Interviews/Benefits Associated with Committing to Activities

[Michael37]

I noticed that scribing companies, specifically ProScribe, which (at least from my impression of it) seems to be one of the major scribing companies for premeds, sometimes offer great benefits with taking up a job with them. In the case of ProScribe upon joining them, a guaranteed interview with Ross University School of Medicine is listed as a benefit. Personally, I have not ever heard of such benefits before. I have two questions in regard to this:

1. Does anyone happen to know similar benefits with a guaranteed interview or other significant benefit towards applying for med school (not necessarily referring to only scribing companies)?

2. I looked but could not find if this benefit is given for a limited time window when applying to join. Is this benefit applicable to only a certain time window or not?

Thank you in advance! I'm definitely hoping to become a scribe either way but the benefits are definitely a plus!

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[Blueprint Med School]

It certainly an attention grabber which is the design, but I wouldn't put too much stock into it. You want exhaust all your options in the United States before you would turn to Ross.

Probably take the job, but not for that particular reason.

David D, MD - USMLE and MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[Michael37]

I agree; the opportunity there as an attention grabber for the job but, like you said, I will focus on US med schools before then turning to Ross. It does, however, show that it is a job that is highly-valued. All extracurricular activities are great to take, but when a med school made an agreement with a specific scribing company, not simply all of them, as done here, it definitely shows something.

Aside from this benefit at ProScribe, in regard to benefits similar but not necessarily ones that are guaranteed interviews as those are few and far between if not hardly ever seen, do you happen to know of any of these similar benefits provided by opportunities that draw premeds past the obvious addition to clinical experience, general work experience, etc.?

 

[deleted1066189]

It does, however, show that it is a job that is highly-valued.

No it isn't. You basically need a pulse to get into Ross. It's an even worse choice to go there, as their campus was wrecked by a hurricane not long ago.
I once interviewed with ProScribe. The hiring manager openly told me that "we pay our employees low wages because this job provides pre-med experience that they all need". I decided to do something else and make some more money during my gap year (pharmacy tech).

 

[jhmmd]

Let me absolutely, utter crystal clear. This is NOT, REPEAT, NOT a benefit. It is in fact directly opposite. By advertising this benefit, it provides another marketing channel for Ross Medical school with nearly direct access to their target demographic of premeds. Make no mistake of it, that Ross is a for-profit, publicly traded stock company which, by law, must maximize returns for investors. The offer of a guaranteed interview at Ross is bait and you are the fish they are trying to hook. Think I am being overly dramatic? Below is from the Annual Financial Report of Adtalem, the parent company of Ross

Marketing and Outreach
AUC, RUSM and RUSVM focus their marketing efforts on attracting primarily U.S. and Canadian qualified applicants, with
the motivation and requisite academic ability to complete their educational programs and pass the USMLE and the North
American Veterinary Licensure Examination, respectively. Each institution’s marketing effort includes visits to undergraduate
campuses to meet students and their pre-med/pre-vet advisors, direct e-mail marketing, webinars, targeted direct mail
campaigns, information seminars in major markets throughout the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, alumni referrals, a national
undergraduate poster campaign, radio advertisements in select markets, digital and social media and print ads in major
magazines and newspapers.

I would speculate that if searched, I could find some financial agreement between proscribe and Ross concerning this.


I would disagree, they need a decent credit score or bank balance to become a student. No pulse applicant can still be accepted into the gross anatomy course. For some people it would be the only way they will make it into medical school

Agree w/this

 

[Michael37]

No it isn't. You basically need a pulse to get into Ross. It's an even worse choice to go there, as their campus was wrecked by a hurricane not long ago.
I once interviewed with ProScribe. The hiring manager openly told me that "we pay our employees low wages because this job provides pre-med experience that they all need". I decided to do something else and make some more money during my gap year (pharmacy tech).

Do you have any recommendations for where to work as a pharmacy tech? I was actually planning to do both scribing and pharmacy tech as part-time jobs each. Where did you decide to work? Hospital, Clinic, etc.?

Thank you all for the advice! Even before seeing your posts, I recently coincidentally stumbled upon ProScribe's ratings--definitely not good at all. After reading through the stories of bad employee treatment, bare minimum wages for heavy work that they exploit premeds for and so on, I will be looking out for other scribing positions. I'm sure that there are some great scribing companies out there, but I'm just searching for them at the moment. Any suggestions/good past experience with scribing companies?

