To pre-empt patients from trying to self-medicate after seeing the written prescription drugs. A kind of trade secret and safety professional ethics most likely.

but pharmacist understand what they write so na coded things,

But if he wants 2 issue u ur bills,he will writes it clearly 4 u 2 see.They only 've a rough handwriting when it comes 2 drugs prescription
dats true, the drug prescriptions are always written in abbreviations, but when money mata reach,it has to be clearly stated.lol!

I asked my doctor this and he answered in a way I can't even remember!! Damn everything of theirs is just complicated.
I think he said the writing is not for the patient to understand but for the pharmacist/another medic.
In other words its non of our biz to interpret!  

In some cases, Drunkeness

THIS IS SIMPLY CALLED "REGISTERS" YOU FIND SOMETHING START FROM SOMEWHERE DOWN THE LINE AND BECOMES THE NORM OVERTIME. IT ACTUALLY NOT FROM WRITING VOLUMES AFTERALL THESE GUYS DONT WRITE BIGGER VOLUMES THAN PURE ARTS STUDENTS. I AGREE THAT IT HAS SOME ELEMENTS OF MAKING DETAILS OF PRESCRIPTIONS NOT ELIGIBLE TO PATIENTS AND ALSO SPELLING ISSUES WITH SOME DRUG NAMES AS WELL. TRUTH IS THERE IS NO STANDARD EXPLANATION BUT PRACTITIONERS ONLY CAN EXPLAIN WHY THEY WRITE THE WAY THEY DO.


AGAIN TRY ALSO LISTEN TO MOST PILOTS SPEAK, THEY HAVE A PATTERN OF SPEAKING ON THE COCKPIT AND I KEEP WONDERING WHY. I ONCE WAS ON CHATTERED FLIGHT, ALL CHRISTIANS TO PILGRIMAGE, THE LEADER REQUESTED TO SAY A GENERAL PRAYER FROM THE COCKPIT WHICH WAS NOT ALLOWED. THE PILOT OPTED TO PRAY INSTEAD AND HE SPOKE AUDIBLY, BUT ONCE THE PLANE WAS ABOUT TO TAKE OFF THE SAME PILOT CAME ALIVE WITH THEIR USUALL SPEAKING PATTERN AND YOU CAN IMAGINE THE REST.

There writing I think is rough as a professional matter, I have friends whose hand writings were good before they became a doctor. It is awful that most times, I strain my eyes, make every other possible attempt to read it yet no way.
I doubt that this attitude is only geared at concealing the drug prescription from the patience.
A practicing Doctor in the house, I believe can answer us better.

I will attribute it to the volume of writings one is required to make within a short time. That compels one to write as fast as possible, hence comprehensible writing is compromised.

its beena answered already, its so that the patient wouldn't necessarily see it. They can't particularly order the patient not to see it but they can at least discourage the patient from seing it,

as a practicing medical doctor, i have more than enough patients to see everyday and hence cannot afford to waste time with lovely handwritings. i developed this as a medical student when you need to copy very fast whatever is being said in class and ward rounds.
having bad writings with the sole purpose of not allowing patients to see our prescriptions is also correct but not all cases.

modavi:

But if he wants 2 issue u ur bills,he will writes it clearly 4 u 2 see.They only 've a rough handwriting when it comes 2 drugs prescription
dats true, the drug prescriptions are always written in abbreviations, but when money mata reach,it has to be clearly stated.lol!

I'm not aware of doctors writing bills in the first place, silly. In some private settings--which, presumably, you are referring to--this is usually done by the nurses and/or the receptionist who already know the prices of services rendered.

In the government establishments, all billings are done by the accounts department.

@OP, I think its more of gender thing than need to obscure the prescription contents from patients. From my experience, most female doctors usually have better handwriting compared with their male counterparts.

pendo89:

I asked my doctor this and he answered in a way I can't even remember!! Damn everything of theirs is just complicated.
I think he said the writing is not for the patient to understand but for the pharmacist/another medic.
In other words its non of our biz to interpret!  

Meanwhile our heath more or less depends the legibility of the handwriting.

There could be instances where misinterpretations of the scribbles caused a pharmacist gave a wrong drug/dosage or a nurse gave a wrong injection.

Shi.t happens.That may have been what caused Micheal Jackson's and Whitney Houston's death.

Hmm, let me guess. Perhaps since medicine is an imperfect science scribbling can aid disclaimers when mess up has happened. Joking.

This is a MYTH.Doctors have excellent writing.

Those making this observation do so as patients in order words when they are unwell.

The reason they are seeing the doctor in the first place!

They probably had visual problems too.

I am not a doctor but I have noticed that as my workload increased I became a scribbler. I think it is largely because of their busy schedule and habit that it has become so widespread. If you doubt that doctors are too busy to write legibly, visit any Nigerian public hospital. I don't envy them at all, the job is tough and can be depressing- the honour and prestige attached to it notwithstanding.

Doctors writing isd no worse than anyone else, there are some better and some worse writers among doctors and anyone else.

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abeg no all of us have bad handwritin.though mine is worse

Contrary what most people believes,doctors writing are not always illegible but i believe they were taught to write their seemingly 'arabicish' prescriptions so as to hide certain things from the uninitiated.

Am a doctor by profession. I also used to think the same before i entered into medical school that doctors learn a particular handwritting in their training. MANY doctors have bad hand writting including my self, the simple reason why it is so is just be as fast as possible,but for myself i make sure that whenever am writting a drug for patient to buy it is clearly written. Is not allow to hide anything from your patients most especially their diagnosis and treatments. Is very common to see a patient that know nothing about their diagnosis let alone medication

I've been thinking about this loads of time, This guys are professional but still they are handwriting is very weird

Simply because they didn't want you to know what they are writing. Confirmed from my Doctor here.

Actually it is because when they make mistakes , they can be able to claim that what you read is not what they wrote. O ya read it to me and let'sargue it out.

felifeli:

Actually it is because when they make mistakes , they can be able to claim that what you read is not what they wrote. O ya read it to me and let'sargue it out.

lol

when dey want to charge you for paracetamol 5,000 naira, they will employ code to use which only their nurse go interpret then match you bill. If na paracetamol, they will remove it from the pack and now use the disposable nylon to pack it and now write 1-1-1 per day.

Witi:

In some cases, Drunkeness

hahahaha, seconded by me!

There is this story about a woman who invited a doctor to her home for dinner. this was before the advent of phones. the doctor later realised that he cant make it so he sent his servant with a note to the woman. When the woman got the note she couldn't read it so she gave it to her husband who advised that she should give the note to a pharmacist. She took the note to a pharmacist. The pharmacist read the note, went into his inner room and came out with a big bottle. " take 3 spoonfuls everyday", he said. The woman was perplexed.

@ gbame u are funny.

i think is a product of workload and rigorous training.
Mine still surprises me, i used to have a very beautiful handwriting but today its some thing else.
i struggle to write what people will read when ever im outside the hospital.

But many dr's still maintain their good handwriting.

, because they are one of the few professionals that you are still privileged in today's setting to see their handwriting.
There is no correlation between doctors and scrawly hand writings.

I do not think it is because they want to prevent patients from being able to read it as that was my initial thought. Of late, I realised that for every drug they prescribe, they tell you why they are prescribing those drugs and when you want to pick them up at the pharmacy, they print out the drug facts for you along side explaining how to use the drugs.