ScribeAmerica - Placed in a dermatology practice. Is it still worth it?

[sundays24]

I thought I would be scribing in an ER but I got placed in an outpatient dermatology clinic. I don't know how ScribeAmerica decides where to send their scribes to. Maybe I applied too late and all the ER positions are filled? (I applied late March.)

I'm going to be a full-time research tech in my gap year but I wanted to scribe part-time too because of all the great things I heard about it. No offense, but scribing in a dermatology practice sounds boring as hell. I am not interested in dermatology, either. Is it still worth it?

Does anyone know how ScribeAmerica places their scribes, or any other scribe companies out there that could put me in an ER?

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[MareNostrummm]

I thought I would be scribing in an ER but I got placed in an outpatient dermatology clinic. I don't know how ScribeAmerica decides where to send their scribes to. Maybe I applied too late and all the ER positions are filled? (I applied late March.)

I'm going to be a full-time research tech in my gap year but I wanted to scribe part-time too because of all the great things I heard about it. No offense, but scribing in a dermatology practice sounds boring as hell. I am not interested in dermatology, either. Is it still worth it?

Does anyone know how ScribeAmerica places their scribes, or any other scribe companies out there that could put me in an ER?

Did you do very poorly in training? Either the ED is full or they decided to place you in a cushy site because they did not think you could handle the pace of the more stressful hospitals.

 

[sundays24]

Did you do very poorly in training? Either the ED is full or they decided to place you in a cushy site because they did not think you could handle the pace of the more stressful hospitals.

I didn't have any training yet. Just an interview

 

[MareNostrummm]

I didn't have any training yet. Just an interview

They probably recently contracted with a dermatology practice that is really looking for scribes to increase their efficiency... might as well just throw the newbies there until they are competent enough to handle the ED.

 

[CharlieBillings]

I thought I would be scribing in an ER but I got placed in an outpatient dermatology clinic. I don't know how ScribeAmerica decides where to send their scribes to. Maybe I applied too late and all the ER positions are filled? (I applied late March.)

I'm going to be a full-time research tech in my gap year but I wanted to scribe part-time too because of all the great things I heard about it. No offense, but scribing in a dermatology practice sounds boring as hell. I am not interested in dermatology, either. Is it still worth it?

Does anyone know how ScribeAmerica places their scribes, or any other scribe companies out there that could put me in an ER?

This is probably just the opening they had. I would say stick with it and get scribing experience. Getting other scribe jobs with scribe experience will be dramatically easier, and you'll still learn a lot in a dermatology office.

Check your states non-compete laws also. It may be possible to work 2 scribe jobs at the same time, then quit your derm job when you want to.

 

[Spr1ngrolls]

Only try and switch to working in the ER if you're ready to really change up your lifestyle. I've worked as a scribe for two years now as a trainer for new scribes (for both ScribeAmerica and PhysAssist) and I think that what a lot of trainees don't realize is that working in the ER absolutely shifts the order of everything you do. Stick with dermatology if you'd prefer the normal human hours. Yes, working in the ER is super cool and exciting minute-to-minute, but honestly, it begins to slowly erode at you after a while. I will also note that training for ER scribes is more rigorous and less and less people are passing their floor training.

Of course, I've also been sent to work at ERs that have more normal hours (meaning the scribes all go home at around 2-3 AM). But most ERs i've worked in have scribes staffed 24 hours for 9-12 hours at a time. Just be prepared with whatever you choose to do!

 

[MareNostrummm]

Only try and switch to working in the ER if you're ready to really change up your lifestyle. I've worked as a scribe for two years now as a trainer for new scribes (for both ScribeAmerica and PhysAssist) and I think that what a lot of trainees don't realize is that working in the ER absolutely shifts the order of everything you do. Stick with dermatology if you'd prefer the normal human hours. Yes, working in the ER is super cool and exciting minute-to-minute, but honestly, it begins to slowly erode at you after a while. I will also note that training for ER scribes is more rigorous and less and less people are passing their floor training.

Of course, I've also been sent to work at ERs that have more normal hours (meaning the scribes all go home at around 2-3 AM). But most ERs i've worked in have scribes staffed 24 hours for 9-12 hours at a time. Just be prepared with whatever you choose to do!

