Scribing in general

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FutureSurgical

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I would love to know from experienced scribes about how you got the job, how much do you work (part/full time, how many hours/week, a commitment for 1, 2, or more years)? What company did you go through? Did you have to train? If so, how much? Do you love it or hate it? Best part of scribing? Worst part? Is the pay okay (as in, can you live dependently?) And anything else I left out that you'd love to share. I wanna hear it all due to the fact that I will most likely have a gap year for volunteering and scribing. I don't know which company I should go through and how much training will cost.

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There are places like https://www.scribeamerica.com/career_opportunities.html

where you upload a resume/CV, complete a test, and select your location. They usually do the pairing. But depending on where you live it could be a toughie. I live in CA relatively close to a few med schools and almost every hospital has many scribes/volunteers than they really need.

But it never hurts to try!
 
In terms of getting experience with the cerebral and day-to-day work flow aspects of medicine, scribing is pretty much second to none. You get to see how patient encounters work, how patient disposition is decided, and the elements of medical decision making. It's a great experience for understanding what doctoring actually is on a day-to-day basis over a long period of time that most people don't get just with shadowing.

What you don't get much of is actual direct patient contact (at least where I work), so I found it pretty important to supplement it with opportunities where you are actually directly interacting with patients.

I have loved being a scribe so far (as my name probably implies), and it was probably the most important experience for me for figuring out why I wanted to be a physician. I love the culture where I work and have had the opportunity to see and learn some incredible things. From what I have read from other people around here, this might be partly due to the group I work for (we are directly employed by the emergency medicine practice group that staffs the hospitals we work at, and they put a ton of effort into making us part of the department and mentoring us), but I don't think the core benefits of the experience change much based on location.

As far as your specific questions go, full time versus part time and the length of your commitment will depend on where you work. At the group I work for, scheduling is usually extremely easy because it is all shift work. As long as the shifts are covered no one really cares how much you work unless you want benefits. Scribes are usually young and don't have major external commitments, so shift swapping is pretty easy in the event of any conflicts or even if you just want to move between part time and full time in terms of hours. This is pretty much what I do right now because I work two per diem jobs and my schedule is extremely variable.

They technically expect a 2 year commitment for part time but 1 year for full time where I work, but they obviously can't force us to stay. Usually the leverage they have for this is denying any letter of recommendation requests if you break the commitment.

Pay is variable, but generally not very high. I make enough to live away from home (but with roommates), and that will probably be true for you if you live in a low cost of living area.
 
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I would love to know from experienced scribes about how you got the job, how much do you work (part/full time, how many hours/week, a commitment for 1, 2, or more years)? What company did you go through? Did you have to train? If so, how much? Do you love it or hate it? Best part of scribing? Worst part? Is the pay okay (as in, can you live dependently?) And anything else I left out that you'd love to share. I wanna hear it all due to the fact that I will most likely have a gap year for volunteering and scribing. I don't know which company I should go through and how much training will cost.

I worked as an ER scribe for 2 years and loved it. I don't know why anyone would say scribing is "weak" because it's a great experience for pre-meds. Sure, you don't get to directly treat patients like EMTs, techs, RNs, etc, but as a scribe you really get to understand what a physician is thinking, how he/she comes up with diagnosis, etc. You really get a deeper understanding of what being a doctor is all about. Not saying that being an RN, emt, or tech is a bad job or experience, but I would say being a scribe is probably better for really getting to see what a doctor does and how they go about treating pts.

Pay is crap.

For most companies, it's a 1 year commitment if you work full time (4-5 shifts per wk) and 2 year commitment for part-time (2-3 shifts per week)

I can't remember exactly but it's probably around 1 month of training....both classroom and clinical.
 
In terms of getting experience with the cerebral and day-to-day work flow aspects of medicine, scribing is pretty much second to none. You get to see how patient encounters work, how patient disposition is decided, and the elements of medical decision making. It's a great experience for understanding what doctoring actually is on a day-to-day basis over a long period of time that most people don't get just with shadowing.

