The Argyle Sweater by Scott Hilburn for February 20, 2025

So that’s how they all get their start!!!!

And only prescribe drugs from pharmaceutical companies that give you kickbacks.

This cartoon will make no sense to younger readers. They think all cursive is illegible and have probably never been given a paper prescription. Prescriptions are usually electronically transmitted to your pharmacy of choice these days.

If the proctor can read your answers, you fail.

In med school, they get penmanship lessons from chickens.

Who remembers when they were written in Latin?!

The pharmacists must have a secret translation machine!

Eh what’s up docs.

I temporarily worked in the hospital’s pharmacy when I was stationed at the Army hospital on Okinawa long ago. It was my job to read what the doctors had prescribed and type up the labels that would go on the bottles. Most of the scrips weren’t too hard to read, but the handwriting on some of them was atrocious. One of the doctors told me that some of the others wrote like that on purpose, some as a joke, and some to keep their patients from knowing what they were prescribing for them. We had three ways to interpret these scrips: first was what the doctor wrote, second was what they actually meant to prescribe, and third was what we had in stock. Somehow, all the patients got what they needed. (I even saw a few prescriptions for Obecalp, for hypochondriacs, of course.)

“And if your handwriting isn’t sloppy enough, take off a shoe and use a foot.”

I’m pretty happy with my online pharmacy. I don’t have to go to the drugstore at all, and they respond to any problem very quickly. I don’t want to give their name, so I hope you’ll be happy with my capsule description

We have everything online for the most part but the local vet is a real eccentric. She stills write paper prescriptions. I took it to the pharmacy and the woman there said “I haven’t seen one of these in years.”

LOL!

Try something original.

Hey, I didn’t know I was a Doctor.

That’s why I couldn’t be a doctor. My handwriting is too legible.

Well, that and I faint at the sight of blood.

Don’t you mean illegally???

Tomorrow’s exam will be for arrogance.

Writing illegibly is a doctor’s signature style.

Yeah, he’s in need of a long stretch in the slammer.

For the young’uns: Instead of sending your prescription electronically, doctors had to write it on a slip of paper that you would take to the pharmacy.

It was a running joke that their handwriting was so bad that the pharmacists and the patient would have to huddle together to interpret it with hilarious—and sometimes fatal—results.

Best prescription story from my years as a resident:

The nurses called us all over to interpret this hospital order for a diabetic patient:

1 PBJSWBCCO qHS prn hypoglycemia

We were all stumped until one nurse with children solved the problem. Scroll down for answer.

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One peanut butter and jelly sandwich on white bread with crusts cut off at bedtime as needed for low blood sugar.

They don’t teach you that one in medical school.

I think the doctor I saw on Tues had that middle diagram on her wall.

A good take on the old “doctors write illegibly” schtick.

I’ve been told that with my handwriting I should have been a doctor.

Nowadays doctors send prescriptions electronically. I’m assuming that’s the main reason that the wingbats font was invented.

You must write both generic name the brand name in size 2 font.

So it’s confirmed! They DO teach them to write illegibly

Well, the thing is “The eye does not see what the mind does not know”. No matter how clearly “diphenhydramine 25 mg tab #C, sig: i po qd prn pruritus. Generix sub” is written, it’s still not intelligible. Anyway, these days prescriptions are all done electronically from pick lists in the EHR.

So if they get that far, and don’t write illegibly, they can still become doctors – once they’ve taken and passed the ‘writing iIllegibly’ remedial course.

Ah, the good old days when prescriptions were written by hand and not electronically.

i’m smiling reading all the comments about electronic prescriptions, ‘cause here in japan we’re still stuck in the good ol’ days of paper prescriptions (complete with an official seal in the corner). you can, however, fax (yes, i said “fax”) your prescription to your favorite pharmacy to slightly speed things up… ☺