As a scribe trainer what is your opinion of "bare-minimum" scribes? As a scribe whose hitting the 1 year mark soon I always try to do my best to get accurate and thorough charting. However, when I read other scribes charts, especially the more veteran scribes, its usually just the bare minimum (no differential diagnosis, no medical decision making, no attempt at interpreting labs, etc). Basically just the HPI, PE, simple ED course, dispo, and a diagnosis. Do people normally get very lazy after they pass probation and can't really get fired (unless they seriously mess up)?

Anyway, I don't think going home at 2-3 AM is necessarily *that* bad. We only have to work a couple of legit night shifts a month at my scribe company.

 

[Spr1ngrolls]

As a scribe trainer what is your opinion of "bare-minimum" scribes? As a scribe whose hitting the 1 year mark soon I always try to do my best to get accurate and thorough charting. However, when I read other scribes charts, especially the more veteran scribes, its usually just the bare minimum (no differential diagnosis, no medical decision making, attempt at interpreting labs, etc). Basically just the HPI, PE, simple ED course, dispo, and a diagnosis. Do people normally get very lazy after they pass probation and can't really get fired?

Anyway, I don't think going home at 2-3 AM is necessarily *that* bad. We only have to work a couple of legit night shifts a month at my scribe company.

It's funny because at the locations i've worked at there's always been this problem. The fact is that as a scribe program develops at a location, additional standards are expected and implemented. Now, there's always those who are more veteran that tend to think they are "above it" or simply were never trained/pressed to implement these standards and protocols (I will admit that I myself have fallen to this a number of times). What it really comes down to is whether or not you got all the information in the chart and whether or not your charting would protect the physician should your chart have a subpoena.

Then there are the scribes who do bare minimum charting because some physicians preferences are actually that you are not too specific or don't mention certain elements at all for their own protection. That always complicates things as well.

I personally don't like doing "audits" on other scribes charts and telling them what they do and don't need to do. I know a number of other scribes who enjoy doing this and it's actually pretty annoying as they're not working with the physician nor do they understand the nature of the initial encounter/treatment plan (which is actually a very serious HIPAA violation too). My mentality is that I trust the scribes to do their best and document as diligently as possible. Is it aggravating when I know others are being lazy and aren't doing their very simple job? Yes. But ultimately it's not my place to say too much outside of their training shifts.

 

[FutureDr.Sigma!]

As a chief scribe with ScribeAmerica for only outpatient, I would say stick it out. When I originally came into scribeamerica, my site was just being implemented. I was placed with outpatient for colorectal surgery (was not interested at all, but I needed a job). Now I love it, and it is no where near slow. Yeah I get to leave by 6pm but, it is busy and can be difficult. I would try to stick it out for dermatology. As someone that does hire, I'm sure they just had implemented derm and needed scribes. It is in no way indicative of your ability as a scribe. Sometimes it is just a game of filling openings.

 

[docE15]

Just be careful if you decide to take the job, then leave it for another scribe job outside of ScribeAmerica. My contract with them locked me into a 2 year long non compete, meaning although I quit after 1 year, I couldn't get a job at another scribe company or private practice without waiting a second year.


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[LizzyM]

It's a job. If they pay you a fair wage for your time, it is worth it in that regard.
You get to see ambulatory care up close. It is not primary care and it is not urgent/emergent but you'll be close enough to smell patients and some of them will smell and some of them will be in severe discomfort and some will be young and some will be very old.
It isn't all pimple popping. You will see patients with chronic, disfiguring disorders, you will see people with cancer, or who are worried that they have cancer, or who have been treated for cancer.

You are going to see physicians working with patients. What is wrong with the patients shouldn't matter. How interested you are in practicing that specialty shouldn't matter. Make the most of what you have and try to come out of it the wiser.

 

[Neglektor]

It's a job. If they pay you a fair wage for your time, it is worth it in that regard.
You get to see ambulatory care up close. It is not primary care and it is not urgent/emergent but you'll be close enough to smell patients and some of them will smell and some of them will be in severe discomfort and some will be young and some will be very old.
It isn't all pimple popping. You will see patients with chronic, disfiguring disorders, you will see people with cancer, or who are worried that they have cancer, or who have been treated for cancer.

You are going to see physicians working with patients. What is wrong with the patients shouldn't matter. How interested you are in practicing that specialty shouldn't matter. Make the most of what you have and try to come out of it the wiser.

How is scribing typically seen amongst admissions during a gap year? I have the option of either scribing or doing City Year, but am leaning towards scribing because the stipend City Year provides will not be enough to survive in a city and go on interviews, even though I would much prefer to dedicate a year to serving a marginalized community.

