ScribeAmerica qualifications and concerns

[3601]

I had recently applied to become a medical scribe with Scribe America. Anyone else worked with them before or is currently employed with them? How was your experience working for this company as a medical scribe?
Also, they require that the applicant take a on-spot typing test at the interview and they prefer that the speed be 65 wpm. My typing speed is, however, 47 wpm and I am afraid the interviewer may look upon this negatively. They also emailed a list of basic medical terms and basic medical abbreviations and said that I would be quizzed over them. Did the quiz cover most of the terms?
What were some questions that were asked during the interview?
Thanks.

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[Invictus1990]

Hey,

I don't work for scribeamerica but a similar scribe company that goes through the same hiring process. You should definitely know all of the medical terms. The interview questions are standard HR employment questions: What are your career goals, tell me about one challenge that you had to face, tell me about a time you had to work as a team, give me an instance when you had to resolve a conflict with a coworker, what are some of your strengths that will make you a good scribe...

As for the typing speed... even if they don't give you a hard time during the hiring process, you will find that on busy days 50wpm will not be fast enough to keep up. The way some providers speak, you'll have to ask them to slow down or repeat themselves and that may become a problem. I hope you can practice and increase that speed.

 

[Robin-jay]

I was a scribe, it was a great experience in learning how clinics function, terrible in every other way conceivable.

If you must be a scribe, do it for 6 months max, and then go retail.

Good luck OP.

 

[BellaWriterChic]

When I interviewed, my typing test was not quite that fast, but I can tell you, you will get faster out of necessity from it. I am better at typing because of the experience for sure. I would improve your speed before your test though because 47 wpm is a bit slow, but each site is different in how lenient on the speed they are.

The terms and acronyms packet. Do learn them, not just memorize them. You take a quiz and have to pass at a certain level to move on to the classroom portion of training. I say learn because they come up so much, some more than others depending on your site specialty, so it is better for you if you learn them and not just memorize them. They will teach you in the classroom portion how to format notes and specific knowledge to the site's specialty. But if you do not pass the terms test, you will not move on. It is not a hard test, per se, but I would say a good portion of the terms were tested on. I can't really say which is more likely than the other, because someone else hired at the same time as me had a slightly different mix.

 

[Aurarice]

Worked with them for a few years, also worked as a floor trainer and quality assurance specialist.

Hours and pay leave a LOT to be desired, but the experience is pretty great. (Once you're not trudging through all the terminology and playing with your hospital's EMR)
You should learn all of the terms on the list they gave you. There will be many more once you start actually training, and even some that you'll have never heard of until the physician mutters it during a physical exam. Stay on top of it.
As for the typing speed, you just gotta work on it. Google has a ton of options for practicing touch typing, and you'll definitely want to be faster. I'm sitting at ~110+ WPM, and even then, some of the physicians talk too quickly.

 

[Choco_chips]

Can I ask what do you all did to receive an interview at ScribeAmerica or other scribing companies? I applied to all of the ones in my area, and I believe I'm well-qualified (95 WPM, college grad, etc) but it's been over a month and I haven't heard back.

 

[BellaWriterChic]

Can I ask what do you all did to receive an interview at ScribeAmerica or other scribing companies? I applied to all of the ones in my area, and I believe I'm well-qualified (95 WPM, college grad, etc) but it's been over a month and I haven't heard back.

I just applied online. But you could maybe email and follow up on your application.

 

[Garurumon]

Hours and pay leave a LOT to be desired, but the experience is pretty great. I'm sitting at ~110+ WPM, and even then, some of the physicians talk too quickly.

+. 1. I love working with the team and in ER enough to not really mind the long hours and low pay. Also at 110ish WPM and I still have to crank out shorthand on Notepad. It's like they gotta spill out their physical exam in one go before they forget. And it's amazing how some docs can talk so fast through that Dragon.

Can I ask what do you all did to receive an interview at ScribeAmerica or other scribing companies? I applied to all of the ones in my area, and I believe I'm well-qualified (95 WPM, college grad, etc) but it's been over a month and I haven't heard back.

Availability is another big factor. I initially interviewed with ScribeAmerica, but didn't get the position because of my class schedule and lack of reliable transportation. Once I graduated and got my own car, I was able to get on board with another scribe company and take whatever shifts they gave me.

 

[Aurarice]

Can I ask what do you all did to receive an interview at ScribeAmerica or other scribing companies? I applied to all of the ones in my area, and I believe I'm well-qualified (95 WPM, college grad, etc) but it's been over a month and I haven't heard back.

Depends on how well-staffed the sites around you are. Try reaching out and asking if there is any availability around you. Worst case scenario is they'll ask if you'd be willing to work at a site quite farther than what you originally intended.

+. 1. I love working with the team and in ER enough to not really mind the long hours and low pay. Also at 110ish WPM and I still have to crank out shorthand on Notepad. It's like they gotta spill out their physical exam in one go before they forget. And it's amazing how some docs can talk so fast through that Dragon.

Yeah the experience was second to none. Phenomenal health care team and very reasonable coworkers/administration at my site. But even after getting "promoted" twice I was still making just around $10/hour.
My site got Dragon when I was about to leave, so I was only able to see it used once or twice. Would very much appreciate if they could send one of those my way LOL

 

[Robin-jay]

+. 1. I love working with the team and in ER enough to not really mind the long hours and low pay. Also at 110ish WPM and I still have to crank out shorthand on Notepad. It's like they gotta spill out their physical exam in one go before they forget. And it's amazing how some docs can talk so fast through that Dragon.


