• @[email protected]
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        505 months ago

        i guess the p and l are the important bits and the rest can just be inferred, since paracetamol is very commonly used and they’d get tired writing it in detail every time. other more specialized drugs with p___l (or close to it) as its name would have more squiggles i assume.

        • @[email protected]
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          195 months ago

          It’s (shorthand)[teeline.online]. It says “prc(t)ml” with the p being in the obvious spot (though it should be just a downward line), the r is the diagonal line after it, the c is the little curl, the t should be more pronounced, but it should be a horizontal line slightly above the rest, the m is a concave-down swoosh, and the l is the final curl. No vowels b/c they’re largely redundant.

      • @[email protected]
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        5 months ago

        It’s a super common prescription and most doctors probably couldn’t spell it offhand. Combined with dosing info it would be more obvious. Also if they do happen to be wrong it’s unlikely to actually cause harm with acetaminophen/paracetamol.

        Edit: another benefit is disguising to a patient that demands something to take. Essentially a placebo.

        • @[email protected]
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          In addition, there’s a psychological phenomenon where our brains only need the first and last letter of a word in the right place, and all the right letters in between in any order, to suss out a word. Our familiarity with a lngaauge will put it together, so presumably the same is true for healthcare providers’ common words.

          Note: I included an example of this in my comment

          • @[email protected]
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            95 months ago

            In adtidion, trehe’s a pshyocloigal pheonmneon where our bairns olny need the fsrit and lsat lteter of a word in the rghit pclae, and all the rghit ltertes in bteewen in any oedrr, to suss out a word. Our faiilamirty with a lagnuage wlil put it toehgter, so pseurambly the smae is treu for haehtlcare pvoerdirs’ cmmoon wdros.

            FTFY… I read this just as fast as the original.

          • @[email protected]
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            Your e-----------e d-----t w----k w-----------t the c-----------t of the l---------s i-----------------n.

            If they’re commonly used words the scribbles end up becoming a form of shorthand that doctors can recognize, but they’re meaningless to anyone who isn’t already familiar with them.

            • @[email protected]
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              5 months ago

              “Your example doesn’t work without the context of the (something) intention.”

              How’d I do?

          • @[email protected]
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            25 months ago

            I love that effect, but sometimes it can fail. For example:

            Our familiarity with lineage will…

            Is how my stupid ass brain read it first and I knew what was up

          • @[email protected]
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            25 months ago

            Not sure but I think you mean chunking. When you know a word you don’t need to read all letters by themselves but know roughly what the word looks like as a whole, so you can read it faster. This also inrotrozutes a failure rate of course, but works pretty well.

  • @[email protected]
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    1645 months ago

    Funny, but also not. Just Googled because I couldn’t remember:

    “According to the Institute of Medicine, physician’s illegible notes lead to approximately 7,000 deaths annually.”

    Seems unreal. Even if it was half that…that’s a lot of people. If I was getting prescribed drugs, I want it LEGIBLE. Typed up would be great. I just don’t trust that shit, and neither should any of you.

    • @[email protected]
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      455 months ago

      some said i was destined to be a doctor with my handwriting and family. i decided to break the cycle and become a videographer that barely scrapes by. my family is… they like the videos i make of our get togethers…

      at least i haven’t accidentally killed anyone.

      • @[email protected]
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        at least I haven’t accidentally killed anyone.

        Yet, there’s still time, I believe in you.

    • @[email protected]
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      295 months ago

      This is likely why I haven’t seen my doctor write anything for over a decade. Literally everything is done on the computer now. There’s a rolling computer in each room. The only handwriting I saw was by the nurses on a big whiteboard when my wife was giving birth. Just to pass notes and write times.

      • @[email protected]
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        115 months ago

        As someone who’s done IT work for a medical facility, that’s not as much of a step up as you might think.

    • @[email protected]
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      5 months ago

      Watching my doctor fill out my digital chart to avoid these spelling mistakes….

      me: I take guanfacine

      Doctor: oh ok cool you take mucinex?

      me: no, not guanfanesin, guanfacine.

      Doctor: oh, ok. Got it

      Doctor: ….

      Me: ….

      Doctor: and what milligram mucinex do you take?

      • @[email protected]
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        55 months ago

        This literally just happened to me at the doctor’s office. I brought up that I’m interested in trying guanfacine to help with my ADHD and blood pressure and my new doctor tried to correct me… I should probably look for a new doctor.

