your signature :
After thirty plus years in Medicine do you even THINK that you can read my signature?!?
got me thinking.... why are physician's signatures so hard to read? Is this the real signature, is there a reason behind it, do you 'practice' signatures until you find one that is unreadable? Just curious :like:
Perhaps we are just in a hurry to get an annoying patient out of our office!!!
Okay on a serious note...Doctors hate Pharmacists so we have to give them something to do like cryptology!! Okay, okay...hold on, I forgot serious is what you want.
In today's modern settings most of the offices use computers to print off the scripts, showing only our signatures at the end. It is a way to keep your medications on file, and, also to prevent forging a physicians signature. Yeah, good luck on that deal. Hopefully your Doctor's have switched to the print outs by now?
From a personal perspective, here is my story on the topic. I would spend eighteen hours a day as a medical student in class, lab, and, clinical. By the end of the day, I was lucky if I could read my own writing. As an intern and resident, there were eighty and ninety hour work weeks, when we actually use to write in a chart, not type into one. With covering multiple floors, the ER, or in my case OB/GYN, it was all we could do to see patients, and, write out orders. Many of us were "written up" for being so far behind in our charting. But when it came time to "chart" or sleep, guess which one I chose?!?!?! Fast and to the point took precedence over legibilty. Even today, I type and incorrectly spell words, my brain works faster than my hands.
Out in private practice, it was more important for me to listen to my patients, and, I mean listen. I don't know how many of you all out there have Doc's that will actually "dictate" with you still sitting there?!?!? What the hell is THAT all about, it is ignorant and impersonal to the patient. Or, how many of you are attempting to speak with your Doctor on an issue of concern, and, the only thing they are doing is typing into your chart, or writing something down...no eye contact? Well, I made it a practice to do NEITHER one, rather, I would let my patients voice their concerns and questions, and carry out their medical needs. To this day, I am a "hands on Doctor." When office hours were over, it was then I gathered up the charts and dictated or wrote out specifics. No one can read my handwriting, it is awful. However, when I script out a medication, I PRINT the medication and dosage, then, sign my name. I happen to like the Pharmacists in the area! But I prefer computer print outs with my signature on them.
I don't think there are many Doctors out there that even think about their handwriting and whether or not patients can read it. Years ago, a patient's history and medical events were rather "hush hush." Shoot now, you can walk out with your personal chart and all of your lab values should you desire to do so!! Perhaps Doc's used their handwriting to encrypt the patients diagnosis/medication years ago...not so in this day and age. One can go right on the internet and find the information for one's self!
Folks, should you have a Doctor who's bedside manner is not to your liking, or you have questions and the Doctor is off in his/her own world....call them on the carpet for it and say "Hey look, I am sitting right here do you mind? How about you actually LISTEN to me for a change? I am paying you for the service!" Trust me, they will perk up, and, as a patient it is your right to have a Doctor's one hundred percent attention!
I will share this rather comical story with you all. A first time Mom was ten centimeters and pushing and she had been for about two hours. Her husband, a nervous young man stepped up behind me in the delivery room and said "Why can't you just reach up there and pull the baby out I am getting tired of waiting around herer!!" Well, I pushed myself back on the stool and said "Honey look here, if I put my hands up your wife's lady's parts any further, I will be able to put her mascara on for her!! Now shut the hell up and wait for God and your wife to finish up their jobs respectively!!" Trust me, he didn't utter a peep after that! LOL But, it was my habit of letting folks express themselves, and, he did. As a joke when the young mother was discharged, she left me a gift....clinique mascara with a note that read "I didn't like the color you were using on me, next time let's try this one!" LOL LOL And I did indeed deliver her next two children!
Being retired is awesome, but, I miss the Mom's and the children....
On behalf of Doctors everywhere I apologize for our handwriting. Hopefully we remain busy and dedicated to your needs as our patients to give a rat's butt hair about our signatures!
