What is Digg?104 Comments
- sfacets, on 10/12/2007, -1/+46Time to use a computer, doc?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -8/+36no, pharmasists who can't read the doctors handwriting and don't bother to give the clinic a call to double check the perscription is what kills 7,000 people a year.
- sst4ab, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28then what will he do with all his GIGANTIC viagra promo pens?
- anagoge, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21I only went in to get something for my headache and now I have a permanent erection.
- Rhelim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Actually, doctors are now required to have fairly decent handwriting because of this. Not sure when this was put into effect, but I know it wasn't recently.
- jus1haz2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Damn thats crazy although couldn't the people sue? (Not the dead ones, i mean the relatives)
- scubajim, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13No, it is both parties. Dr's have a responsibility to prescribe the information clearly so it can be easily read by the pharmasist. Yes, the pharmasist should call if the script is unclear, but what if the pharmasist doesn't think it is unclear. If 90% of the scripts he gets are poorly written chicken scratches he can't possibly call on all of them. At some point he goes by what he thinks it is. Yes, that is prone to error. If the Dr. had to pay $100 every time the pharmasist called when it was unclear the Dr. would quickly change his behavior.
- scubajim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9It is more than handwriting. eg put a 0 in front of fractional dosages
0.3 milligrams instead of
.3 milligrams
Too easy to miss the . The 0. is much easier to see and notice that the dosage is a fraction of a milligram instead of 10 X larger. (big difference) Subtle change in practice can have a positive effect. - expiredmeatbag, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9"then what will he do with all his GIGANTIC viagra promo pens?"
get gigantic Viagra promo styluses! - DutchGuilder, on 10/12/2007, -1/+87,000 people is 300 767's of passengers. If the airline industry was crashing 300 planes a year entropy would not be an excuse.
- DuxDucis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Actually the Docs at my local clinic have been typing out prescriptions for the past few years now. All they do to verify them is to sign the page at the bottom.
Dunno if this has any holes though... - tracerrx, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Actually, I own Three pharmacies... And the problem is.. 1) Dr's REFUSING to use technology 2) Dr's REFUSING to clarify prescriptions or clarify prescriptions without having CHARTS in front of them and 3) NURSES or people whom think they are nurses that have been appointed "Authorized representatives of the prescriber" clarifying prescriptions because the DR's are too lazy to do so....
Ever call the ER and try to get a DR on the phone?
Pharmacy's have had the technology to receive electronic prescription for years, but the vast majority of prescribers REFUSE to use it. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8>1) Dr's REFUSING to use technology
We don't refuse to do so. Many small clinics can't afford to. Many larger hospitals are switching but its slow going and expensive.
>2) Dr's REFUSING to clarify prescriptions or clarify prescriptions without having CHARTS in front of them and
So you want us to wing it? "So Mr X...uh I don;t have the chart so I have no idea if that prescription is right so go ahead and fill it."
>3) NURSES or people whom think they are nurses that have been appointed "Authorized representatives of the prescriber" clarifying >prescriptions because the DR's are too lazy to do so....
Next time you call, I'll have the nurse put you on hold as I finish seeing the next two patients.
>Ever call the ER and try to get a DR on the phone?
I'm an ER doc. So this I can actually understand although electronic charts should make it easier. - scuzzman, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8No, you're being dugg down because you're a moron.
- estvir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6That's what they do over here in Australia.. or at least all the places I've been recently.
The last few times I've been the doctors find the correct thing on their computer, print it out, sign it and give it to me. I than go take it to the chemist/pharmacy and buy it. - scubajim, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8I'm sorry but that's no excuse for sloppy medical practices. Are you saying that the time a Dr's saves writing a sloppy prescription is more important than the patient dying? Poor excuse.
- nwily, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Pharmacies do all sorts of interesting things to avoid mistakes. A hospital near me ran an audit and found (for example) that they had 2 drugs with very similar names stored right next to each other. As a result, they never store anything in alphabetic order, because it's too easy to get the wrong item when items with similar names are adjacent.
