DECIPHERING THE PHYSICIAN NOTE

Objective information about legibility of physician handwriting is sca nt. This retrospective chart review compared handwritten general medic ine clinic chart notes from internal medicine faculty and housestaff w ith their typed counterparts. The written counterparts took 11 seconds (46%) longer to read and 5 seconds (ll%) longer to answer comprehensi on questions. The authors' comprehension measure (developed specifical ly for ambulatory clinic notes) was only slightly higher for typed not es. The legibility of physician handwriting is not as dismal as assume d; physicians can effectively communicate on paper.