his own handwriting! Ask them to clarify the order if you can not read it.

I'm working in Arizona for the winter at the University Medical Center in Tucson and all orders are entered in the computer.

This is definitely a big issue. We have one doctor in particular who's writing is so notriously bad that he reads all his orders onto a tape record so the unit secretaries/nurses can decipher and take off the orders. Another problem is with residents and consults- the same doctor doesn't always see the patient from day-day, so when you need to clarify an order you have to first try and dechiper the signature so you know who to call. This is why the hospital requires residents to put their pager number next to their signature. No plans here to go to computer order entering.

When i was a new nurse i asked a doctor who had the most illegible handwriting as to why do alot of doctors write so poorly. He told me because when you go into the court room, one could say almost whatever you wanted as to what the order says. I thought he was joking but now today i really wonder. I think it's really funny though when doctors ask me to read another doctors handwriting. Thank god nurses usually don't write that poorly.

The most legible handwriting i translated once was for an order of "Albuterol IV". Yes i typed that right. Evidently you were suposed to give 2 puffs in the saline loc.

(I called and got the MD to clarify this of course, knew it was wrong, but had to get the MD permission to change it. We laughed for days over that one)

soon2beinok, keep on asking...try not to care about the way they look at you...they won't be administering the med, YOU will

take care

I think that's true about going to court.

Once worked with one OB doc whose orders were perfectly legible but you could not read one word of what he wrote in the progress notes.

As a student nurse, I'm having a hard enough time deciphering the whole chart to fit in my care plan and the last thing I need is illegible writing! I've run into a lot of nurses as well that look like chicken scratch. I don't know what happened to the Docs between grammar school and med school, but I wish they'd get the hint----that (!!!) maybe, JUST MAYBE, some med errors could be prevented if they'd just take a little more consideration and time.....(if I had a penny for every "clarification".....) Sorry, I'm just running into that a LOT lately and had to vent!