Medical How is virtual scribing looked at by admissions?

[Catalystik]

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Given that virtual medical scribing does not provide first hand clinical experience, is it valued by the eyes of medical school admissions counselors, given that it still provides secondary clinical experience in documentation. Especially since it still provides the opportunity to listen to different cases and allows for decision making in terms of writing an HPI or ordering tests just as a normal scribe at a clinic or hospital would do? How would this experience be listed on AMCAS?

For the purposes of an AMCAS application, a "clinical" experience depends on the inclusion of one's personal patient interactions. Shadowing depends on the observation of physician-patient interaction. With distance/remote scribing, neither of these is experienced. I'd suggest the the appropriate tag would be Employment-Not Medical/Clinical. Even though distance scribing isn't "clinical" for AMCAS purposes and may not take place in a location where one can experience a clinical environment, it still has value in providing exposure to the proper format for writing an H&P, appropriate medical vocabulary, some experience of various cases and their presentations, and an opportunity to think through those cases and decide what the next steps might be.

Alternatively, if the virtual scribing is part of training exercises to get one ready for in-person scribing and is non-paid, it could listed under the tag Other, as other curricular experiences might be.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I'm going to have to think about it. The face-to-face is often really critical, especially when it comes to understanding anatomic terms which you can also see. I looked up Physicians Angels as one example. We are entering an era of telemedicine where doctors communicate with patients through personas o webcameras. I don't think that's how you will encounter patients, however. I'll go with what was advised to you that you may want to err on not counting this as a bona fide clinical experience, and leave your clarifications and impressions to interviews if that winds up happening.

I hesitate because there's also no reason that someone can do virtual scribing as a (very unwise) side hustle as a medical student. I'm sure one has to still be properly trained in all things a scribe needs to know with regards to taking a patient history, navigating an EMR, and proper note-taking.