What you don't get much of is actual direct patient contact (at least where I work), so I found it pretty important to supplement it with opportunities where you are actually directly interacting with patients.

I have loved being a scribe so far (as my name probably implies), and it was probably the most important experience for me for figuring out why I wanted to be a physician. I love the culture where I work and have had the opportunity to see and learn some incredible things. From what I have read from other people around here, this might be partly due to the group I work for (we are directly employed by the emergency medicine practice group that staffs the hospitals we work at, and they put a ton of effort into making us part of the department and mentoring us), but I don't think the core benefits of the experience change much based on location.

As far as your specific questions go, full time versus part time and the length of your commitment will depend on where you work. At the group I work for, scheduling is usually extremely easy because it is all shift work. As long as the shifts are covered no one really cares how much you work unless you want benefits. Scribes are usually young and don't have major external commitments, so shift swapping is pretty easy in the event of any conflicts or even if you just want to move between part time and full time in terms of hours. This is pretty much what I do right now because I work two per diem jobs and my schedule is extremely variable.

They technically expect a 2 year commitment for part time but 1 year for full time where I work, but they obviously can't force us to stay. Usually the leverage they have for this is denying any letter of recommendation requests if you break the commitment.

Pay is variable, but generally not very high. I make enough to live away from home (but with roommates), and that will probably be true for you if you live in a low cost of living area.
Thank you very much for the long reply! Might I ask what company you work for? Because that sounds like Medical Scribe Systems. And, if you want to disclose this information, where do you work? I live in the south, so cities that offer jobs varies by each company, but none that offer anything in hospitals immediate to me. I'd probably have more luck in the northeast or west coast. My mother is okay with me living with her if I take the gap year as long as I pay some bills/groceries (been doing that since 10th grade, nothing new--however, I digress).
 
Apply soon, they may be experiencing staff shortages during the summer/fall because current scribes leave to medical/health-profession school. I applied to three companies in the Spring, had one job lined up before graduating, heard from another company 2 months later than the first, and never heard back from the third. You will likely sign a non-compete agreement, so don't think you can work for two companies.

Generally you will work in the ER, though there is an expansion of orthopedic scribing happening in my area. Pay for our company is minimum wage to start with minor bumps after X hours. Many people work part-time and have a second job which pays better, such as waiting tables or tutoring. Hours may be all over the place, aka 12pm-8pm one day, 12am-8am the next. Pray you have a gracious scheduler, they can make your life heaven or hell.

Our classroom training was at a corporate facility and fully paid for, and we were paid for clinical training.

You are with the doctor 95% of the time, except during certain exams (pelvic, rectal, etc.) or when they must have a private conversation with the patient.

Good experience that will show you realities of the medical field, at least in the ER. You will truly see people get helped, possibly even receive life-saving care, but you will also experience the bureaucratic difficulties, difficult patients, maybe even hard to work with Drs, but that is something you would have to deal with later anyways. I hear many ER docs say "I would never do this again but I'm choking in debt" and others that LOVE their job and couldn't see doing anything else, and it has been a great experience in evaluating that I do, in fact, fall into the 2nd category and am willing to put up with the temporary BS to be part of the field.

However, as others have said, you get less patient contact than as a nurse, EMT, etc. You have maybe more experience with medical decision making as a scribe, but less of a unique experience and little patient contact, which can be frustrating when all you can say is "I can't answer your question, if you would like I will make sure to request a nurse or Dr. to come assist you."
 
At the med school affiliated with my undergrad you can just call up the ED director and ask for a position. If accepted you take a 4-hour class, and receive a medical terminology book to take home. Then you begin work. Most training is on the job here. Hours are generally 12 hour shifts. Pay is about $11/hr.
 
At the med school affiliated with my undergrad you can just call up the ED director and ask for a position. If accepted you take a 4-hour class, and receive a medical terminology book to take home. Then you begin work. Most training is on the job here. Hours are generally 12 hour shifts. Pay is about $11/hr.
Did you have any qualifications, such as being an EMT or CNA?
 
