Scribing vs. CCE?

[Vandit]

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Howdy,

Fourth year undergrad senior here. Originally majored in Exercise and Sport Science - Athletic Training, moved to PT, and now I'm on track for med school. Had a couple of questions about clinical experience:

I have the opportunity to get a paid ER Scribe position, or a volunteer as a CCE. Due to the 20 hour work week that scribing will entail, combined with finishing a Bio major in a year, I don't think I will have time for both.

I currently live with roommates and the paid position is very appealing, but I would like to keep the big picture in mind and do what will be best for my future. What is the better choice/recommendation, if any? Do the adcoms have a preference to paid vs. unpaid?


Also, as I was going through my pre-PT phase, I worked full time as a paid aide over summer, logged a few hundred hours. Will this apply to my clinical experience?


Thanks for your help.

 

[CaliGirl14]

Howdy,

Fourth year undergrad senior here. Originally majored in Exercise and Sport Science - Athletic Training, moved to PT, and now I'm on track for med school. Had a couple of questions about clinical experience:

I have the opportunity to get a paid ER Scribe position, or a volunteer as a CCE. Due to the 20 hour work week that scribing will entail, combined with finishing a Bio major in a year, I don't think I will have time for both.

I currently live with roommates and the paid position is very appealing, but I would like to keep the big picture in mind and do what will be best for my future. What is the better choice/recommendation, if any? Do the adcoms have a preference to paid vs. unpaid?


Also, as I was going through my pre-PT phase, I worked full time as a paid aide over summer, logged a few hundred hours. Will this apply to my clinical experience?


Thanks for your help.

your answer.

 

[cinamin]

Yes the pre-PT stuff counts as clinical experience.

Go for the ER scribe hands down. CCE is something I'd only recommend if you have time (funny there was another thread about CCE today if you scroll down), but certainly would not be something to choose over another opp, esp. if paid. Just my opinion!

EDIT: plus you will get wayyyy more knowledge and first hand experience as a scribe. you will have little to no interactions with physicians as a CCE.

 

[Vandit]

your answer.

Sorry, I meant "both" as in scribing and CCEing, doh!

Also may just end up making it a chem minor rather than a bio major because the workload is less, therefore I can play soccer a 5th year and keep my financial aid/scholarship for that.

Any thoughts on being a 4 (5) year Athlete? Have earned several region-wide and national awards for my academics while being an athlete.

 

[CaliGirl14]

Sorry, I meant "both" as in scribing and CCEing, doh!

Also may just end up making it a chem minor rather than a bio major because the workload is less, therefore I can play soccer a 5th year and keep my financial aid/scholarship for that.

Any thoughts on being a 4 (5) year Athlete? Have earned several region-wide and national awards for my academics while being an athlete.

Definitely scribe then (been a scribe for 2 years, the experience is absolutely invaluable), and there's nothing wrong with being a 5 year athlete if you can manage it time-wise.

 

[Josieisonfire]

.

 

[qwe7791]

What exactly are the differences between scribes and CCE (or something similar) besides the obvious direct patient interactions, etc?

 

[bollywoodlover]

I vote scribe. If your applying in California everyone is going to have CCE.

 

[lobo.solo]

Nvm

 

[Vandit]

What exactly are the differences between scribes and CCE (or something similar) besides the obvious direct patient interactions, etc?

To my knowledge, scribes have much more responsibility, work much closer with physicians, and can work ~10 hour shifts with physicians. As a scribe, you are attached to the physician's hip, charting and documenting patient histories, sxs, medications, etc, etc. Scribes are also typically paid.

As a CCE, you typically volunteer a few hours a week (1 or 2 shifts), and take care of maintaining and cleaning patients, beds and the likes.


Thank you all for the responses.

 

[kitsunebito]

Scribing is pretty much some of the best clinical exposure you can do as undergrad, in my opinion at least. If you want to do it, you can make the time do it, I promise that.