ScribeAmerica has some ok to good ratings. A common point I noticed though is that they have very demanding shifts that results in high turn over. I was thinking of the possibility of working at a position associated with a university, however, I did not find much on it. I think a position at a university would be a really great fit. Does anyone happen to know of any scribing positions at universities?

 

[ihoop24]

Do you have any recommendations for where to work as a pharmacy tech? I was actually planning to do both scribing and pharmacy tech as part-time jobs each. Where did you decide to work? Hospital, Clinic, etc.?

Thank you all for the advice! Even before seeing your posts, I recently coincidentally stumbled upon ProScribe's ratings--definitely not good at all. After reading through the stories of bad employee treatment, bare minimum wages for heavy work that they exploit premeds for and so on, I will be looking out for other scribing positions. I'm sure that there are some great scribing companies out there, but I'm just searching for them at the moment. Any suggestions/good past experience with scribing companies?

ScribeAmerica has some ok to good ratings. A common point I noticed though is that they have very demanding shifts that results in high turn over. I was thinking of the possibility of working at a position associated with a university, however, I did not find much on it. I think a position at a university would be a really great fit. Does anyone happen to know of any scribing positions at universities?

From what I've heard, the best scribing positions have been those that are offered by private practice clinics or through small, private companies. The universities I am familiar with contract scribes through ScribeAmerica since they need a lot of them. I would recommend looking into smaller clinics and/or smaller hospitals for scribing positions.

 

[Michael37]

From what I've heard, the best scribing positions have been those that are offered by private practice clinics or through small, private companies. The universities I am familiar with contract scribes through ScribeAmerica since they need a lot of them. I would recommend looking into smaller clinics and/or smaller hospitals for scribing positions.

Thanks for the advice! I was thinking that adcoms think of scribing positions related with recognizable names (e.g. ScribeAmerica, etc.) would think better of them since they at least know of what they can expect from premeds who work with them rather than a position at a private clinic, where quality of work experience is not as well known. Is this true or what do you think of scribing positions when it comes to reviewing applications? For the purposes of saving time and investing it elsewhere as a premed, that is valuable time worth looking up ratings on scribing companies, but when it comes to settling on one place or another that have virtually the same ratings, the main factor is how will adcoms view it, if they do in fact look at that. Does it really matter to adcoms?

Does this generally apply to pharmacy tech positions where it is better to look into smaller hospitals rather than large companies similar to ScribeAmerica (but for pharmacy techs)?

 

[deleted1066189]

Do you have any recommendations for where to work as a pharmacy tech? I was actually planning to do both scribing and pharmacy tech as part-time jobs each. Where did you decide to work? Hospital, Clinic, etc.?

I'm working in retail pharmacy at CVS. It's technically not clinical, but you learn quite a bit about patient populations, insurance laws and pharmacology. It can be stressful at times, but there is never a dull moment either. It's definitely a job. Some stores can be worse to work at than others in terms of "volume", so choose wisely. The store I work at has only one production station but is usually never more than 50-100 prescriptions behind...while the store I was sent to the other day, was 700 prescriptions behind, despite having two stations and a robot. Corporate likes to understaff and restrict hours when possible.

I believe in order to work at a hospital, you not only need certification (my state doesn't require it for working at CVS), but a few years of experience. Also instead of standing/moving around constantly all the time, you'd be sitting all the time. I can't complain as CVS is keeping me more active outside of my lifting workouts.

 

[Hzreio]

Following a doctor around while scribing is probably one of the best ways in premed to learn about pathologies imo

 

[Goro]

Following a doctor around while scribing is probably one of the best ways in premed to learn about pathologies imo

And it's a job, too! Employment skills/histories are always good.

 

[Dr.K124]

And it's a job, too! Employment skills/histories are always good.

 

[Michael37]

I'm working in retail pharmacy at CVS. It's technically not clinical, but you learn quite a bit about patient populations, insurance laws and pharmacology. It can be stressful at times, but there is never a dull moment either. It's definitely a job. Some stores can be worse to work at than others in terms of "volume", so choose wisely. The store I work at has only one production station but is usually never more than 50-100 prescriptions behind...while the store I was sent to the other day, was 700 prescriptions behind, despite having two stations and a robot. Corporate likes to understaff and restrict hours when possible.

