PhysAssist ScribeU

[Thomas D]

After interviewing with PhysAssist, I got offered a scribe position. I start the online portion of the training, "ScribeU", next Friday. I was wondering if anyone who has gone through the online training with this company (or others) could share their thoughts on it? Also, what would help me prepare for the training so as to do as well as possible during the online training so as to make it to the in-house training?

Thanks!

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[takeurmeds02]

Congrats!

I became a scribe before the new online implementation but I'm also a trainer so I'm familiar with it. I'll reserve my opinion lol.

Scribe U gets you exposed to patient encounters, familiarizes you with medical terminology, and gets you used to working in a very basic electronic medical record.

You'll work on speed, site-specific preferences, and physician preferences when you actually hit the floor.

It would behoove you to get up to speed on medical terminology so that when you do get on the floor, it will be easier to pick up dictation from the physician and generally, understand what is going on lol.

Maybe @Rainbow Zebra can chime in..

 

[ZPakEffect]

The new online training is terrible and does not to prepare new scribes for the realities of the ED. The lack of any timed tasks makes it impossible to weed out the tortoises that will never be able to acquire the necessary speed to work as ED scribes. I am also getting new trainees who have no clue what the most basic abbreviations stand for. I don't know if they're just dumb or if the training is responsible. They added 2 training shifts at the hospital but this seems woefully inadequate.

TLDR: the online training is a joke and there is nothing you can do to fail it unless you are an absolutely incompetent nincompoop.

 

[Thomas D]

Congrats!

I became a scribe before the new online implementation but I'm also a trainer so I'm familiar with it. I'll reserve my opinion lol.

Scribe U gets you exposed to patient encounters, familiarizes you with medical terminology, and gets you used to working in a very basic electronic medical record.

You'll work on speed, site-specific preferences, and physician preferences when you actually hit the floor.

It would behoove you to get up to speed on medical terminology so that when you do get on the floor, it will be easier to pick up dictation from the physician and generally, understand what is going on lol.

Maybe @Rainbow Zebra can chime in..

Thank you for your reply! Are there any resources you recommend that will help me get as up-to-speed as possible (websites, books, etc)?

 

[takeurmeds02]

Thank you for your reply! Are there any resources you recommend that will help me get as up-to-speed as possible (websites, books, etc)?

I had a few pdfs but I have to see I still have them. I can find them on my learning management system but there would be no way for you to access them.

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

In addition to Scribe U, you will have training sessions at your site (we do at least 6 training shifts at our sites). You'll learn basics at Scribe U, and the EMR and site specific items at the training shifts. Most folks who are engaged and focused do just fine. Just don't blow off the training, show up on time, and please never ever call in because you say you are not "feeling well". Do not come to work hung over, tired, so plan your other activities accordingly. This is from a Chief, who then has to deal with it.

Show up, pay attention, stay focused, and all should be well. I know it is a low paying job, but you are part of team, so don't let your team members down. That is 90% of the job, no other skills are necessary. Be a responsible adult who takes their obligations seriously. You will learn a lot, see interesting cases, and watch how Physicians, NPs and PA work in an ER. So much better than just shadowing, as you get to be part of the team. Best wishes to you.

 

[Neutropix]

PhyAssist is the second scribe company I have worked for, so the training I received was slightly less intensive than brand spanking new trainees. If you really want to learn from your training take time and really study the terminology. Go on Google and read about diseases or medications that interest you. If you want to get anything out of this job you need to be willing to research a little and ask your provider questions. Like the chief said, don't be an a**hole. Scribing is a very easy and great job. I thank my lucky starts every single day I am not working at Starbucks anymore.

 

[takeurmeds02]

PhyAssist is the second scribe company I have worked for, so the training I received was slightly less intensive than brand spanking new trainees. If you really want to learn from your training take time and really study the terminology. Go on Google and read about diseases or medications that interest you. If you want to get anything out of this job you need to be willing to research a little and ask your provider questions. Like the chief said, don't be an a**hole. Scribing is a very easy and great job. I thank my lucky starts every single day I am not working at Starbucks anymore.

Yea, the learning curve for the first couple months is very steep but once you get past that, you definitely start the "worthwhile learning" experience thereafter.

 

[Neutropix]

Yea, the learning curve for the first couple months is very steep but once you get past that, you definitely start the "worthwhile learning" experience thereafter.

Straight up. I was slower on the learning curve initially, so it took about four months until I started feeling comfortable stepping away from my computer, watching more procedures, and asking good questions. When one is new and inundated with a crap ton of acute pt charts they are just trying to stay above water. Hell, to this day there are shifts at certain facilities where I'm trying to stay above water. I don't know if people complain about your ED flows, but many of are providers are seriously discontented with the way half of our ERs are ran. In fact, we expanded one of our new ERs recently and already there problems abound. But I digress.

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

Yes, some MD know how to use scribes efficiently, and some are pretty clueless. We have a new urgent care, which is sweet, but much different than an ED. The Urgent Care docs bring us food, they are soooo appreciative of our service. Some ED docs think we just get in the way, but some MDs get us to do work that keeps them efficient. What I learned is that not all MDs think or act the same. I hope to model the MDs that I liked the best when I'm an MD. Best part of scribing is seeing the good, bad and ugly of actual healthcare delivery.

