A standard visit (without a scribe) was 40 minutes for new patients and 20 minutes for follow-ups. Physicians with scribes saw 9.6% more patients per hour that those without.Ī separate study found that utilizing the services of a scribe can save thousands of dollars per patient. A recent study by the National Center for Biotechnology Information reported a 10% increase in physician productivity in a cardiology clinic that employed scribes. Medical scribes are becoming an integral part of the medical practice as physicians and medical groups begin to realize their value. This number is also expected to rise in the coming years as physicians and clinics realize the value in the services provided by medical scribes. By 2020, the organization expects that number to grow to more than 100,000.Ĭurrently, there are scribes employed across 44 states. The American College of Medical Scribe Specialists, a body that offers certification and training for medical scribes, reports that 20,000 scribes were employed in 2014. By some estimates, scribes handle as much as 90% of a physician’s ancillary duties. Typically, a scribe is present during a patient encounter and compiles related documentation such as nursing notes, lab results, and prior records. A primary role of scribes is navigating the EHR system, retrieving diagnostic results, coding, and more. The rise of the electronic health record (EHR) has created more clerical duties for physicians. A medical scribe acts as a specially trained assistant, facilitating the practice’s workflow and enabling the physician to focus on delivering quality care. To reduce the amount of time spent on charting and other documentation, doctors are turning to medical scribes. In today’s regulatory environment, physicians are bogged down by administrative tasks, which detract from their primary responsibility of patient care. “I’m aiming toward a couple of thousand hours,” she says.Introduction to the Role of Medical Scribe “Initially, I had to do quite a bit of editing as the weeks have gone by, more and more I read it and find that it reflects my voice.” Short, a graduate of Washington State University with a Psychology major and a minor in Spanish joined the medical scribe program to obtain medical hours for Physician’s Assistant school.
That EMR record does not become permanent until Dr.
If they have any initial fears, those disappear after a few minutes because all they hear is occasional clicking.” She doesn’t show a response, even though some patients try to get a reaction from her. Lindstrom dictates all medical decisions and treatment plans. As far as being intrusive, “she’s a fly on the wall,” notes Dr. Otherwise, as patients are speaking during the HPI (history of present illness) interview, she’s recording on a laptop their information, in their words.” She also records specifics of the exam and instructions for follow-up, although Dr.
“Sometimes there is something personal that they want to discuss with Dr, Lindstrom.” Lindstrom’s medical scribe, began working with him at the end of last summer, after initial preparation that included “about 10 sessions of classroom training and seven to 10 days of floor training.” She is present for all his office visits unless a patient refuses, which she says has happened only a handful of times.
One person even asked: ‘Am I supposed to say something else?’ I could tell he was thinking: ‘Do I reach for a magazine?’ It could get awkward.” Not any more. Shelby Short, Dr. If a patient gave me a lot of information, I would be typing for several minutes. There were times when it was actually embarrassing. You have to enter information in the right box, in the right screen, in the right drop-down menu. “With paper records, data entry was easy, whereas with EMRs, data entry is time-consuming and more frustrating. In a way, the computer has driven a wedge between those two aspects of quality patient care.” His solution for bridging that gap? Hiring a medical scribe to take over real-time EMR data entry, thus eliminating the need to divide his attention between the patient and the computer screen. On one hand, you want to be a good doctor with record-keeping and get all the information, and on the other hand, you want to be a good doctor as far as personal interactions. David Lindstrom, “Easy data access benefits the patient, but the data entry process does not. With the advent of electronic medical records (EMRs), laptop computers have become a fixture in physicians’ exam rooms. And that, as many doctors will tell you, is a mixed bag.