- Talus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5..and this is why I type out nearly all of my prescriptions
- Klowner, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7@tw0bit
What's a "soo queer" and why does Cleanlyness have one? - acff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5doctors are lazy? ***** you. seemingly endless years of school and 80 hour weeks. ***** you.
- acff, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6malpractice lawsuits are killing modern medicine. good doctors switch specialties or move to a different state because of high insurance premiums. i hate malpractice lawyers with a passion and i think a special level in hell is reserved for them. sure, there are incompetent doctors out there, but every single clinical physician i personally know has gone through at least 1 lawsuit. doctors certainly don't make a lot of money like the good old days and you can lose your practicing license with a snap of the fingers, but yet the public acts like we are so lucky to get to treat THEM. the same ones who wouldn't think twice to sue us. the expectations are unreal.
- AtWorkSurfer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Don't be amazed. Medical education is the main reason doctors' handwriting generally sucks. As a resident physician, you are under so much pressure to write so much text in so little time, that the best handwriting is inevitably transformed to the point of illegibility. When I graduated from college, my handwriting looked almost as if it came off a typewriter. Now, twelve years later, it is legible only to myself and those who are used to reading it.
I'm not making any excuses here. In my case, I now have the luxury of dictating almost everything. Over the next several years, as medicine slowly catches up to the rest of the world with regards to use of computers, this problem will gradually disappear. Then when people die of medical errors, we won't have to blame doctors' handwriting, we can just blame their incompetence. - gumby05, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5my dad's a doctor and he got a cialis pen that rises up like a boner.
and his handwriting hasn't killed anyone. I'm from a smaller town and pharmcists do have time to check if they're not sure. - proficient, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Indeed. It does seem small. It's not that shocking, considering the sheer number of prescriptions - 3.2 billion.
- dwxpub, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Damn you Dr. Acula!
- PueSi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5They should just print the prescription and sign it or something like that.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Its not so much sloppy writing that causes wrong medicines/amounts prescribed as conflicting prescriptions, if you have two conflicting medicines at once they could kill you. If it was done electronically the program would automatically check for conflicts, saving lives.
- h4mx0r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3People say my handwriting is a bit ugly compared to others, but at least mines is legible, because Ive seen some "neat" handwriting that is actually extremely hard to read.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I always thought they did it on purpose to prevent fake prescriptions from going through should someone steal a prescription pad... guess not. :S
- Red_Eye, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Noooo don ask them to start using a computer. Here is the result.
Here they have recently started using computerized printed scrips or call in only. Depends on who you see in the medical group I go to. Problem with the call in bit is that so many pharmacies are so busy they may not get the call in off their voice mail for hours and for some doctors thats your only choice. - DuxDucis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@sst4ab,
Oh, he still uses them, just to write on his Viagra note pads. - AriaStar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Worse is that sometimes doctors write what looks like one letter, but is their way of writing another. And some drugs have such complex spellings that doctors misspell and prescribe something else. That happened to me once, but was caught quickly. My mom, a nurse, read the script before we went to have it filled and recognized what was prescribed wasn't what was intended.
- sonicdevo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4And of course, people could listen to what their doctor says he is giving them, then make sure that's what they end up with when leaving the pharmacy. But nooo, that would mean a little personal responsibility. I'm sure there are some docs with atrocious handwriting, and some lazy-ass pharmacists who don't bother verifying anything, and there is the larger group... us patients who take very little responsibility for our own health.
- LilRabbitFooFoo, on 08/11/2008, -3/+5These are needless deaths...plain and simple. No one should die because doctors are lazy.
- FlapJaw, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Damn you, House!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3*then
- rcran, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Title makes it sound like one doctor is on a lethal handwriting spree.
- audiothink, on 10/12/2007, -0/+27,000...just from my doctor? I gotta get a new doctor.
