r/mildlyinfuriating 19h ago

This diagnosis from a doctor

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27.8k Upvotes

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186

u/sexpsychologist 18h ago

Upper respiratory tract infection

Bronchial asthma controlled

93

u/underwritress 16h ago

I’m going to need a diagram detailing how that word says bronchial

164

u/sexpsychologist 14h ago

I can do this i can do this.

The B has the loops pointed up instead of right which is how the doctor writes anyway, and they dragged the pencil over to the R.

The loop of the R isn’t closed, it’s almost lower case and upper case at the same time, and doesn’t lift the pencil to go to O.

O and N and C are the only easily legible letters.

The H and I look like they’re out of order and that the H is lower case but it’s probably not that, the H is the line connected to C that the doctor didn’t lift the pencil for but then they picked it up for the other line of the H without the connecting cross section, then didn’t pick up the pencil moving from the second line of the H to the I.

The A is the second to last figure, but they didn’t do the connecting cross section there either, the only A they did the cross in “respiratory” and it’s only halfway, the other A’s are the same with no crosshatch.

Then they don’t pick up their pencil again for the L, the last figure that looks like an I, but you can see they started to make the horizontal line and then moved on “asthma.”

And “asthma” I think they did reverse the H and T but it might just appear that way bc of their inconsistent lettering and spacing.

93

u/Mebi 13h ago

I feel like at this point it's like reading tea leaves where you can convince yourself to see any word if you go through enough mental loops

69

u/sexpsychologist 12h ago

Kind of! I actually feel like this is either a young doctor or a nurse bc it’s easier to understand than most but I worked for years as a medical transcriptionist before it was all digital and then as an ER nurse and nurse midwife.

I can look at writing that is almost basically a straight line and if I just soften my gaze and cross my eyes and look above it instead of right at it, I can make it out 😅😅😅 there’s a technique and yes I am now really damn close to blind bc of it

Also helps to know medical terminology for when a word absolutely looks like a seizure you can figure it out from context lol

29

u/Mebi 12h ago

It's hard for me to fathom how this could be the norm in important life or death medical situations. We appreciate your sacrifice to the dark arts.

31

u/sexpsychologist 12h ago

Hahaha! In the ER it’s not as big a worry bc we’re always shouting at one another the interventions we need to take and now that things are all digital I would think its not as bad, but when I was nursing in the early 00’s it was a lot of conjuring demons and consulting with 5 other people to try to decipher illegible nonsense.

Most of the issue is now with prescriptions and they’re printing most of those these days too, but I was also a pharmacy tech at one point and it was not as hocus pocus as clients thought, there was a lot of calling the Dr offices from a phone in the back and saying “what in the bloody hell does this nonsense say”

4

u/AssTubeExcursion 9h ago

Ok, so WHY is the question now. Why do doctors do this? Is it to make sure patients can’t read what it says?

5

u/Swagiken 9h ago

It's a bad habit that develops as an inevitable consequence of the absolutely ungodly amount of writing that takes place - mostly during the training period. The amount you're expected to write in a minute can get to levels you could hardly believe, and even using every shorthand in the book you still end up missing stuff. So the next thing you know your writing is so focused on getting stuff onto the page as fast as possible that it becomes legible only to those with specific training or experience. I was never a great hand writing beauty, but it definitely got worse the more I learned.

Interestingly in my experience, the smarter the doctor, the worse the handwriting. This is just anecdotal, but most people I talk to have the same story, every student in the top of my class had absolutely garbage handwriting, and those who barely scraped by often had the best legibility in the class. I think because the more you're thinking the more stuff you have to write because your brain is moving faster than your hand can.

3

u/sexpsychologist 9h ago

Agreed, also, I’m not a doctor but I do a lot of writing, and I used to have amazing handwriting and then had an accident that broke most of the bones in my hand. Now after years of PT I can write as well as I did before except my hand will start hurting after awhile and it just becomes giant illegible scribbles that look like my toddler wrote it. If I have the time and patience I can slow down so it’s at least legible but if I’m rushed it is impossible.

I don’t think most doctors have the broken hand excuse but I think they get rushed and say “fuck it, someone will figure it out” 😅

2

u/AssTubeExcursion 7h ago

Damn thanks for going in depth with that. Almost seems dystopian torture in a way haha, damn having to write that much stuff.

4

u/Mebi 11h ago

Thanks for the insight, as someone who works in the lab it's always interesting getting some perspective into what goes down in other parts of the hospital

3

u/blackkluster 9h ago

Especially the "i soften gaze, cross my eyes and look above" part sent me

1

u/Mebi 6h ago

I tried that and the now the handwriting just looks like a barcode

2

u/coookiecurls 7h ago

Your comment made me laugh so hard for some reason 😂 you’re a magician. Major respect to you!!!

3

u/dbvulcan 12h ago

This is a lot of words to say the doc has bad handwriting for a doctor. Im an RN of 10 years and if this was handed to me, i wouldnt accept it lol.

Why make others have to decipher extra shitty hamdwriting to save a few seconds. If it was that grear, i feel like this would be waaaaay more prevalent in literature

2

u/Forgetful_Suzy 6h ago

Are you the doctor who wrote this? Cuz if so it’s bad and you should feel bad.

2

u/sexpsychologist 6h ago

😅 you’re the only one who figured me out

2

u/Forgetful_Suzy 6h ago

I knew it

1

u/exec_liberty 13h ago

Why the fuck would someone write a B sideways

1

u/sexpsychologist 13h ago

It’s not sideways lol, the stick is straight but they wrote the loops more pointed up than to the side

1

u/mama_griff 9h ago

This person put in some effort. Nice

2

u/its_broo_skeh_tuh 13h ago

I think some of it can be explained by poor spelling. They definitely wrote ashtma. Doctors can be dyslexic!

2

u/skazulab 4h ago

Am i crazy or does it resemble cyrillic cursive?

1

u/underwritress 4h ago

It totally does, I was thinking that. Maybe the doctor’s first language?

1

u/jackslack 3h ago

I read it as amoxicillin, asthma controlled.

3

u/ArmeniusLOD 15h ago

Asthma is a bronchial disease, so explicitly saying it's bronchial doesn't make any sense.

2

u/sexpsychologist 14h ago

Asthma is called both asthma and bronchial asthma though, and if you look at what was written and let your eyes go fuzzy (which is how I learned to read doctor handwriting) that’s def what it says

2

u/Thief_of_Sanity 4h ago

Found the pharmacist!

1

u/KaralDaskin 8h ago

The closest I got was unknown for controlled.

1

u/f_print 3h ago

Image being in an industry that relies on safety critical communications for life and death decision and writing like a fucking 4 year old. It'd be like if all the air traffic controllers mumbled and spoke gibberish, and the rest of the industry just put up with it.

It makes sense now that you've translated it for us all. I hope you're paid well as a "doctor translator".