One of the best jokes I had heard while in Medical College was about the girl who had to go to the chemist to decipher the letter written by her intern friend. Doctors and their God-only-knows handwriting had become a time tested combinations and a matter of many jokes. Is it really true or is it just a myth that doctors write horribly? Many studies suggest that doctors do write badly and the male fare worse than their female counterparts.

Why is a doctor's handwriting so bad?
Many have tried answering this question. Some doctors claim that it is the time pressure coupled with other work stress that compel a doctor to write illegibly. Some even wonder whether doctors go to school to learn to write illegibly and the pharmacists go to school to learn to read what the doctors write!

Some doctors, they argue that, have so little time and are under so much stress that they can't possibly think how they write. But another study reveals that doctors don't really improve even when told to write slowly and neatly with ample time even for test purpose.

And the same study said that it was the letters of the alphabet that were affected more compared than the numbers. Probably it is on this combination of a drug name written illegibly (Tab. Aciloc) followed with a little better written dose (150 mg) that the pharmacist applies his sixth sense. But if a doctor happen to write both illegibly what could really happen, I wonder.

What are the consequences?
Available literature suggests some casualties due to bad handwriting of the doctor-patient dying after taking the wrong medicine. This statistics are still at large in developing countries including India. Indeed except for the jokes, doctors with bad handwriting are not amusing at all.

How can we improve?
Thanks to the IT revolution. We see some light at the end of the tunnel. A portable computer system that can recognize handwriting will soon be at every doctor's rescue.

A Tablet P.C. (good name isn't it?) or a voice activated system can be used by these healers. I am sure with time PCs that can recognize our thick Manipuri accent (say like Humpty Dumpty sat on a Waan he had a great Faan...) will come up. But what concerns me is the possible strain that can come up between the doc-patient relationships.

"Hold your patient's hand warmly, look into their eyes, listen attentively…" goes the ancient teachings of our teachers at Medical College. Do I hear someone say who does it anyway? It could look more like entering data into a cash counter of a superbazar rather than prescription writing.

However till such time when we all are computer savvy, here are some tips which I had learnt from other folks.

• Dotting the i's and crossing the t's
• Joining up the writing : like o must be joined to n using a horizontal straight line rather than a "smile"
• Spare the prettiness : don't try to ornate concentrate on legibility
• Slanting the letter at 5-15 degrees might help write faster
• It's never late to learn new tricks.