Quitting Toxic Scribe Job

[Mihr13]

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[Orthosurg1]

I think the anatomy teaching position sounds like a great opportunity. Congratulations on leaving that toxic environment! I'm a chief scribe for a larger scribe company, and I'm very sorry you had an experience like this. Although my pay isn't (and never will be) great, I am still really happy with my experience working as a scribe, but I know this is unfortunately not the norm. I don't think adcom's will view this in a negative light. If you get asked why you left the scribe position, maybe just leave out the bad environment part and say you received an opportunity to teach anatomy, you were excited for the opportunity to have such a leadership position, made more sense financially, etc.

 

[JustaDO]

Now, I'm worried about explaining my job change in the interviews.

Classic example of premeds shooting themselves in the foot.

Why mention you quit your job? I doubt anyone would specifically ask the question "are you still employed with them now?"

 

[Pagan FutureDoc]

People change jobs all the time. It would be better if you could give two weeks notice but sometimes life doesn't allow that. If presses about details I would focus on what you wanted to do and the better pay and not on how you were treated by the scribing company.
Always talk about the positives of a job change and never the negatives.

 

[Paramagnetic]

Crappy employer, eh? Sounds like some decent life experience to me.

I'd go with "and then I started teaching a class....". I doubt the job transition circumstances will be substantial, considering this is 'moving up'

 

[exacto]

Don't worry, I'm a scribe right now for almost 3 months and hate it. I'm only keeping this job till I can find another healthcare job, but as soon I do,
My 2 weeks are in... Its ok to hate a job! Haha.

 

[QofQuimica]

I don't think your scribe company is unethical. They're just jerks. There's a difference. And as for changing jobs, I'm a huge proponent of voting with your feet. Current employer not treating you well? Heck yeah, take the teaching job and don't look back. This is a good life lesson for you in looking out for number one so you don't keep getting your face smeared in number two. As I told one of my coworkers during a rough signout when he was trying to tell me how great a job he'd done "cleaning things up" for me, it's fine if you hand me a s*** sandwich. But don't stand there and tell me how great it tastes.

 

[TXMED_1695]

Sounds like hospital life to me. I became a CNA for clinical exposure, and I enjoy the patient care aspect of my job. However, there is always drama among the patient care team. Unprofessional is a nice way of stating how they behave, but you just learn to deal with it, do your job, and move on. Also, I have volunteered at two other hospitals and found the environment to be the same type of environment (the one you are describing in your post). Now to answer your question, no. It is just the status quo work environment nowadays.

 

[TheBiologist]

You're fine; teaching looks excellent on apps as well. Lesson in life: do not ever continue doing something you hate


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[Catalystik]

Though they promise flexibility during the job interviews and how well they will accommodate to your schedule, they don't keep their word . . .

Now, I'm worried about explaining my job change in the interviews. What do adcoms think of this?

They failed to keep their promise. That is enough of an explanation.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Sounds like hospital life to me. I became a CNA for clinical exposure, and I enjoy the patient care aspect of my job. However, there is always drama among the patient care team. Unprofessional is a nice way of stating how they behave, but you just learn to deal with it, do your job, and move on. Also, I have volunteered at two other hospitals and found the environment to be the same type of environment (the one you are describing in your post). Now to answer your question, no. It is just the status quo work environment nowadays.

I have worked for 2 different hospitals and have had the opposite experience. The OR can be a different world though, so that probably has something to do with it.

 

[Sardinia]

At-will-employment.

 

[aldol16]

My advice would be not to dwell on the job change unless the interviewer asks you specifically about it. Some might ask you about the job in which case you would have to explain that you changed to a teaching position. How you explain that is up to you, but don't bad-mouth the scribe company. That is unprofessional and only puts you down to their level. Be the bigger (wo)man and focus on the positive aspects of the new job and how it will allow for more personal growth.

