Is this a worldwide problem?
Chinese patients in east China’s Jiangsu Province have been bemused, enraged and baffled by the handwriting of some of their doctors.
A patient, surnamed Zhang in Liangyugang, a city of Jiangsu Province, posted his medical history onto the Chinese social media. In the records, the diagnosis looks like a random scrawl to many.
Since this photo was uploaded online, it has provoked a debate on the persistent problem that patients often do not clearly understand their own diagnoses and medical condition. There are also fears that there can be miscommunication between medical professionals if they are relying on each other’s “illegible” notes.
“Once I asked a doctor to read my medical history, the doctor could not understand, either,” said @1992Liudandan.
“I am worried the pharmacists would get the wrong medicines [for patients by seeing this diagnosis],” said @mehanxuan_
“I think doctors need to learn an ad hoc handwriting before starting their career,” said a netizen, nicknamed Cheng Yige.
Although some doctors attributed the scribbled handwriting to being rushed as they have to see a large number of patients each day, some netizens have questioned this explanation: If doctors do not even have the time to write clear medical notes, the concern is whether they have enough time to diagnose patient’s conditions correctly.
The Beijing Morning News quoted health authorities in many provinces or cities, who responded that they regularly inspect hospitals, and see if doctors follow the rules concerning handwriting and medical histories.
The specification on doctors’ handwriting was issued by the Ministry of Health in 2012, the predecessor of National Health and Family Planning Commission, and took effect officially in 2013. According to the specification, doctors have to keep their handwriting legible and punctuation marks correct. It also details that each sentence written by doctors should be coherent and the right medical terms should be used at all times.
Despite the new laws, there were still 7 doctors in Zhejiang Province who were fined last year due to their unfathomable handwriting.
Liu Yuanli, President of Public Hygiene School of Beijing Union Medical College, said that illegible medical history recordings should soon be a thing of the past as e-medical histories become increasingly popular.
