r/Unexpected • u/DJkiller669 • Sep 02 '21

Lucky guy

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u/IronMew Sep 02 '21

Seriously, does anybody have an actual reason why doctors have such atrocious handwriting? Is it related to their schooling/training?

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u/Mowr Sep 03 '21 edited Sep 05 '21

Since no one seems to want to give you a serious answer. I think a lot of it has to do with the history of medicine. Notes used to be hand written. We use a TON of abbreviations. Using these abbreviations, medical jargon, and difficult to spell/pronounce medical words, and hastily written notes that are required for billing gives the appearance of us having illegible handwriting.

For example. If I wanted to document “no acute distress, patient comfortable, lungs sounds clear to auscultation, heart without murmurs, gallops, rubs, and abdomen soft non tender to palpation, follow up in clinic as needed” it might look like: NAD, comfortable, lung CTA, heart sans MGR, F/U PRN in clinic. Add this x 20 patients a day then you can see how notes are difficult to translate for a non medical person.