I've asked my scribe company if I could only work weekend shifts but they said no, which forces me to make a decision between teaching and scribing. After consideration, I've decided to accept the teaching offer and send in my resignation. Many factors have been influential in my decision to quit scribing; the company treats its employees more as cheap slave labor rather than as human beings. Though they promise flexibility during the job interviews and how well they will accommodate to your schedule, they don't keep their word, and once you start working, you're required to be available almost everyday for their schedules, regardless of classes and other commitments. The chief scribe and the rest of the management team are unprofessional young people in their 20s who have no regards for people's limitations and favors some and not other scribes. Chief scribe always on the cellphone but doesn't allow others on theirs. I could list a lot of unprofessionalism in this company that would amount to a book: mandatory meetings and events outside of work that scribes have to attend or else they get fired, etc.
Long story short, I quit and gave a week's notice. I've informed them that although I wanted to give the traditional two weeks, I'm unable to due to school starting in one week and I need the time for lesson planning and faculty meetings. This is when things got worse because they demanded that I work the rest of my shifts, to which I respectfully declined. They're very upset with me and I don't like leaving on a bad note. But these are not the nicest people.

Here's my two-cents on this. Many companies treat employees like slave-labor. Your sentiments are shared by entry-level employees across many industries. While that doesn't mean that you should resign yourself to bending over and taking it, you should be aware that you will encounter situations like this again in the future when you enter the workforce. Switch "scribe" in the paragraph above to "doctor" and most things would still be true! So that's why you don't want to bring attention to these perceived slights during interviews - then you would have to also be able to answer how you would deal with the bureaucratic bull**** that doctors deal with on a daily basis.

Mandatory meetings - even those outside of normal work hours (compensated) - are part of any job. I don't think it's particularly unprofessional unless they don't compensate you for it or hold it at unreasonable times like midnight, national holidays, etc. They demanded that you work the rest of your shifts for the week/month/year? Look at it from their perspective. In order for the company to work, employees must keep their job commitments. If you signed up for shifts every Tuesday for the month and then left halfway through, they have to scramble to find somebody to fill that spot. It's the same for any job, whether you're a scribe or a doctor. So the fact that you left early, for whatever reason, is not their fault and they are understandably agitated. I don't see a good way out of this for anybody so I don't think you should dwell on it for long.

 

[Commer_Knocker]

I think scribing is one of the most highly regarded and eye-opening experiences for a premed- plus you get paid. That said, if its toxic for you, then gtfo.

 

[amcaspotentialproblem]

Quick question: Are you updating your schools on the job change, or just going to tell them during the interview if asked?

 

[Mihr13]

My advice would be not to dwell on the job change unless the interviewer asks you specifically about it. Some might ask you about the job in which case you would have to explain that you changed to a teaching position. How you explain that is up to you, but don't bad-mouth the scribe company. That is unprofessional and only puts you down to their level. Be the bigger (wo)man and focus on the positive aspects of the new job and how it will allow for more personal growth.



Here's my two-cents on this. Many companies treat employees like slave-labor. Your sentiments are shared by entry-level employees across many industries. While that doesn't mean that you should resign yourself to bending over and taking it, you should be aware that you will encounter situations like this again in the future when you enter the workforce. Switch "scribe" in the paragraph above to "doctor" and most things would still be true! So that's why you don't want to bring attention to these perceived slights during interviews - then you would have to also be able to answer how you would deal with the bureaucratic bull**** that doctors deal with on a daily basis.

Mandatory meetings - even those outside of normal work hours (compensated) - are part of any job. I don't think it's particularly unprofessional unless they don't compensate you for it or hold it at unreasonable times like midnight, national holidays, etc. They demanded that you work the rest of your shifts for the week/month/year? Look at it from their perspective. In order for the company to work, employees must keep their job commitments. If you signed up for shifts every Tuesday for the month and then left halfway through, they have to scramble to find somebody to fill that spot. It's the same for any job, whether you're a scribe or a doctor. So the fact that you left early, for whatever reason, is not their fault and they are understandably agitated. I don't see a good way out of this for anybody so I don't think you should dwell on it for long.

They do not compensate for mandatory meetings.

 

[Mihr13]

I think scribing is one of the most highly regarded and eye-opening experiences for a premed- plus you get paid. That said, if its toxic for you, then gtfo.

I did. I'm glad to have had the opportunity to work in the ER and observe patient encounters. However, I believe teaching rewards and builds more communication, time management, and leadership skills, in addition to higher pay. These will definitely be helpful in my career as a physician.

 

[aldol16]

They do not compensate for mandatory meetings.

I think that's in violation of Department of Labor regulations.

 

[----x----]

My experience has a scribe has been extremely positive, but i dont work for a national company