Doctors signature

[Wa State RN]

I am on my soapbox about doctors unreadable signatures! I spend so much of MY time on the phone, talking with others to see who thinks the signature may be from! I am so tired of this, I have brought it to the attention of the hospital but they say "They are not employees (the md's) so we can't insist on them doing anything different". I say bull to that!! With all this HIPPA and other federal mandated programs out there I think we as nursing staff should INSIST they DO have stampers or something else that is READABLE, then they can scribble or do whatever they like underneath it. I am doing research on it right now, I am checking on the costs and doing a project now. I would really like to have just two hours of the residents, interns etc schooling time to talk with them WHILE THEY ARE IN SCHOOL and teach them on the IMPORTANCE of legible signing!! This is a very big issue to me. I am thinking of going to the legislature about it and bringing it forth to the federal level. Does anyone out there feel the same way I do??? I am fed up with the amount of time I use researching WHO wrote the orders, not to mention the orders themselves! And, not to mention the legal point of view on this as well,,,,,,ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I need to check my blood pressure!!!!

[bellehill, RN]

I agree that doc's handwriting is bad, eventually you learn who everyone is. One floor I worked on had every doc sign a sheet of paper then wrote their name next to it in case a comparison had to be made...worked pretty well.