Handwriting

[stwei]

Does anyone here believe that superior handwriting skills can make a difference in life, school and job applications? How heavy do you weigh this type of skill apart from personal conduct and social skills?

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[zenman]

Does anyone here believe that superior handwriting skills can make a difference in life, school and job applications? How heavy do you weigh this type of skill apart from personal conduct and social skills?

It could make the difference in wheither your patient lives or not!

 

[docmemi]

well i get a bad impression of someone whose handwriting is bad. but in reality, some great people i know out there have bad very poor handwriting. too bad some people like myself think this way.

 

[rory1215]

Were I train, we still use paper records. Some of the handwriting, in particular it seems by IM consultants, is atrocious. It's as if whoever writes the note has no regard for whoever must read the note after him/her. It can cause a lot of confusion on rounds when trying to figure out what cards recommends or what nephrology wants to do.

Scary, huh?

So to answer your question, folks are quite successful despite their chicken scratch. That's not to say that's a good thing, though...

 

[SoulRFlare]

think of it this way...when you're an intern and a resident, you have mountains of paperwork to fill out. so you start writing as quickly as possible just so you can get to the next thing you need to do. I'm not excusing sloppy handwriting, because the patient's health and life may very well hang on a misread word. but i think all our penmanship will be worse for the wear after residency.
It's not suprising that IM ppl have the worst handwriting...from what i understand, they have to take and record voluminous histories. whereas surgery might write "infected appendix. cut it out."

 

[stwei]

Any old fashioned people who adore pens and who have a miraculously beautiful handwriting? How do I get rid of the feeling of frustration when writing fast so that I don't need to compromise with a bad handwriting?

 

[CaptainJack02]

Any old fashioned people who adore pens and who have a miraculously beautiful handwriting? How do I get rid of the feeling of frustration when writing fast so that I don't need to compromise with a bad handwriting?

I am a HUGE fan of fountain pens and good handwriting .

 

[stwei]

Hi,

My handwriting is atrocious, especially when I am writing very fast. I have a tendency to want to write as fast as I think before I forget everything. What do I need to do to improve my handwriting? Is there any book you could recommend?

 

[CoverMe]

When i first started in law enforcement, we had to hand write all of our crime reports... there was no bigger motive to write clearly than to have your supervisor make you come back from an investigation in order to re-write your report because it is a legal document.

the similarity is this... there are many people in medicine who will never know you except by your handwriting. Your words are a legal document and subject to scrutiny by lawyers, judges and juries. How they percieve your attention to detail is influenced by the care with which you make these documents.

it seems a bit self-centered to write in any way you feel, because that's "how you write" when so many people "downstream" will have to spend extra time deciphering the chicken scratch. How much time is really saved in total?

just my two cents... i'm not there yet. my opinions will probably change when i'm in your shoes.

 

[Harrie]

Why even write a note in the chart if nobody can read it??? It is so aggravating trying to translate the handwriting of consults. Please, spend the extra two seconds to actually make it legible!

 

[southerndoc]

Why even write a note in the chart if nobody can read it??? It is so aggravating trying to translate the handwriting of consults. Please, spend the extra two seconds to actually make it legible!

I got an idea from a resident...

Whenever a consultant writes illegibly in the chart (or anyone writing illegibly for that matter), call them up and ask what their opinion was. After several times doing this, miraculously they start writing neater. I know because I've witnessed it happen.

 

[josehernandez94]

How they percieve your attention to detail... QUOTE]


You need to percEIve your attention to detail with better perception.

 

[CoverMe]

spelling nazi's with nothing good to add. brilliant post jose.

 

[josehernandez94]

spelling nazi's with nothing good to add. brilliant post jose.

You mean Nazis, correct?

 

[flighterdoc]

When i first started in law enforcement, we had to hand write all of our crime reports... there was no bigger motive to write clearly than to have your supervisor make you come back from an investigation in order to re-write your report because it is a legal document..

We had to write a very specific way, block capitals, and had to pass a handwriting class to stay in the academy. Full time deputies (I was a reservist) had to pass a handwriting test to get an interview.

