Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Whoever can read chicken scratch, help :)

alpo · 12-19-2004, 03:39 PM

Thought I'd touch on a couple of things I'd seen in this thread.

1. You all have done a good job deciphering the meaning of the script. You should be glad that it didn't say PR (per rectum) instead of PO.

2. Female doctors are no better than male doctors at "reading" their patients. In fact we are both equally bad. Studies show that doctors, regardless of sex, age, experience, are extremely poor at "reading" their patients. We'd like to think we can read our patients, but we're not.

3. I'll admit it, my handwriting sucks. It has only gotten worse as I've progressed further along in medicine. I blame part of it on having to write so much in such a short amount of time. When I am seeing patients in the hospital, I often have to write a 3 page note on each of the 15 patients I see per day. Add in all of the forms, and other insurance crap you've got to do, you start paying less attention to writing neatly. Add in the fact that some patients are on dozens of medicines and you'll find that your handwriting would get pretty poor in no time too. On the other hand, I do pay A LOT of attention to making sure my prescriptions are 100% legible. I do not want to see one of my patients harmed because they got the wrong medicine or dose because the pharmacist could not read my handwriting.

4. Picking a number of pills to dispense is a rather proposition. There are a lot of medicines I don't like to write for -- narcotics being the most obvious, because of their potential for abuse. Sometimes, there is an ulterior motive for me only prescribing a one month supply with no refills. In some patients, the only way I can get them to come in and get the follow-up that they need is to have them come back in for refills. I'm not trying to line my pocket. There are some patients that need VERY close follow up. Finally, I try to do whatever I can to minimize the expense that a patient has to incur for meds through their insurance plan. If your insurance plan makes you pay the same amount for 30 or 60 pills, I'll write you for 60 as long as it is safe to do so. Sometimes the 20 mg and 40 mg doses of a pill cost the same. If you can split the 40 mg pill and get two doses of your 20mg pill for the same price, I'll do it. A medicine won't help a patient if they cannot afford to buy it. As an advocate for my patient's health, I have to do whatever can to ensure that my patients get the care that they need.

12-19-2004, 03:39 PM	#31 (permalink)
alpo Tilted Location: Two skips to the left	Thought I'd touch on a couple of things I'd seen in this thread. 1. You all have done a good job deciphering the meaning of the script. You should be glad that it didn't say PR (per rectum) instead of PO. 2. Female doctors are no better than male doctors at "reading" their patients. In fact we are both equally bad. Studies show that doctors, regardless of sex, age, experience, are extremely poor at "reading" their patients. We'd like to think we can read our patients, but we're not. 3. I'll admit it, my handwriting sucks. It has only gotten worse as I've progressed further along in medicine. I blame part of it on having to write so much in such a short amount of time. When I am seeing patients in the hospital, I often have to write a 3 page note on each of the 15 patients I see per day. Add in all of the forms, and other insurance crap you've got to do, you start paying less attention to writing neatly. Add in the fact that some patients are on dozens of medicines and you'll find that your handwriting would get pretty poor in no time too. On the other hand, I do pay A LOT of attention to making sure my prescriptions are 100% legible. I do not want to see one of my patients harmed because they got the wrong medicine or dose because the pharmacist could not read my handwriting. 4. Picking a number of pills to dispense is a rather proposition. There are a lot of medicines I don't like to write for -- narcotics being the most obvious, because of their potential for abuse. Sometimes, there is an ulterior motive for me only prescribing a one month supply with no refills. In some patients, the only way I can get them to come in and get the follow-up that they need is to have them come back in for refills. I'm not trying to line my pocket. There are some patients that need VERY close follow up. Finally, I try to do whatever I can to minimize the expense that a patient has to incur for meds through their insurance plan. If your insurance plan makes you pay the same amount for 30 or 60 pills, I'll write you for 60 as long as it is safe to do so. Sometimes the 20 mg and 40 mg doses of a pill cost the same. If you can split the 40 mg pill and get two doses of your 20mg pill for the same price, I'll do it. A medicine won't help a patient if they cannot afford to buy it. As an advocate for my patient's health, I have to do whatever can to ensure that my patients get the care that they need.