I believe in order to work at a hospital, you not only need certification (my state doesn't require it for working at CVS), but a few years of experience. Also instead of standing/moving around constantly all the time, you'd be sitting all the time. I can't complain as CVS is keeping me more active outside of my lifting workouts.

Would working at a private clinic/hospital as a medical scribe usually require that training be had ahead of time instead of on-the-job like it is with ScribeAmerica? Since I would be working as an "independent" scribe with no associated third-party company, this seems to likely depend on the hospital's choice. I often hear stories of scribes working for a third-party company and then realizing that working independently of a company would be better off. By then, they already have the necessary training and experience as a scribe, but as someone who is just beginning the process, I am just wondering how I can go about getting the necessary training as an independent scribe. So, in general, would hospitals/clinics likely provide this training or how would it usually go?

Also, given the pandemic at hand, there has been a big transition to telescribing, often provided by third-party companies. At first glance, I do not think that hospitals would be leaning towards in-person scribing, yet I'm not sure if they would offer telescribing either for an independent scribe. What have you heard about in regard to this?

Both of these questions do vary from hospital to hospital, but I'd just like to get a general sense of how I would go about this to save time and avoid mistakes early on. Thank you for the help!

 

[Talldoctor96]

View attachment 323137

lmao my scribing friends made like not even a liveable wage

 

[Dr.K124]

lmao my scribing friends made like not even a liveable wage

Learning about pathologies, pseudo-shadowing, and getting clinical hours were all benefits that were mentioned in regards to scribing. I felt it necessary to mention that the $ is also a plus, as even if it's not a livable wage, any $ is better than no $.

 

[jhmmd]

Learning about pathologies, pseudo-shadowing, and getting clinical hours were all benefits that were mentioned in regards to scribing. I felt it necessary to mention that the $ is also a plus, as even if it's not a livable wage, any $ is better than no $.

Yea it's simple supply and demand

 

[ihoop24]

Thanks for the advice! I was thinking that adcoms think of scribing positions related with recognizable names (e.g. ScribeAmerica, etc.) would think better of them since they at least know of what they can expect from premeds who work with them rather than a position at a private clinic, where quality of work experience is not as well known. Is this true or what do you think of scribing positions when it comes to reviewing applications? For the purposes of saving time and investing it elsewhere as a premed, that is valuable time worth looking up ratings on scribing companies, but when it comes to settling on one place or another that have virtually the same ratings, the main factor is how will adcoms view it, if they do in fact look at that. Does it really matter to adcoms?

Does this generally apply to pharmacy tech positions where it is better to look into smaller hospitals rather than large companies similar to ScribeAmerica (but for pharmacy techs)?

No, they absolutely will not care whether you scribe with ScribeAmerica or a private company. The reason I mentioned private clinics is because they will likely have better hours and possibly even pay better. But it does not matter to adcoms. Clinical experience is clinical experience regardless of where you do it at. What you take away from it will matter way more than where you did it at or what company you worked with.

 

[Michael37]

No, they absolutely will not care whether you scribe with ScribeAmerica or a private company. The reason I mentioned private clinics is because they will likely have better hours and possibly even pay better. But it does not matter to adcoms. Clinical experience is clinical experience regardless of where you do it at. What you take away from it will matter way more than where you did it at or what company you worked with.

Thanks for letting me know! I agree--clinical experience is still the same clinical experience whether its here or there. I'm glad I asked about this before diving into scribing. The help is greatly appreciated! I have two questions over the process to begin:

1. So how does the process usually start with contacting a private clinic over scribing? Is it just as an email to a selected provider with a request and resume or are there alternative ways of going about it?

2. I thought it might be best to start out by shadowing the provider with the intention understood as working as a medical scribe for them ahead of shadowing. That way, I would get used to the way the provider likes to write notes and charts; just in general get a sense of how they get to do things before I go ahead into scribing for them. I haven't had formal scribing training, which is usually provided by a third-party company if that route is chosen, but when working independently, I personally haven't heard of any routes to training as an independent scribe. Possibly the hospital would be willing to offer a hand but I'm not sure of it. What is the best way to get training even as an independent scribe?

 

[jhmmd]

Thanks for letting me know! I agree--clinical experience is still the same clinical experience whether its here or there. I'm glad I asked about this before diving into scribing. The help is greatly appreciated! I have two questions over the process to begin:

1. So how does the process usually start with contacting a private clinic over scribing? Is it just as an email to a selected provider with a request and resume or are there alternative ways of going about it?

