Does your handwriting suck?

[fisticuffs]

I was staring at something I wrote 5 minutes ago, and as is the case far too often, I realized I couldn't read it. It's been this way since as long as I can remember, to the chagrin of every teacher I've ever had. I know that doctors are often accused of having terrible handwriting (whether fairly or not) and assuming this is true, I was wondering if:

A. Years of frantic note-taking has ingrained in physicians a tendency toward poor handwriting.

B. Physicians are so busy that they write quickly to save precious time.

C. Individuals whose brains are wired in such a way as to predispose them to have an inclination for medicine are also predisposed to have awful handwriting.

D. The whole "physicians can't write" idea is a myth.

Option C is by far the most intriguing, but also the most difficult to prove.

Discuss.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[orthomyxo]

Yea, I'd say my handwriting is pretty ****ty, especially if I'm writing notes in class. I remember it used to be neat when I was much younger, but I guess I've gotten lazier and more indifferent towards good penmanship over the years. Ever since third or fourth grade, my teachers have complained about not being able to read my homework.

I'd like to believe it's option C, but I'd be willing to bet it's a combo of A and B.

 

[UNMorBUST]

Unless i am intentionally writing well , my hand writing is ****.

 

[jvesco22]

I write like a 3rd grader but I keep reminding myself that the worse my handwriting is the more manlier I am 😎

 

[Tesseract]

My calligraphy is my way of protecting my proprietary information. I think it's pretty.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I went with "sloppy but legible." I write in cursive, so that's an immediate huge legibility deduction, even though I don't tend to slop together or distort the letters.

 

[Abby_Normal]

I have pretty bad handwriting. My handwriting skills peaked back in seventh grade when nice handwriting was cool and then promptly deterriorated in high school when I actually had to take copious notes. Since then, I've tried writing with both hands (I'm ambidextrous) and it's bad either way. I've tried to justify it by suggesting that I was taught in school to write with my right hand when I might in actuality be slightly left-handed.

 

[CompSciMath]

I'm so ocd about my handwriting it's not even funny. It has to be neat or I won't turn it in. Most of the time I do my p.sets twice, one draft then a final.

 

[STAT EKG]

My handwriting is awful... I feel like it's because I would rather write quickly than well. I have to try extremely hard to write well, and even then it's not great.

 

[Evergrey]

I actually asked a doctor about this. Basically he said the reason doctors have bad handwriting is because they are pissed off at all the paperwork and writing and hurry through it in order to get back to what they like.

 

[familyaerospace]

My teachers used to tell me I had doctor handwriting since no one could read a word of it.

I worked hard and improved my handwriting by practically sheer force. By graduate school, I had two handwritings. My first which was my "real" handwriting legible to only a few people and my second which is almost completely legible to everyone. By handwriting, I'm not talking cursive, just print. My cursive is only legible to me.

It pains me to realise that I probably can't escape the doctor destiny. LOL!

 

[MidnightSun32]

I have very nice handwriting except when I take notes. When I take notes, I write in cursive and write quickly... it's interesting looking. I also tend to abbreviate a lot and organize my notes in a way that seems to make sense only to me lol.

 

[deleted316655]

My handwriting is really bad. Even when I don't write in cursive, my letters are connected so that sometimes two letters look like one. I can be neat when I want to, though, which I suppose is useful.

 

[chman]

I have great handwriting. The thing is, I used to have horrible hand writing. After a while I got sick of how it reflected on me so I decided to really practice at it. I actually tried several different "styles" until I found one that worked. Part of my original problem, and this may sound a bit funny, is that I used to hold my pen/pencil the wrong way. Anyways, now I get compliments on my handwriting all the time. I especially get comments from women because they seem to not be used to males with good hand writing???

PS. I always wondered if they wrote that way so patients could not learn how to forge prescriptions. Anybody else hear/wonder that?