- underthelinux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2it makes it sound like its MY doctor. Dr. Rosenthal? Really?
- danmcman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I wouldn't say "Most" use EMR's right now. I work for an EMR software reseller, and let me tell you, less than 20% of the offices out there are deployed/thinking about getting EMR. Until the doc's realize there are huge tax writeoffs and gov't kickbacks for buying them, this % will stay low. Sad to say, there are a lot of practices out there that only care about $$$...
- metroidchief, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I know that this can and does happen on a regular basis. I have been a Pharmacy Technician for over a year now (paying for college) and their sorry excuse for handwriting could many times get a patient killed. If it weren't for good pharmacy staff, then this number would be higher, because I have seen some prescriptions that doctors write that no one, including themselves, would be able to read.
- kublerross, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2dont we wish computers were there
as a 3rd year med student i can tell you that the amount of handwritten, redundant paperwork that i perform in patient care specialties is the chief factor i would never choose such a career path for residency. The same came be said for many, many of the top students in my class. i literally havent produced so much handwritten work since i bought my first atari 800 and dot matrix printer (brapppt, drappp, god i miss that sound sometimes)
This is a real shame, because medicine is one of the areas where things like PDAs, total computerized record keeping and what not can not only save immense amounts of time, but actually save lives. too bad the bottom line makes it unlikely for the next 100yrs or so i would guess if ever, espcially now that HIPAA requires such nonsensical security measures for any computerized data
anway certain specialties like radiology have quickly embraced computer technology, I cant remember the last time i looked at an actual film...
until enough evil bastards, oops i mean lawyers, start suing enough drs for handwritting errors that the financial picture is positive for computer implentation (or i guess in a real optimist viewpoint, that the country finally decides to spend american tax dollars IN america, instead of flushing them down the iraq toilet) we will never see total computer records widely spread, the money is sorely needed in other areas - sfacets, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@sst4ab: Viagra will ust have to come out with promotional printing paper then :)
- t3hX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2>7,000 people is 300 767's of passengers. If the airline industry was crashing 300 planes a year entropy would not be an excuse.
Umm? 7000/300 = about 23. 23 people on a plane?
I think you mean 30. - subterfu9e, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If you've ever worked in a pharmacy, you'd understand how friggin unbelievable some doctor's handwriting can be. There's actually a 'breaking in period' where new pharmacists are trained to learn to read every doctor's handwriting. Uhmmm, just because YOU'RE busy doesn't give you a valid excuse to scribble illegible words together. Heck, the more patients you see, the more meds we dish out! Ever seen how a S turned into something like a " - " ?
I understand how small clinics can't afford the tech, but considering I live in a third world country and even then the public hospitals are making an effort to start printing prescriptions. Needless to say 90+% of private hospitals in the country have already been using it for a couple of years. - scubajim, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3The problem is much larger than 7,000 people a year. The equivalent of 2 747's crashing into each other each day (for a year) is how many people the US looses to medical errors each year. Yes, computerized prescriptions will help. Printing them out with the signature helps a lot. Dr.s can't be bothered its too much work. They also need to standardize best practices in hospitals. Recent studies found that just washing hands before putting in a central line decreases injury and death due to infections by 30%. That is an nice example of a simple change in a procedure which will save lives and actually save the hospital money.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It would be nice if there was national system to electronically write prescribe but there isn't. Many hospitals and clinics are beginning to print our prescription but the problem is who's going to pay for these systems? Many are expensive and they don't communicate with each other.
- drseth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The time will come when *most* doctors will use the EMR systems. But until the old time docs retire and die out, there is a huge resistance for doing such things. Us new ones entering into practice are obviously all for it since we have grown up with technology. The old school docs are the ones dragging their feet.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Physicians are libel for bad handwriting that leads to badness, so yes they could be sued.
- frogpelt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1MY doctor doesn't have 7,000 patients. How could this be possible?
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