2. I thought it might be best to start out by shadowing the provider with the intention understood as working as a medical scribe for them ahead of shadowing. That way, I would get used to the way the provider likes to write notes and charts; just in general get a sense of how they get to do things before I go ahead into scribing for them. I haven't had formal scribing training, which is usually provided by a third-party company if that route is chosen, but when working independently, I personally haven't heard of any routes to training as an independent scribe. Possibly the hospital would be willing to offer a hand but I'm not sure of it. What is the best way to get training even as an independent scribe?

Scribe training is usually on the job/provided by the employer. It helps to have a biology background, and be familiar w/medical terminology. The rest is probably dependent on where you work.

 

[KnightDoc]

Scribe training is usually on the job/provided by the employer. It helps to have a biology background, and be familiar w/medical terminology. The rest is probably dependent on where you work.

This^^^^^. I have no personal experience scribing, but, from my experience in other areas, I think you are stressing yourself needlessly and overthinking it.

Given how many people scribe, how large the large companies are, and how high turnover is in the business, the odds are probably pretty low that a small private clinic is going to hire you as an untrained scribe when there are literally hundreds of trained people at the large companies that are available to be hired away at any given point in time. Consider low pay and bad hours as a sort of apprenticeship that you have to serve before getting a better paying gig with better hours. Kind of like a resident training to become an attending! 😎 (Not exactly --- but the point is that the places with better pay and working conditions probably don't incur the time and expense of training newbies!)

No harm in making a few calls to see if I am wrong, but it's really not worth spending a lot of time worrying about it. If it was so easy for inexperienced premeds to get these jobs, why would people subject themselves to the working conditions and pay imposed by the biggies??

 

[Hzreio]

Would working at a private clinic/hospital as a medical scribe usually require that training be had ahead of time instead of on-the-job like it is with ScribeAmerica? Since I would be working as an "independent" scribe with no associated third-party company, this seems to likely depend on the hospital's choice. I often hear stories of scribes working for a third-party company and then realizing that working independently of a company would be better off. By then, they already have the necessary training and experience as a scribe, but as someone who is just beginning the process, I am just wondering how I can go about getting the necessary training as an independent scribe. So, in general, would hospitals/clinics likely provide this training or how would it usually go?

Also, given the pandemic at hand, there has been a big transition to telescribing, often provided by third-party companies. At first glance, I do not think that hospitals would be leaning towards in-person scribing, yet I'm not sure if they would offer telescribing either for an independent scribe. What have you heard about in regard to this?

Both of these questions do vary from hospital to hospital, but I'd just like to get a general sense of how I would go about this to save time and avoid mistakes early on. Thank you for the help!

Scribeamerica is easier to get in at entry level but unfortunately the wages are trash. But with that experience, it’d probably be easier for you to get a scribe job elsewhere. Idk if there are scribe training courses or if they are even worth it, but sometimes when you work as a technician or assistant in a clinical setting they will have you do some scribing too, especially if you show interest. In these cases, they will typically train you on the job.

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

I've scribed for scribeamerica and was a pharmacy tech for walgreens. Scribing is a good experience! Consider it like taking a fast food job (though scribing is much easier). It's not great but it might be your only foot in the door for clinical experience. Adcoms won't prefer working as a corporate scribe versus private scribe. It depends on how you paint it in your application, ie how well you express the volume and breadth of patients you saw and what you learned about the day to day of healthcare workers. Basically try not to buy into the corporate scribe hype. Scribing comparies try to attract premeds who are smart, fast and cheap by aggressively marketing to them.

Keep in mind that working as a pharmacy technician is not counted as clinical experience by every school, though it gives a good perspective about allied health professions that will help you in essays and interviews. Also keep in mind that the pay differential may not be that significant and the job may be much more demanding. For reference I made $10/hr at ScribeAmerica and started at $12/hr as a pharmacy tech at Walgreens. I haggled Walgreens up to $15/hr a couple years later. You can make a lot more as a hospital pharmacy tech but you likely need to be PTCB certified (Corporate pharmacies like Walgreens will train you and let you work prior to becoming certified... some people start at corporate pharmacies and try move on to hospital jobs when they get certified).

For that reason I say favor scribing over pharmacy tech, at least until you get a solid 500+ hours as a scribe or other clinical experience.