    • @[email protected]
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      Back in the day I used to work at one of the largest hospitals in the US. In my last year there they had started having doctors record their notes, issues order, and prescriptions, on an audio file, using and issued microphone. Then that stuff was sent to a group of people transcribing everything in text. these scribes would also fill out forms for the orders and prescriptions. they did this in response to a series of lawsuits they lost badly.

    • @[email protected]
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      85 months ago

      Here in the UK and (if I’m remembering correctly) back home in Canada, I have always been handed a print out of my prescription with a signature.

        • @[email protected]
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          25 months ago

          Same in Ontario. I’ll get a paper copy if I ask for one, but otherwise new scripts are faxes direct to the pharmacy. Even paper copies are a printout though. I haven’t gotten a handwritten prescription in well over a decade now

  • @[email protected]
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    635 months ago

    Meanwhile, here in Sweden, when I get a perscription, my doctor types on his computer for five min, I then walk to any pharmacy, hand them my ID, of they have it they will offer a cheaper alternative, if they don’t have any of the medicine, they will tell me which pharmacy does, if none has it they will order it for me.

    • @[email protected]
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      135 months ago

      Same here in Italy, but it took COVID to get them off their asses and finish the system for this that was already 90% there

      • @[email protected]
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        65 months ago

        Here in Germany it was introduced last year (I think). Heard it still causes trouble on the organization side, but as a patient it works great.

    • Iceblade
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      105 months ago

      Oh it’s a problem here to. You do not want to know how much information is passed on through rapidly scrawled sticky notes in our healthcare system - particularly in emergency situations.

    • AItoothbrush
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      75 months ago

      It even works for animal medicine. My cat needed some and the pharmacy just ordered it!

      • @imposedsensation
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        185 months ago

        That’s very interesting, I had no idea. Yes, Tylenol or acetaminophen.

        • Karyoplasma
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          345 months ago

          The chemical name is para-acetoaminophenol. Acetaminophen and paracetamol are both abbreviations. Tylenol is just a brand.

      • Capt. Wolf
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        315 months ago

        Tylenol, acetaminophen in the US.

        It’s paracetamol everywhere else.

        • @[email protected]
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          175 months ago

          Whoah.

          So, never heard of those. But DDG tells me Tylenol is just a brand—talk about an effective monopoly.

          • @[email protected]
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            5 months ago

            Advil is ibuprofen and Aleve is naproxen. They tend to get the same brand treatment as Band-Aids and Vaseline in the US.

            • @[email protected]
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              35 months ago

              Can you buy naproxen without a prescription over there? I thought you generally needed to pair it with something like omeprazole and the general public can’t be trusted to read instructions

              • @[email protected]
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                75 months ago

                Yes. It’s available over the counter. I’ve never heard of pairing it with omeprazole. What is the reason for that?

                • @[email protected]
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                  55 months ago

                  NSAIDS (type of painkiller) can cause or exacerbate stomach issues. Omeprazole is an antacid that can counter some of those issues.

              • @[email protected]
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                35 months ago

                Generally they just recommend taking nsaids with food, and it mostly solves the stomach problems.

          • @[email protected]
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            45 months ago

            lol they only learn the brand name what make it harder to get cheaper medication, that’s so USA

          • Em Adespoton
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            45 months ago

            TIL acetaminophen isn’t a worldwide thing :)

            The whole Tylenol thing is because they’re the ones who originally patented it. Same for Advil and ibuprofen.

            • @[email protected]
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              25 months ago

              The chemical was discovered in the 19th century. Tylenol is a US thing, the common name in Europe is Panadol.

                • @[email protected]
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                  25 months ago

                  Yes, so is Tylenol. I was saying the J&J didn’t discover paracetamol, they were just the first to market it in the US (or, more likely, bought the company that did).

                  Same with Europe, Panadol, and GSK.

  • THCDenton
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    75 months ago

    How much do MDs actually write a day? Are they saving that much time by doing that shit?

    • @[email protected]
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      45 months ago

      Pre-electronic records, yes they wrote a lot. Lot’s of things were done in shorthand or with forms to reduce the writing. It’s also that a doctor’s time is valuable, saving 30 seconds on a prescription is a lot when you write 10s or hundreds per day.

  • nifty
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    75 months ago

    You don’t need prescription for paracetamol afaik, could be prescription strength I guess

  • @[email protected]
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    45 months ago

    What about the little story about red riding hood along that last twisty bit? It’s funny because of the British accent, clearly nope, specially not on percetamenofemol as prescribed.