 

[josehernandez94]

btw, I'm just kidding around.

 

[priapismatic]

We had to write a very specific way, block capitals, and had to pass a handwriting class to stay in the academy. Full time deputies (I was a reservist) had to pass a handwriting test to get an interview.

I got in based on my handwriting. As soon as they saw it, the admissions director said "Oh yeah, he's definitly one of us - welcome to the club, son!"

 

[thewebthsp]

God, yeah I have horrible "fast handwriting," and fair/ok slow handwriting. Hm I think printing will be better than cursive for me. I failed 3rd grade penmanship, I know that . Maybe it's time for digital charts??

Doing chart review, most docs have ****ty handwriting, but you usually understand it, even if it takes longer than normal text. Occasionally it's completely unreadable, and that's unacceptable, I agree.

 

[ericdamiansean]

mine's really bad as well...and I think my handwriting when I was in first grade was even better,that's because they had these boxes which you could follow.

anyway, as long as it's readable..i don't think it's a problem..if someone has a problem, just say: doctor's writing

 

[16846]

I have the most horrendous handwriting . Slow, fast, left, right, it all looks the same. Throughout my life I have had people tell me, "Good lord, you're definitely going to be a doctor with that kind of handwriting!"

I never even considered going into medicine until I got to college, and here I am, on the verge of MS-II. I blame all those people who said that to me over the years

I have had teachers in Jr. high, high school, and professors in undergrad. and graduate school that have taught for 30-40 years and have said, hands down, it was absolutely the worst handwriting they had ever seen. After getting my Masters in Psych. I am convinced I have a disorder of written expression

If it wasn't for my computer and printer, I never would have graduated high school, simply for the fact no one would have had the patience to try and read all the essays I had to write.

 

[ewing]

This is what the MCAT writing sample screens for. If you can legibly fill a page in 20 minutes, you've passed the test. I have an atrocious handwriting, but I got an R, so I figure I'm golden.

 

[gschl1234]

Any old fashioned people who adore pens and who have a miraculously beautiful handwriting? How do I get rid of the feeling of frustration when writing fast so that I don't need to compromise with a bad handwriting?

Like anything else: Practice Practice Practice. Practice writing quickly and neatly It's fine motor skills, like playing a musical instrument. It takes hours and hours of boring repitition...brute force method. Good luck

 

[duncanparkerfan]

I used to volunteer with a physician. I quit that volunteer job after a few months' difficult time with him - he was a wonderful physician, but with horrible handwriting... I spent most of my time there struggling with his handwriting and trying to hunt him down to tell me what was exactly he had written on that rx pad!! I was so exhausted... The funny thing was that he himself couldn't recognize his own handwriting sometimes!!

 

[cooldreams]

there is something else you may be interested in, graphanalysis... basically a subspecialty of psychology that analyses handwriting to gleen indepth subconscious information about someone... be it intelligence, anger, plans, just in general how someone is thinking. its pretty cool stuff....

 

[tubbs]

personally, i don't buy that psychological analysis based on handwriting...what a load of bs. how can you determine how intelligent a person is simply by penmanship. that's ridiculous.

 

[funkless]

How they percieve your attention to detail... QUOTE]


You need to percEIve your attention to detail with better perception.

Oh my god, if you knew the TOS violations I just edited out of this post...

* Edited by Henna*

--Funkless

Note to moderators: I tried really, really hard to be good. I swear. But, you read it, right? Feel free to remove that second sentence if you feel that it's necessary, and I apologize in advance. Yours, F.

 

[funkless]

btw, I'm just kidding around.

Oh, NOW you mention that you're kidding; now that my face is the color of ketchup and I'm probably getting banned AS WE SPEAK--ahem, excuse me, AS WE TYPE--from this forum.

gRRRRRRR! I mean: Grrrrrrrrr!


--Funkless

 

[funkless]

To stay on topic *sparkling smile to mods*:

I think it takes very little extra time--probably a bit of effort--to make a chart entry legible. It doesn't have to be art for crying out loud.

--Funkless