PS's partnership with Ross makes me grimace for both them and Ross. It's a cashgrab for both of them. PS wants your cheap, desperate labor and Ross wants to fill its class with anyone who will pay. But they don't invest in their students. Like many Caribbean schools, they will accept students who aren't ready and those students will eventually either drop out in debt or complete school but be unable to match into a residency, ie have a $250,000 MD that they can't use to practice medicine. Please don't believe that their partnership adds legitimacy to either business. In fact it detracts greatly to see how far both are willing to go to boost their profits.

 

[jhmmd]

I've scribed for scribeamerica and was a pharmacy tech for walgreens. Scribing is a good experience! Consider it like taking a fast food job (though scribing is much easier). It's not great but it might be your only foot in the door for clinical experience. Adcoms won't prefer working as a corporate scribe versus private scribe. It depends on how you paint it in your application, ie how well you express the volume and breadth of patients you saw and what you learned about the day to day of healthcare workers. Basically try not to buy into the corporate scribe hype. Scribing comparies try to attract premeds who are smart, fast and cheap by aggressively marketing to them.

Keep in mind that working as a pharmacy technician is not counted as clinical experience by every school, though it gives a good perspective about allied health professions that will help you in essays and interviews. Also keep in mind that the pay differential may not be that significant and the job may be much more demanding. For reference I made $10/hr at ScribeAmerica and started at $12/hr as a pharmacy tech at Walgreens. I haggled Walgreens up to $15/hr a couple years later. You can make a lot more as a hospital pharmacy tech but you likely need to be PTCB certified (Corporate pharmacies like Walgreens will train you and let you work prior to becoming certified... some people start at corporate pharmacies and try move on to hospital jobs when they get certified).

For that reason I say favor scribing over pharmacy tech, at least until you get a solid 500+ hours as a scribe or other clinical experience.

PS's partnership with Ross makes me grimace for both them and Ross. It's a cashgrab for both of them. PS wants your cheap, desperate labor and Ross wants to fill its class with anyone who will pay. But they don't invest in their students. Like many Caribbean schools, they will accept students who aren't ready and those students will eventually either drop out in debt or complete school but be unable to match into a residency, ie have a $250,000 MD that they can't use to practice medicine. Please don't believe that their partnership adds legitimacy to either business. In fact it detracts greatly to see how far both are willing to go to boost their profits.

FYI it is much more the other way around at most places--$9/hour or minimum wage as a pharmacy tech and higher wages for scribes

Re: the second bolded point, it's a free country (or rather, a free world 😛). Schools are free to team up with students (or companies) as they wish.

 

[Michael37]

I've scribed for scribeamerica and was a pharmacy tech for walgreens. Scribing is a good experience! Consider it like taking a fast food job (though scribing is much easier). It's not great but it might be your only foot in the door for clinical experience. Adcoms won't prefer working as a corporate scribe versus private scribe. It depends on how you paint it in your application, ie how well you express the volume and breadth of patients you saw and what you learned about the day to day of healthcare workers. Basically try not to buy into the corporate scribe hype. Scribing comparies try to attract premeds who are smart, fast and cheap by aggressively marketing to them.

Keep in mind that working as a pharmacy technician is not counted as clinical experience by every school, though it gives a good perspective about allied health professions that will help you in essays and interviews. Also keep in mind that the pay differential may not be that significant and the job may be much more demanding. For reference I made $10/hr at ScribeAmerica and started at $12/hr as a pharmacy tech at Walgreens. I haggled Walgreens up to $15/hr a couple years later. You can make a lot more as a hospital pharmacy tech but you likely need to be PTCB certified (Corporate pharmacies like Walgreens will train you and let you work prior to becoming certified... some people start at corporate pharmacies and try move on to hospital jobs when they get certified).

For that reason I say favor scribing over pharmacy tech, at least until you get a solid 500+ hours as a scribe or other clinical experience.

PS's partnership with Ross makes me grimace for both them and Ross. It's a cashgrab for both of them. PS wants your cheap, desperate labor and Ross wants to fill its class with anyone who will pay. But they don't invest in their students. Like many Caribbean schools, they will accept students who aren't ready and those students will eventually either drop out in debt or complete school but be unable to match into a residency, ie have a $250,000 MD that they can't use to practice medicine. Please don't believe that their partnership adds legitimacy to either business. In fact it detracts greatly to see how far both are willing to go to boost their profits.