 

[LizzyM]

How is scribing typically seen amongst admissions during a gap year? I have the option of either scribing or doing City Year, but am leaning towards scribing because the stipend City Year provides will not be enough to survive in a city and go on interviews, even though I would much prefer to dedicate a year to serving a marginalized community.

Either is fine.

 

[Toutie]

I thought I would be scribing in an ER but I got placed in an outpatient dermatology clinic. I don't know how ScribeAmerica decides where to send their scribes to. Maybe I applied too late and all the ER positions are filled? (I applied late March.)

I'm going to be a full-time research tech in my gap year but I wanted to scribe part-time too because of all the great things I heard about it. No offense, but scribing in a dermatology practice sounds boring as hell. I am not interested in dermatology, either. Is it still worth it?

Does anyone know how ScribeAmerica places their scribes, or any other scribe companies out there that could put me in an ER?

You must be incredibly handsome/beautiful. Everyone knows that only the beautiful people go into Derm.

 

[Coltuna]

As someone who has worked as a scribe in both specialized outpatient and ER setting, my time in the ER has been significantly more rewarding and intellectually stimulating. Yes, as a scribe the name of the game is charting to make the physician's life easier; HOWEVER, those moments where you tell the physician about a pertinent piece of history you dug up during a busy period or being thanked by a patient's family after the physician saved a life (even though they have no idea what you did) really do go a long way. With that being said, I was very happy with my outpatient experience.

 

[sportsdoc14]

As a chief scribe who has worked both in outpatient and the ER there are pluses and minuses to both positions. ER you will see a wide variety of diseases and traumas that tend to be very interesting but as a new scribe you tend to get the worst hours (which can be a good thing, i.e late night shifts get crazy). This will obviously change as you progress but you are still required to work less then ideal shifts. You get a more "general" learning experience but the amount of information you need to know and retain is pretty immense and is encompassing of many different areas and body systems. You also get to see things that most people would typically not see which is pretty cool. Lastly, I thought that seeing high stress environments and observing how the ER physicians handle this is a great learning experience.

On the other side of the fence, outpatient you typically will work the usual 8-5 or 9-5 with no weekends or holidays so that is a plus. The outpatient clinic I worked at had multiple specialties so even though you are placed in derm there may be opportunities to learn multiple different specialties. For example, I was a pretty well rounded scribe and worked in and knew ENT, cardio, endo, podiatry, GI, peds, and IM (no derm at my location so cannot comment on how boring or exciting it is). Since I was able to be trained in all these specialties, I really got a good gauge of what I liked and what I did not like specialty wise, which is something you won't really get in the ER. I will admit outpatient was not as exciting as the ER but in OP I was still able to see procedures, be in the OR and see how a day-to-day outpatient clinic works, specifically the difficulties physicians face in today's healthcare world. In my opinion that was a great experience, and something that is not readily seen or talked about.

In the end, you should look at it as you are getting an invaluable medical experience that you would not get otherwise. You also haven't even started so I wouldn't be so quick to judge. You may come out of the experience wanting to be a dermatologist. In reality, you don't know what you don't know, and personally I see any medical experience (interested or not) as a way to help myself figure out what area of medicine I may want to end up in the future. Hope this helps.

P.S: The way they choose where you go is basically dependent on what was available at the time you interviewed. So there must have been a need in outpatient for derm when you got hired and the ER was either fully staffed or the outpatient position needed to be more readily filled. Also at my location, gap year students tend to go to outpatient (if needed) because they have open availability where as student who are still in school have class during the day which is when outpatient shifts tend to occur.

 

[OchemOficionado]

That's still a physician. I don't see the issue. Don't be boring and feel like you have to do the exact same as everyone else.

 

[subrato]

I would like to hear from you in 3-4 years and see if you still think being in an outpatient derm clinic would be miserable. At this point in the game for you it definitely would be, but come MS3, that boring 9-5 derm clinic will look a lot more interesting lol

 

[MareNostrummm]

It's funny because at the locations i've worked at there's always been this problem. The fact is that as a scribe program develops at a location, additional standards are expected and implemented. Now, there's always those who are more veteran that tend to think they are "above it" or simply were never trained/pressed to implement these standards and protocols (I will admit that I myself have fallen to this a number of times). What it really comes down to is whether or not you got all the information in the chart and whether or not your charting would protect the physician should your chart have a subpoena.