Well that's just rude.
I was only saying it to encourage him to possibly choose a more involved clinical activity if at all possible. Scribing is lowest on the employed clinical experience totem pole when it comes to candidate evaluation. Nothing wrong with scribing, there's just better choices out there.
 
I was only saying it to encourage him to possibly choose a more involved clinical activity if at all possible. Scribing is lowest on the employed clinical experience totem pole when it comes to candidate evaluation. Nothing wrong with scribing, there's just better choices out there.
"I was only rude to be helpful, I swear! There's nothing wrong with scribing, other than that it sucks."
 
I was only saying it to encourage him to possibly choose a more involved clinical activity if at all possible. Scribing is lowest on the employed clinical experience totem pole when it comes to candidate evaluation. Nothing wrong with scribing, there's just better choices out there.
Also, depends on your goal. If you want to touch patients, it sucks. If you want to see what being a doctor is really like, far more than shadowing could ever tell you (no, really, it's different) and learn things such as what's pertinent information for each chief complaint, or how to write a bangin' HPI...it's gold.
I've had nurses and EMTs alike tell me that they wish they were able to interact with the docs as much as we do, or to get such an idea of their thought processes.

I've had CNAs tell me that they are planning to apply for scribe jobs because it will be more helpful to them in the future (planning to apply PA).
I would never be a phlebotomist or EMT if I were planning to apply to med school...scribing is far more relevant, imo.

So I'm curious as to which jobs you see as higher on the totem pole, and what value your totem pole is ranking by.
 
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The doctors I work with tell me that scribing is the most valuable clinical experience for pre-meds, and they wish they'd been able to do it. Adcoms I spoke to said similar things.

I don't touch patients very often, but I get to learn more about their medical care than a phlebotomist :)

I was only saying it to encourage him to possibly choose a more involved clinical activity if at all possible. Scribing is lowest on the employed clinical experience totem pole when it comes to candidate evaluation. Nothing wrong with scribing, there's just better choices out there.
 
Also, depends on your goal. If you want to touch patients, it sucks. If you want to see what being a doctor is really like, far more than shadowing could ever tell you (no, really, it's different) and learn things such as what's pertinent information for each chief complaint, or how to write a bangin' HPI...it's gold.
I've had nurses and EMTs alike tell me that they wish they were able to interact with the docs as much as we do, or to get such an idea of their thought processes.

I've had CNAs tell me that they are planning to apply for scribe jobs because it will be more helpful to them in the future (planning to apply PA).
I would never be a phlebotomist or EMT if I were planning to apply to med school...scribing is far more relevant, imo.

So I'm curious as to which jobs you see as higher on the totem pole, and what value your totem pole is ranking by.
Scribing is generally looked at as a less patient care oriented activity by adcoms. The primary purpose of health care experience from the adcoms I have spoken with is to make sure that you actually want to work with patients and have a level of comfort in interacting with them. The secondary purpose is to gain a better understanding of the health care system. Shadowing is to figure out what a physician does and what their day is like- it's an entirely separate thing from the HCE for most, but scribing gives you a good chance to check both boxes at the same time. The issue with scribing isn't that it's bad experience, it's that you generally aren't actually getting in time with patients. You're learning a whole lot about physicians and not a whole lot about how you'll handle having your hands on a person who trusts you with their health and life.

Again, I'm not saying it's bad, just that, depending on the adcom, it isn't viewed as strongly as EMT, CNA, RN, RT, OTA, etc experience.
 
Scribing is generally looked at as a less patient care oriented activity by adcoms. The primary purpose of health care experience from the adcoms I have spoken with is to make sure that you actually want to work with patients and have a level of comfort in interacting with them. The secondary purpose is to gain a better understanding of the health care system. Shadowing is to figure out what a physician does and what their day is like- it's an entirely separate thing from the HCE for most, but scribing gives you a good chance to check both boxes at the same time. The issue with scribing isn't that it's bad experience, it's that you generally aren't actually getting in time with patients. You're learning a whole lot about physicians and not a whole lot about how you'll handle having your hands on a person who trusts you with their health and life.