Thank you for your response. It really is a fake jewel set up by PS and Ross. It seemed like an offer too good to be true, or at least something going on behind the scenes, but I didn't realize exactly what at first since I'm not that familiar with Ross. Moving on to your point about dedicating more time to working as a pharmacy tech or scribe, thank you for that also! I knew before that to move up in the "ranks" of a pharmacy tech (e.g. from a grocery pharmacy to a hospital-associated pharmacy), but I didn't know that some med schools might not even consider being a pharmacy tech as clinical experience. I really love clinical experience, and so far, the farthest I've gotten to it is shadowing. To begin with, as a premed, you can't go that much far with working in a clinically-related job, but, when an opportunity for clinical experience does come around, that's just a wonderful opportunity that can't be missed out on. That's where we want to be in the end when everything is said and done for training; that's the goal. And preparing for it is best done by actually getting some experience within it.

I'm looking into reviews for companies, but, just like for PS and SA, some companies are said to offer a great experience but the pay is low and sometimes training is not adequately given. I think taking some time with a scribing company to then move on to working independent of a third-party is the best thing for now to get training done so it will be a smooth transition to working independently. Any recommendations for better scribing companies out there? Also, do you know of the process with virtual scribing? Given the pandemic, I'm sure virtual scribing is on the rise, but I haven't heard much about the process or good companies that offer it.

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

Thank you for your response. It really is a fake jewel set up by PS and Ross. It seemed like an offer too good to be true, or at least something going on behind the scenes, but I didn't realize exactly what at first since I'm not that familiar with Ross. Moving on to your point about dedicating more time to working as a pharmacy tech or scribe, thank you for that also! I knew before that to move up in the "ranks" of a pharmacy tech (e.g. from a grocery pharmacy to a hospital-associated pharmacy), but I didn't know that some med schools might not even consider being a pharmacy tech as clinical experience. I really love clinical experience, and so far, the farthest I've gotten to it is shadowing. To begin with, as a premed, you can't go that much far with working in a clinically-related job, but, when an opportunity for clinical experience does come around, that's just a wonderful opportunity that can't be missed out on. That's where we want to be in the end when everything is said and done for training; that's the goal. And preparing for it is best done by actually getting some experience within it.

I'm looking into reviews for companies, but, just like for PS and SA, some companies are said to offer a great experience but the pay is low and sometimes training is not adequately given. I think taking some time with a scribing company to then move on to working independent of a third-party is the best thing for now to get training done so it will be a smooth transition to working independently. Any recommendations for better scribing companies out there? Also, do you know of the process with virtual scribing? Given the pandemic, I'm sure virtual scribing is on the rise, but I haven't heard much about the process or good companies that offer it.

One caveat about working with a corporate scribing outfit and then seeking a position independently: some of the companies make you sign contracts saying you won't work as a scribe for a year after leaving the company to prevent just that. ScribeAmerica is one of them. I've never heard of them enforcing it but in theory they can. I would try not to worry about finding the perfect company and focus on getting your boots on the ground. None of them is great; none of them is intolerable. Your experience is going to depend more on things like if you get to work with a nice doc and if you work at a place with office hours vs hospital hours. Unfortunately I don't know anything about virtual scribing; I quit after a year in 2018 because I made twice as much at my coffee shop job and I had plenty of clinical hours between scribing, working as a medical assistant and volunteering.

 

[candbgirl]

I noticed that scribing companies, specifically ProScribe, which (at least from my impression of it) seems to be one of the major scribing companies for premeds, sometimes offer great benefits with taking up a job with them. In the case of ProScribe upon joining them, a guaranteed interview with Ross University School of Medicine is listed as a benefit. Personally, I have not ever heard of such benefits before. I have two questions in regard to this:

1. Does anyone happen to know similar benefits with a guaranteed interview or other significant benefit towards applying for med school (not necessarily referring to only scribing companies)?

2. I looked but could not find if this benefit is given for a limited time window when applying to join. Is this benefit applicable to only a certain time window or not?

Thank you in advance! I'm definitely hoping to become a scribe either way but the benefits are definitely a plus!

I can guarantee you an interview at Ross if you have a pulse and checkbook. No need to scribe to get it. You really don’t want to apply to a Caribbean school until you have exhausted all possibilities of attending a US MD or DO school. If you want to scribe do it but not because of a guaranteed interview at Ross .

