Bad handwriting amongst doctors is of
course something of a standing joke. But is there any truth in it?
Perhaps yes - some studies have in fact suggested that doctors’
handwriting is indeed worse than most.
Of course, this can have serious implications. The Medical Defence
Union itself sees bad handwriting on the part of doctors as a health
risk. It has gone so far as to achieve some guidance stating that
poor handwriting is the product of the time pressures doctors face.
Undoubtedly, some patients have
suffered as a result of healthcare professionals’ handwriting being
illegible. There has been a recent Court case where the fact that
one doctor’s handwriting was difficult to decipher was at the very
crux of the clinical negligence claim. In that instance, the doctor
against whom legal action was taken could not decipher the note made
by another Consultant. He did not take steps to clarify what had
been written and as a result was found to have been negligent in
proceeding to treat the patient in the way he did.
On a more local level, I have seen cases where patients have
undergone the wrong procedure because one practitioner could not
understand what the other had written. Problems can also arise where
a prescription scribbled out by a practitioner is illegible.
For my own part, I read medical notes on a daily basis. I regularly
have difficulty in deciphering them. I quite often have to request
transcripts to spell out what exactly has been written down.
It is imperative that what a doctor has written can be understood by
other members of the medical profession who may treat the patient
subsequently. Where something does go wrong, leading to a medical
negligence claim, what has been written in the patient’s notes is
invariably crucial. The fact that the medical profession
understandably makes widespread use of shorthand and abbreviations
does not assist either.
Of course, more and more medical entries are now being made on
computer whether in the hospital or GP surgery, and that might
alleviate the problem.
Taking technology several steps further, there has recently been
publicity regarding the prospect of robotic doctors caring for
patients in Welsh hospitals. Although this sounds like something
from a science fiction film, in truth the American system based on
video technology has apparently twice visited Welsh hospitals. The
Welsh Assembly Government has not ruled out buying the machines if
it could improve patient care. It could perhaps have a role given
certain shortages in healthcare here in Wales but would surely never
replace real doctors.
The technology would allow a specialist in one hospital to see a
patient in a hospital in another part of the country. We already
have robots within hospital pharmacies here in Wales, assisting in
the selection of drugs to be dispensed and thereby reducing scope
for human error.