Again, I'm not saying it's bad, just that, depending on the adcom, it isn't viewed as strongly as EMT, CNA, RN, RT, OTA, etc experience.
a) what background do you have to assert what adcoms think?
b) how do you not get time in with patients? We see 30 patients/shift, I'm in and out of the room all day, I talk to patients, I calm them down or hold their hand during procedures, I joke when the doc has to step out for a few minutes to take a call, I sit next to them during pelvic exams and help them roll over for rectals. When it's busy I answer the call button because odds are the patient just needs a urinal, or to sit up, or to set something down, or a blanket. I've had patients ask me "what would you do if you were me" and I've had my physician nod to allow me to answer. When the doc forgets to ask a question, I'm the one who runs into the room to get the info. When the consult is on the line and has 80 bajillion followups, that's me again. I take the release forms in and ask them to sign so we can get their medical records.

But OK, yeah...I don't interact with patients.
 
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a) what background do you have to assert what adcoms think?
b) how do you not get time in with patients? We see 30 patients/shift, I'm in and out of the room all day, I talk to patients, I calm them down or hold their hand during procedures, I joke when the doc has to step out for a few minutes to take a call, I sit next to them during pelvic exams and help them roll over for rectals. When it's busy I answer the call button because odds are the patient just needs a urinal, or to sit up, or to set something down, or a blanket. I've had patients ask me "what would you do if you were me" and I've had my physician nod to allow me to answer. When the doc forgets to ask a question, I'm the one who runs into the room to get the info. When the consult is on the line and has 80 bajillion followups, that's me again. I take the release forms in and ask them to sign so we can get their medical records.

But OK, yeah...I don't interact with patients.
Scribing varies from place to place. Around here they're just note takers. I've spoken with a lot of adcoms over the years about HCE, what is the best, what is the worst, and what's kind of in between. Every adcom has their own hierarchy, but scribing is generally viewed less positively (not negatively, just less positively) than direct patient care positions. It isn't bad experience, and it'll certainly help your app, but if you've got a guy with 1,000 hours of paramedic experience versus a guy with 1,000 hours of scribing and all else is equal, you're going to pick the guy who's actually saved some lives.
 
Scribing varies from place to place. Around here they're just note takers. I've spoken with a lot of adcoms over the years about HCE, what is the best, what is the worst, and what's kind of in between. Every adcom has their own hierarchy, but scribing is generally viewed less positively (not negatively, just less positively) than direct patient care positions. It isn't bad experience, and it'll certainly help your app, but if you've got a guy with 1,000 hours of paramedic experience versus a guy with 1,000 hours of scribing and all else is equal, you're going to pick the guy who's actually saved some lives.
Cool. Fortunately, I'm in scribing for what I get out of it, not for your anecdotal adcoms. Besides, if true, this would be one of the cases where I think adcoms have oversimplified and don't have it right. They may have the ultimate say on getting into med school, but that doesn't mean that their opinion on everything is actually correct - just that their opinions have more consequences, right or wrong.

Also, I don't think it's the scribing that varies so much...you get out of experiences what you put into them. I am proactive and willing to do any non-prohibited activity which comes up which makes someone else's job easier. Thus, I get to do these things. I am willing to actually converse with the consulting docs, so I get to see the inside of an OR now and then, or to hear the hospitalist's opinion on our patient (and sometimes how the case was handled in the ER). I have learned enough that the docs are willing to point out the key points of the EKG morphology, or explain why drug A was a better call than drug B. I read up on what I see, so that the next time I can ask intelligent questions. And I watch them like a hawk when they go through my chart, so that I know what changes they would make and therefore how to differently focus/phrase my charts on similar cases in the future.

At any rate, this discussion has run its course, and I think I'll just continue to disrespectfully disagree from here on out.
Disrespectful only because this conversation started out that way - your choice- and while it's been reasonable since then, I still can't get the taste out of my mouth.
 
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