 

[MidnightSun32]

I have great handwriting. The thing is, I used to have horrible hand writing. After a while I got sick of how it reflected on me so I decided to really practice at it. I actually tried several different "styles" until I found one that worked. Part of my original problem, and this may sound a bit funny, is that I used to hold my pen/pencil the wrong way. Anyways, now I get compliments on my handwriting all the time. I especially get comments from women because they seem to not be used to males with good hand writing???

I don't think I've ever seen a guy with nice handwriting.... Anytime I've gotten a card from a guy, I just look at it for a little while and say "awwww...." even though I can't make out their handwriting 😉 😀

 

[DrYoda]

It's nearly competely incomprehensible to other people. So I type out most things that are important enought where I care if others can read them.

 

[BJJ]

thats a really interesting trend

 

[chman]

I'm also sure that the quality of handwriting has gone down as computer use has gone up. Just a guess though.

 

[Hope0913]

I have sloppy but legible handwritting, and like most people I used to be good, do good that my 3rd-8th grade teachers used to make me write on and decorate their class and hallway posters 😎 Then came high school and it went downhill from then partly because I didn't care anymore and I had to write faster. As unique as my handwriting is it resembles some of my siblings handwriting which I find odd since we didn't go to school together nor did they teach me how to write.

I'm also sure that the quality of handwriting has gone down as computer use has gone up. Just a guess though.

This was my excuse when my family called me out on my poor handwriting

 

[lorenzomicron]

don't know how it happened, but girls tell me my handwriting is beautiful....

 

[Electronegative]

My lab partner asked me whether I was pre med last year because of my handwriting, before I decided to be a pre med.


EN

 

[DirtyJustice]

At least it isn't big and curly.

 

[chman]

At least it isn't big and curly.

Could make a funny, but I won't go there. 🙂

 

[pdxjazz]

My handwriting is not very good either. However I CAN write much worse when I need to. Not sure if I should list this as an EC, or just weave it into my personal statement.

 

[ThaliaNox]

My writing isn't horribly messy, but when I'm writing notes in a hurry I tend to skip letters. This can be an issue when oter peple red my ntes.

 

[The right Path]

Poor handwriting leads to a waste of time at best and fatal errors at worst, so there is a push for computer order entry, typed/dictated progress notes, adherence to standardized/approved abbreviations, etc.

All of which, unfortunately, are more time consuming (to various degrees) than scratching it out (legibly or not) with your pen.

But I suppose that balances out with the time consumed by taking calls for clarification, dealing with fines or nastygrams, or god forbid depositions.

Improving healthcare communication technology- now that is a wide open frontier.

 

[Kangaroo Paw]

I always get comments about how "girly" my handwriting is: it's honestly just really neat. When I was in elementary school, my handwriting was abysmal, but I decided one day that I was going to be ridiculous and practice my handwriting... so yeah. I now officially declare that good handwriting is manly. Oh yeah. 👍

 

[DirtyJustice]

I always get comments about how "girly" my handwriting is: it's honestly just really neat. When I was in elementary school, my handwriting was abysmal, but I decided one day that I was going to be ridiculous and practice my handwriting... so yeah. I now officially declare that good handwriting is manly. Oh yeah. 👍

So does that mean poor handwriting is feminine?

 

[metallica81788]

My handwriting is so bad that I abandoned cursive in 6th or 7th grade. Even when I try to write neatly, people say it looks like a 3rd grader's handwriting.

 

[Zona Pellucida]

I've been told that it's horrible and that it's really neat. Who knows.

It depends if I am super rushing (then it sucks) or writing at a normal pace.

 

[addo]

I have never had anyone complain that they cant read my writing, so it is either legible or they must not care for what I write.
When I take notes I do have horrendous penmanship though, but I actually almost never come back to my notes. I only take them for the sake of taking notes, apparently writing helps me memorize, and learn stuff.
The only classes I actually used my notes to go back over and over again were for math...Dont even get me started on my numbermanship, or on my greek alphabet.

 

[NickNaylor]

I have absolutely horrible writing. I have to write in all caps for it to be legible to people.

 

[deleted316655]

It's weird though. When I write in cursive my handwriting actually gets better. Everyone always says my handwriting is nicer when I write in cursive as opposed to when I write regularly.