One challenge out of the way...

After quite a bit of review, I'm at the point where I can recognize ~90% of the prescriptions that Dr. Peng writes down. I carry a thick bundle of annotated prescription print-outs with me most of the time (easy in this big-coat-weather), and make sure I review the whole set every day.

I went through a similar process of learning how to read handwritten notes when I was doing my internship in the Neurological department ICU. I was responsible for intake of new patients that were going to receive acupuncture treatments (as well as doing the treatment). When writing the consultation reports for each patient, it was essential that I was able to read everything in the patients medical record, and in our hospital most records were handwritten.

As I slowly progressed from needing fellow interns to read out entire passages to me, to only needing help on the occasional term or character, I realized there were two aspects to learning to read messy handwriting: first, it involved becoming familiar with 'cursive' Chinese, and with the writing styles of the doctors in that department; secondly, it involved simply becoming more familiar with the relevant material - in that case, common neurological examinations, the anatomy of the brain, common conditions, etcetera (subjects which were covered only briefly in the basic Western medicine classes I took).

The same is true for what I'm doing now. By reviewing so many of Dr. Peng's prescriptions every day, I'm becoming familiar both with his handwriting and with the basic and adjusted formulas that he prescribes most often. Two birds with one stone! Or, as is more commonly said in Chinese, two eagles with one arrow! (一箭双雕)