 

[Michael37]

One caveat about working with a corporate scribing outfit and then seeking a position independently: some of the companies make you sign contracts saying you won't work as a scribe for a year after leaving the company to prevent just that. ScribeAmerica is one of them. I've never heard of them enforcing it but in theory they can. I would try not to worry about finding the perfect company and focus on getting your boots on the ground. None of them is great; none of them is intolerable. Your experience is going to depend more on things like if you get to work with a nice doc and if you work at a place with office hours vs hospital hours. Unfortunately I don't know anything about virtual scribing; I quit after a year in 2018 because I made twice as much at my coffee shop job and I had plenty of clinical hours between scribing, working as a medical assistant and volunteering.

You're a godsend is all I can say. Thank you for letting me know! I've heard of the same that SA does require no scribe employment contracts with other companies, but, just like you said, it doesn't seem to be enforced. The thought of that hadn't come to mind though when weighing out pros and cons.

By the way, speaking of clinical hours, I am not exactly sure what would be considered "clinical volunteering." Something like volunteering at the information desk or other work around a hospital usually does not entail "clinical experience" per se. What are your recommendations for clinical volunteering?

Also, to my understanding, medical assistants have appreciably more responsibility and versatility with clinical experience relative to a scribe. I just did a quick search, and it does not seem to take very long to be trained as a medical assistant. In fact, I've heard that medical assistants oftentimes contribute to scribing themselves. It's an opportunity that encompasses more than a medical scribe while not necessarily taking that much more training. How did you train to become a medical assistant? And, would a short period of training possibly lead to a limit to responsibilities as a medical assistant in the case that the training is considered incomprehensive?

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

You're a godsend is all I can say. Thank you for letting me know! I've heard of the same that SA does require no scribe employment contracts with other companies, but, just like you said, it doesn't seem to be enforced. The thought of that hadn't come to mind though when weighing out pros and cons.

By the way, speaking of clinical hours, I am not exactly sure what would be considered "clinical volunteering." Something like volunteering at the information desk or other work around a hospital usually does not entail "clinical experience" per se. What are your recommendations for clinical volunteering?

Also, to my understanding, medical assistants have appreciably more responsibility and versatility with clinical experience relative to a scribe. I just did a quick search, and it does not seem to take very long to be trained as a medical assistant. In fact, I've heard that medical assistants oftentimes contribute to scribing themselves. It's an opportunity that encompasses more than a medical scribe while not necessarily taking that much more training. How did you train to become a medical assistant? And, would a short period of training possibly lead to a limit to responsibilities as a medical assistant in the case that the training is considered incomprehensive?

I got my clinical volunteering experience through my local hospital. It does not need to be high patient contact as long as you have other patient contact experiences. I looked at it more as an opportunity to learn roughly how a large hospital works and how patients and their families/visitors are handled on the front end. If you want to ensure you're coming into contact with patients, check with your local hospital or clinic about what kind of opportunities they have. It's ok to say you want to work with patients because you're a premed. Our town's hospital has a volunteering program built around students and premeds. To give you an idea of what you might be able to find, I volunteered at the hospital and a smaller behavioral health clinic. At the hospital I worked as a physical therapy gym attendant, an emergency department volunteer where I pushed wheelchairs and guided visitors to rooms and I worked in the inpatient drug & alcohol rehab center. I did almost nothing at the center; mostly took attendance and handed out clipboards. At the behavioral health clinic I volunteered with an art therapy program. Again, I did very little, just smiled and talked to patients about their projects or any other things they brought up. None of these is intensive patient contact but adcoms didn't split hairs. Clinical volunteering is separate from clinical hours. They can overlap of course but if you can't find clinical volunteering that is "very" clinical, that's ok as long as you get "very" clinical experience elsewhere.

I got lucky with my MA job. I was working as a barista at the time and two of our daily customers had a private practice together. They asked if I wanted to work for them and said they would train me. So I can't offer much information about schooling or finding a job. I have a friend who volunteered as an MA- it might be easier to find a volunteer gig because you'll be offering your free labor in exchange for MA training. I'm not sure where she found that opportunity though. To answer your question directly, amount of training does not have anywhere near a perfect correlation with your opportunities as an MA. Even if it did, don't lose the forest in the trees! Your growth potential as an MA is almost insignificant compared to the fact that you're applying to medical school in a few years. Adcoms likely will not be any more impressed by an MA with extra responsibilities. It's more important that you have the experience and can explain what you learned.