I walked up to the white board, and wrote:
P-scribble-f-scribble
7 scribble-d-scribble-scribble
Bigger-messier-scribble.
Then I turned to the gathered Haitian doctors and said "do you know what this is?" To which they responded "a prescription".
My response: "Exactly. Now, can you tell me what it's for?"
"No, we can't read that."
My response: "Neither can I"
The room erupted in giggles. Oh, good. That could have just as easily gone the other way and been totally offensive.
The other day I met with Jerry, one of the surgeon-brothers who owns the building, and while discussing some of the concerns about outpatient prescriptions and clinic, he made an odd request. He asked me to meet with the doctors and teach them how to write a prescription.
Anyone who works in pharmacy knows how giddy I got at this request - how many times we have seen illegible scripts that might be decipherable if held sideways, while squinting, and taking great liberty with spelling. But I had to take it seriously, and have it be well received, as this was my first "CE (continuing education) lesson" for the Haitian doctors.
At one point, one of the doctors said (I swear I am not making this up) "but it takes so long to write things legibly".
My response: "then just write the diagnosis, and I'll prescribe. When I can't read your writing, that's essentially what I'm doing if I fill the prescription."
It was brief, only 15-20 minutes, but we covered the formulary (and more importantly, the difference between formulary and inventory), how to write a prescription, and the importance of legible handwriting.
