A medical scribe that doesn’t enter the patients’ room?

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eaglebaseball4

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Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? I had a job interview today at an urgent care for a scribe position, and they told me that the scribe never enters the room with the doctor. Rather, the scribe waits in the physicians office for the physician to return and give directions on how to chart the patient he saw. As a pre-med, this sounds a little crazy and defeating the point of making the practice more time efficient.

Currently, I work as a patient transporter at a hospital. I go into patients rooms, help them move over to a stretcher or wheelchair, and transport them to other parts of the hospital. Is this a good gap year job? I work with patients basically all day, I’m just unsure how an adcoms thinks at this point. I am currently in my gap year, and I need to gain more clinical experience in case I need to reapply. Would anyone advise me to stay at my current position or change to the scribe job? Any opinions are welcomed!
 
Great, thank you for your reply! When the interviewer told me the scribe doesn’t enter the patients’ room I was like whaaaaa? I have never ever heard of a scribe job that operates in this manner!
 
If the provider goes into an office to dictate to the scribe...... why have the scribe? How would that save any time?!

Sounds like a wonky workflow, but I’m sure they have their reasons.
 
Sounds very wonky to me too! The interviewer said that the WiFi connection is shaky in the patient rooms and that is their main reason, but I agree it really defeats the purpose of having the scribe!
 
Observing and documenting patient-provider interactions is what makes scribing valuable and rewarding clinical experience (for me, at least. I'm aware that not everyone likes or gets much out of it). A scribe position that doesn't let you go in the room with the provider sounds pretty unfulfilling. I'd find another scribe position if you're still interested in it.
 
I was mostly interested in the positives of the scribe job like having a shorter commute, $1.50 per hour raise, and the opportunity to scribe as it seems to be the golden job all pre meds want. I’m gonna continue working as in patient transport while also looking for other opportunities! Thanks!
 
Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? I had a job interview today at an urgent care for a scribe position, and they told me that the scribe never enters the room with the doctor. Rather, the scribe waits in the physicians office for the physician to return and give directions on how to chart the patient he saw. As a pre-med, this sounds a little crazy and defeating the point of making the practice more time efficient.

Currently, I work as a patient transporter at a hospital. I go into patients rooms, help them move over to a stretcher or wheelchair, and transport them to other parts of the hospital. Is this a good gap year job? I work with patients basically all day, I’m just unsure how an adcoms thinks at this point. I am currently in my gap year, and I need to gain more clinical experience in case I need to reapply. Would anyone advise me to stay at my current position or change to the scribe job? Any opinions are welcomed!
Providing for a patient's safe transportation and comfort is a far more valuable experience. Stick to doing that, at least for now..
 
I do think that transporter is better than scribe, particularly when you are just taking dictation in a room separate from the patient. Does one pay better than the other? That would be the only saving grace with regard to the scribe job... you could say that you needed a better paying job and wanted to continue to work in a clinical setting.
 
I do think that transporter is better than scribe, particularly when you are just taking dictation in a room separate from the patient. Does one pay better than the other? That would be the only saving grace with regard to the scribe job... you could say that you needed a better paying job and wanted to continue to work in a clinical setting.

I work as an ED scribe in a very busy urban center. We do documentation, as well as a large host of other ancillary duties such as calling labs/radiology reading rooms, speaking with patients about follow ups. Our role is very interactive with the Attending, residents, PAs, and patients. I really can't imagine how being a transporter would have any benefit over a quality scribe job, at least from my perspective and experience. Additionally, I have very good LOR from 2 doctors I work with closely.

I say look for a scribe job that goes beyond just being a dictation service. That will not provide any significant insight or experience other than familiarity with medical terminology and medications.
 
Hell no. Where is the benefit for the scribe then? They’re all pre-health ‍♀️‍♀️‍♀️


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I think they are using the wrong job title. What you described sounds more like a medical transcriptionist. Medical transcriptionists don't enter patient rooms. They only transcribe.

I would go with the transporter position. At least you are interacting with patients by making them feel comfortable, etc.
 
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