Availability is another big factor. I initially interviewed with ScribeAmerica, but didn't get the position because of my class schedule and lack of reliable transportation. Once I graduated and got my own car, I was able to get on board with another scribe company and take whatever shifts they gave me.

Every time I read a post about positive scribing experience, it blows my mind.

I wish my experience wasn't an absolute horrid experience. I was pretty good too. I scored the highest on the scribing terminology tests of anyone they ever had, and so on and so forth. But there were so many downsides to scribing (people that were unfairly fired, expectation you have to know as much as a resident, minimum wage pay and terrible, etc.).

 

[Garurumon]

Every time I read a post about positive scribing experience, it blows my mind.

I wish my experience wasn't an absolute horrid experience. I was pretty good too. I scored the highest on the scribing terminology tests of anyone they ever had, and so on and so forth. But there were so many downsides to scribing (people that were unfairly fired, expectation you have to know as much as a resident, minimum wage pay and terrible, etc.).

I'm sorry to hear you've had a bad time, man. I've read and heard the horror stories, so I feel like what you'll get and experience is a hit or miss. In retrospect I feel very fortunate to work with great people, scribes and providers alike. The chief scribe is down to earth and reasonable. The little workroom we'd share would be full of laughs, banter, mentoring, and encouragement. This makes me genuinely enjoy coming to work. I did struggle on that steep learning curve during training and providers weren't always in the best mood, given the chaotic and fast-paced nature of ER. But otherwise I love it. Last day of work will be a sad one.

 

[Robin-jay]

I'm sorry to hear you've had a bad time, man. I've read and heard the horror stories, so I feel like what you'll get and experience is a hit or miss.

Must have been a miss.

In retrospect I feel very fortunate to work with great people, scribes and providers alike. The chief scribe is down to earth and reasonable.

Not my experience. My chief scribe was a horrible teacher. And I taught 15 chemistry university courses before scribing.

In fact, a lot of the staff was pretty unreasonable. Not all, but the most I've ever seen in a workplace.

The little workroom we'd share would be full of laughs, banter, mentoring, and encouragement.

LOL. Nope. Not at my place.

I did struggle on that steep learning curve during training and providers weren't always in the best mood, given the chaotic and fast-paced nature of ER.

Providers that use scribes always seem to be in the least best moods of all. When I'm a physician, I won't use scribes because its just not efficient.

Last day of work will be a sad one.

When I was accepted, I don't know if I was happier to know that I was going to become a physician, or that I was now able to leave to the toxic environment that I was in.


If I could rank teaching university chemistry courses on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being most enjoyable, I'd give it a solid 90.

If I could rank medical scribing, it would be about 5.

 

[Garurumon]

Must have been a miss.

Not my experience. My chief scribe was a horrible teacher. And I taught 15 chemistry university courses before scribing.

In fact, a lot of the staff was pretty unreasonable. Not all, but the most I've ever seen in a workplace.

LOL. Nope. Not at my place.

Providers that use scribes always seem to be in the least best moods of all. When I'm a physician, I won't use scribes because its just not efficient.

When I was accepted, I don't know if I was happier to know that I was going to become a physician, or that I was now able to leave to the toxic environment that I was in.

If I could rank teaching university chemistry courses on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being most enjoyable, I'd give it a solid 90.

If I could rank medical scribing, it would be about 5.

To be fair, I would've hated working where you had been. Good to know you've moved on to do much greater things!

 

[Robin-jay]

To be fair, I would've hated working where you had been. Good to know you've moved on to do much greater things!

I'm glad you enjoyed your work though. I wish you the best. I don't know your situation, but after 6 months of scribing, if you're having trouble getting accepted to med. school because of time and stress due to scribing (sounds like you're fine), I would advise getting a regular retail job to focus on things like MCAT, etc.

Your number 1 job is getting into medical school.

 

[3601]

Can I ask what do you all did to receive an interview at ScribeAmerica or other scribing companies? I applied to all of the ones in my area, and I believe I'm well-qualified (95 WPM, college grad, etc) but it's been over a month and I haven't heard back.

I went on their website and found a job opening near my area. They replied to my application a day later.

 

[DrDumbDrum]

Can I ask what do you all did to receive an interview at ScribeAmerica or other scribing companies? I applied to all of the ones in my area, and I believe I'm well-qualified (95 WPM, college grad, etc) but it's been over a month and I haven't heard back.

I talked with some of the ScribeAmericans, including the chief scribe, while shadowing in the emergency department. One of the physicians there also referred me to another hospital that was looking for scribes. I ended up going with the former option, because that hospital was closer and full of really chill people. Networking is useful!

 

[JugglesMed]

The med terms are very important. They set the foundation for the rest of the material you learn. Spelling is also very important.
I'm thankful I played lots of computer games when I was younger and can type 100+ WPM. If you're into video games, I suggest that because you'll enjoy learning to type fast.

 

[3601]

Does anyone know what typing test they used on the 10fastfingers website? Is it the standard, advanced, or a custom test? If it is the custom one, what was the name of the test?
Thanks.