Straight up. I was slower on the learning curve initially, so it took about four months until I started feeling comfortable stepping away from my computer, watching more procedures, and asking good questions. When one is new and inundated with a crap ton of acute pt charts they are just trying to stay above water. Hell, to this day there are shifts at certain facilities where I'm trying to stay above water. I don't know if people complain about your ED flows, but many of are providers are seriously discontented with the way half of our ERs are ran. In fact, we expanded one of our new ERs recently and already there problems abound. But I digress.

 

[Neutropix]

Yes, some MD know how to use scribes efficiently, and some are pretty clueless. We have a new urgent care, which is sweet, but much different than an ED. The Urgent Care docs bring us food, they are soooo appreciative of our service. Some ED docs think we just get in the way, but some MDs get us to do work that keeps them efficient. What I learned is that not all MDs think or act the same. I hope to model the MDs that I liked the best when I'm an MD. Best part of scribing is seeing the good, bad and ugly of actual healthcare delivery.

Yeah, I can relate to feeling under appreciated, but as you've pointed out it is the system more than the providers. I too wish to model the "good" doctors. But overall love the job. Wouldn't do anything else right now!

 

[takeurmeds02]

Straight up. I was slower on the learning curve initially, so it took about four months until I started feeling comfortable stepping away from my computer, watching more procedures, and asking good questions. When one is new and inundated with a crap ton of acute pt charts they are just trying to stay above water. Hell, to this day there are shifts at certain facilities where I'm trying to stay above water. I don't know if people complain about your ED flows, but many of are providers are seriously discontented with the way half of our ERs are ran. In fact, we expanded one of our new ERs recently and already there problems abound. But I digress.

Yea, I've worked for two different physician groups. The first one, most of the docs hated the system and after having worked with the new group, I can see what they meant. It was very disorganized and there was no sense of teamwork. There's no reason why I was carrying 16 active patients at once and another doc was only carrying 4. The other doc came in after us but just wasn't pulling weight. It was so egregious that I had to take a pic. Obviously, can't share it here tho lol.

At my new shop they do a good job at spreading the wealth.

But yea, I've been trying to push myself. Now, I'm too the point to where I can go into the patient encounter, memorize everything that took place, and do the note when I sit down. Anything I can do to make it easier to connect the dots in medschool.

 

[FutureFloridaDr]

OP, run.... Run far away.

If you're actually going to stick with the company, good luck.

As far as Scribe U, you will not learn much. In fact once you finish Scribe U and get to the hospital, you will see that the charts are done very differently than what you have learned in Scribe U. You should learn a lot more in your training shifts. Learn abbreviations, do not be rude/disrespectful to the doctors (I know some chief scribes who were), do not come into the ED hungover (again the same chief scribes came in hung over), do not have a terrible attitude (same chief scribes, I see a trend). Overall, just get the work done. It will be pretty fun if your chief scribes are not complete ass-hats. However if your chief scribes suck, then gooooood luckkkkk.
You learn a lot of the "ugly" parts of medicine such as the shortcuts and corners that are cut by doctors to get stuff done. But then again, you can't blame them considering the ED is full and you see over 40+ pt's a day.

 

[Neutropix]

My

OP, run.... Run far away.

If you're actually going to stick with the company, good luck.

As far as Scribe U, you will not learn much. In fact once you finish Scribe U and get to the hospital, you will see that the charts are done very differently than what you have learned in Scribe U. You should learn a lot more in your training shifts. Learn abbreviations, do not be rude/disrespectful to the doctors (I know some chief scribes who were), do not come into the ED hungover (again the same chief scribes came in hung over), do not have a terrible attitude (same chief scribes, I see a trend). Overall, just get the work done. It will be pretty fun if your chief scribes are not complete ass-hats. However if your chief scribes suck, then gooooood luckkkkk.
You learn a lot of the "ugly" parts of medicine such as the shortcuts and corners that are cut by doctors to get stuff done. But then again, you can't blame them considering the ED is full and you see over 40+ pt's a day.

My chief scribe rulez luckily. The funny thing is they want me to be a trainer now for virtually no pay increase. If I could do it all over again I would.

 

[VegasPreMed]

PhysAssist has made me dislike my scribe job. Loved it before, hands down. No complaints. It has been hell after they took over. Scheduling is atrocious, they dropped night differentials, and health insurance is a joke. No PTO/vacation/sick days and if you call out AT ALL (even weeks in advance) it's an automatic write up.

Don't get sick. Or if you do, make sure you come to work and vomit everywhere. You still can't go home unless you find coverage by calling each other scribe personally or you'll get a write up.

 

[FutureFloridaDr]

PhysAssist has made me dislike my scribe job. Loved it before, hands down. No complaints. It has been hell after they took over. Scheduling is atrocious, they dropped night differentials, and health insurance is a joke. No PTO/vacation/sick days and if you call out AT ALL (even weeks in advance) it's an automatic write up.

Don't get sick. Or if you do, make sure you come to work and vomit everywhere. You still can't go home unless you find coverage by calling each other scribe personally or you'll get a write up.

this x1000 as well. You have to call out 2 months in advance for a day off and even then it's not a guarantee.