Doctors fail writing test
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.THE LEGENDARY illegibility of doctors' handwriting receives scientific backing today from a study that shows medical notes really are as unreadable as they seem.
A comparison of doctors' handwriting with that of nurses and managers showed the medics came out worst. Even when asked to write as neatly as possible, doctors were incapable of producing script that could be recognised by a computer designed for the job.
Researchers in Swansea asked 38 doctors to write the letters of the alphabet and the numbers 0-9 on a form which they were told would be used to test a computer programme for optical character recognition.
The samples of writing, together with similar samples from the nurses and managers, were analysed using a standard computer software package and unrecognised characters highlighted. The doctors scored twice as many errors as the nurses and managers.
Doctors' poor writing has been attributed to the number of prescriptions patients ask them to write. But the researchers, writing in the British Medical Journal, say that surprisingly they were better at writing numbers than letters. "This may reflect the importance attached by doctors to the legibility of drug doses." they say.
Proof that doctors are labouring under a paper mountain of bureacracy has come from a study of 65 GP practices in Cambridge. Researchers collected 855 different guidelines which, when stacked up, made a pile more than 2ft high weighing more than 60 lbs. An urgent switch to an electronic medium that would allow searches for specific information is needed they say.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments