Have you ever struggled to read your doctor’s handwriting? Doctors are known for having poor handwriting with patients often questioning the scribble they find on letters and prescriptions.

Luxury pen brand Scriveiner has revealed just how difficult doctors’ notes can be, and to test your ability, it has created a fun challenge to see if you can decode notoriously difficult doctors’ notes.

The interactive test asks participants to examine a series of handwritten medical notes from UK doctors and identify the words hidden within hurried scrawls.

If you think you’ve got what it takes, try this test and let us know how many you got right in the comments below.

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Why are doctor’s known for having messy handwriting?

Scriveiner said a doctor’s handwriting is often linked to fatigue, fast-paced environments, and shorthand, which often worsens as the workday goes on.

Can you read these doctor’s notes?

The pen brand said you’ll need a sharp eye and plenty of patience to take on the challenge.

Currently, the fastest recorded time to identify the notes is 60 seconds, while the average participant took 1 minute and 17 seconds to complete it.

However, this doesn’t mean responses were all correct.

Scriveiner said the task is proving far from easy with early results showing that only seven out of nine of the doctors’ notes are readable, with several of the scribbles leaving readers completely stumped.

Among the most commonly misread notes were:

Note 4 – mistaken by 62.5% of participants

Note 6 – correctly identified by fewer than 13% of readers

Note 9 – jokingly confused with a random signature

Good luck! Find all the answers at the end.

Note number one is one of the easier ones (Image: Scriveiner)

Note two is an abbreviation for a longer word (Image: Scriveiner)

Note three is one of the clearest to read (Image: Scriveiner)

Note four is a little trickier to read (Image: Scriveiner)

Can you read note five? (Image: Scriveiner)

Note six is one of the hardest to read with less than 13% of people able to read it correctly (Image: Scriveiner)

Can you read this? (Image: Scriveiner)

Note number eight is a simple one (Image: Scriveiner)

Can you get this one right? (Image: Scriveiner)

Answers – how many did you get right?

Note 2 - Antibio (short for antibiotics)

Kirsty Cameron spent her gap year working at a doctor's surgery in the Scottish Borders as an admin assistant and is now marketing manager for Scriveiner.

She said: “Doctors are usually writing at speed, often while processing complex information at the same time.

“That combination leads to a more condensed handwriting style, where letters merge and spacing becomes minimal.

“It’s efficient for the writer, but much harder for anyone else to interpret.

“My gap year job was a real eye-opener to the importance of learning to interpret doctors’ handwriting.

“I was coding written medical notes for the new online system. One misunderstanding could have serious consequences.

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“The doctors I worked with cited how a good pen was important, as skipped ink adds to the complexity of deciphering handwriting.

“It’s a shared experience that most people recognise.

“Many of us have looked at a handwritten note and had to double-check what it says.

“This challenge highlights just how varied handwriting styles can be.”

How many did you get right? Let us know in the comments below.

© The Oxford Times