Sloppy handwriting kills 7,000 people annually

Among the hospitals that call me in to prevent medication errors (by giving handwriting classes to the doctors), a fairly high percentage claim to have “computerized everything” 1 or 2 or 5 or more years ago … yet they still have handwriting problems, because of a crucial 1% to 5% of handwritten documentation that just won’t go away. Doctors in “totally computerized” hospitals still scribble Post-Its to slap on the walls of the nurse’s station, still scrawl notes on the cuffs of their scrubs during impromptu elevator/corridor conferences with colleagues … and, most of all, doctors with computer systems often have the ward clerks operate the computers, use the Net, or whatever: working, of course, from the doctors’ illegible handwriting. Bad doctor handwriting, incorrectly deciphered by ward clerks using the computer for any purpose, therefore remains part of the medical record. And what happens when disasters like Hurricane Katrina knock out a hospital’s network? More than one hospital, during Katrina, lost its generator, its electric power — and therefore its computer system — for the duration. Even the computer-savviest staff at these locations therefore had to return to handwriting. Kate Gladstone – Handwriting Repair – http://learn.to/handwrite

I’d like to give the doctor the prescription back and ask for a neatly written one. I can usually read what people are writing, and some of the things that I’ve seen written out on prescriptions is completely unreadable.