Then there are the scribes who do bare minimum charting because some physicians preferences are actually that you are not too specific or don't mention certain elements at all for their own protection. That always complicates things as well.

I personally don't like doing "audits" on other scribes charts and telling them what they do and don't need to do. I know a number of other scribes who enjoy doing this and it's actually pretty annoying as they're not working with the physician nor do they understand the nature of the initial encounter/treatment plan (which is actually a very serious HIPAA violation too). My mentality is that I trust the scribes to do their best and document as diligently as possible. Is it aggravating when I know others are being lazy and aren't doing their very simple job? Yes. But ultimately it's not my place to say too much outside of their training shifts.

I'm not intentionally "auditing" their charts. I have also never complained about a scribes charting to them. I usually only work the night shift (6:00 PM to 2:00 AM) and I always come after the same veteran scribes who sign out their charts to me, often very poorly done (the patient was in the ED for 3+ hours and just needs a final disposition pending some diagnostic results, yet when I get the sign out and I read the chart its nonsensical aside from having a HPI and a PE, aka the bare minimum. I expect to be able to open a chart that was signed out to me and be able to have a good sense of what they did to the patient, not a MDM that literally just says "Patient was treated with IV fluids.." Anyone can easily look at the order sheet and see that... Also, I even have the physician frequently complaining to me about those scribes, so its not that the physician isn't giving them anything intentionally, they are just too lazy to put enough effort to make a sensible chart despite working 2+ years and definitely having the ability to do so. I don't know if I'm expecting too much, but I would think that a scribe could put a decent chart together after a couple of months on the job.

 

[Futurecareerinmedicine]

Only try and switch to working in the ER if you're ready to really change up your lifestyle. I've worked as a scribe for two years now as a trainer for new scribes (for both ScribeAmerica and PhysAssist) and I think that what a lot of trainees don't realize is that working in the ER absolutely shifts the order of everything you do. Stick with dermatology if you'd prefer the normal human hours. Yes, working in the ER is super cool and exciting minute-to-minute, but honestly, it begins to slowly erode at you after a while. I will also note that training for ER scribes is more rigorous and less and less people are passing their floor training.

Of course, I've also been sent to work at ERs that have more normal hours (meaning the scribes all go home at around 2-3 AM). But most ERs i've worked in have scribes staffed 24 hours for 9-12 hours at a time. Just be prepared with whatever you choose to do!

Hello, I was wondering what is the hourly wage for a scribe traineer if you do not mind me asking? I have some experience in healthcare and was interested in applying thats why I ask.

 

[Spr1ngrolls]

Hello, I was wondering what is the hourly wage for a scribe traineer if you do not mind me asking? I have some experience in healthcare and was interested in applying thats why I ask.

Depending on your location and scribe company, it will vary. For my company you will only get paid a dollar extra per hour and ONLY if you're training someone. Otherwise you get the normal wage.

 

[smoon]

Hello! Can I ask what city you are located in? I am interested in specifically becoming a scribe in a dermatologist's office as I previously worked in the ER.

 

[SOAPsucks222]

I thought I would be scribing in an ER but I got placed in an outpatient dermatology clinic. I don't know how ScribeAmerica decides where to send their scribes to. Maybe I applied too late and all the ER positions are filled? (I applied late March.)

I'm going to be a full-time research tech in my gap year but I wanted to scribe part-time too because of all the great things I heard about it. No offense, but scribing in a dermatology practice sounds boring as hell. I am not interested in dermatology, either. Is it still worth it?

Does anyone know how ScribeAmerica places their scribes, or any other scribe companies out there that could put me in an ER?

Why do you think it'd be so bad? I Scribed at an outpatient Neurology clinic through ScribeAmerica and I LOVED it. I left for school for a Spring semester and came back and they hired me as an MA. No certification or anything. Take the job! You may end up loving Dermo! Working here opened me up to a whole new world of Neurology that I never knew about, and I love it. Kinda wanna be a Neurologist tbh.

 

[JoieDeVivre-]

This is ironically the complete opposite of what happened to me!
I was asked if I wanted to either Scribe for a (really fancy, may I add) Derm office or an Emergency Department.
I chose the Derm only because I want to get into Dermatology as my specialty after Med School one day (That is, if I get in )

Anyway, long story short, I didn't get the Derm office cus their hours were weekdays ONLY and I had school those days.
I personally LOVE my job and the ED is wonderful (No I'm not paid to say that).
I wish you the best on your journey. Scribing is wonderful, you get to meet so many nice people.