 

[a13bfiend]

I've done both. My interviewers thus far have raved about my work as a scribe, and I don't think I've been asked about my time as a CCE. Working as a scribe may be the best experience you can have when applying to medical school. Plus you get paid, you can get a great LOR from a doc and it makes your medical interviews a breeze.

 

[nm06003]

Hello everyone, I'm just jumping into this thread with a question. Has anyone here landed a job as a scribe? And if so how difficult was it? I filled an application about two weeks ago and I still haven't been contacted. It also asks if I'm familiar with medical terminology (I'm only a freshmen, but I've been studying basic med terminology since I applied). Do they actually test you on it? I live in Orange County so if anyone locally has scribed near there I would love your input! (or anyone else's)🙂

P.S. I have a CCE interview tomorrow! Thinking about doing both since I have the time, and have no other extracurriculars...

 

[Konfidence]

Scribing is pretty much some of the best clinical exposure you can do as undergrad, in my opinion at least. If you want to do it, you can make the time do it, I promise that.

Can't stress this enough. I wish scribing was a prerequisite to medical school. The experience and knowledge you gain is invaluable! Ask me what a pneumothorax on a chest XR or a subdural hematoma on a head CT before I scribed and I would give you a scooby doo face. Now? I see one or the other each week and I can tell these things by myself. I know how to take proper histories and ask the right questions per complaint and I've done it by myself (my attendings are very supportive of me going to med school) so all that time they teach students to do all that will be easier for me. Def. go for it. If your not about valuable experiences, then there's at least the fact it's paid shadowing (of course your liable for your notes lol) and it would be very difficult to come out of the job without a couple of LORs.

 

[Tidus1230]

In response to OP, I would say take the scribe position. I'm currently a scribe and as CaliGirl14 said, the experience is simply invaluable. Working side-by-side with a physician is completely different than just shadowing them. Even though the physicians do pay for our services, ALL the physicians I work with consider the scribes as an asset and heck a couple of them even pay out of pocket to have a scribe at all times.

In response to nm06003: I have been an scribe for about 7 months now working for an ER physician group. I got the job in June last year but I applied a couple months before. From what I understand they hire scribes every few months as people leave (to go on to med school or whatever) and we usually have about 15 scribes in our group at any given time. My boss told me that if I had applied before one of the other applicants I would have been hired during the previous hiring process, hopefully you won't have to wait that long. I'm not sure about OC since I'm from the east coast. As far as medical terminology goes, I knew very little before going in, and yes I was tested on it a little during the interview and did horrible but my boss told me not to sweat it. We spent our first week as new hires, about 6 or 7 of us, in a classroom setting learning med terminology and how to document. I went from knowing almost nothing to being fairly fluent in a matter of about a month so I definitely would not worry about it too much. I hope that I didn't bore you with my long story and I believe I hit all your questions.

 

[eleveneleven]

Hello everyone, I'm just jumping into this thread with a question. Has anyone here landed a job as a scribe? And if so how difficult was it? I filled an application about two weeks ago and I still haven't been contacted. It also asks if I'm familiar with medical terminology (I'm only a freshmen, but I've been studying basic med terminology since I applied). Do they actually test you on it? I live in Orange County so if anyone locally has scribed near there I would love your input! (or anyone else's)🙂

P.S. I have a CCE interview tomorrow! Thinking about doing both since I have the time, and have no other extracurriculars...

I've worked as a scribe in the OC for quite some time (so there's a good chance you might have applied with my company!). If you don't hear for a while, definitely be persistent. They have a lot of applicants but you should just keep checking up on your application. Spots are frequently opening up, you just have to make sure you're at the top of the pile when they're going to schedule interviews again.

 

[Sabio23]

I vote for being a scribe. Not only will you get patient contact, you learn some of the intricacies of patient management (history, physical exam, diagnosis, treatment plan) that a volunteer position may not be able to give you. This information will give you a slight leg up as a third year student. If you have the time, go for it!

 

[Nymphicus]

Do you happen to be in southern California?

Scribe over CCE for sure.

 

[nm06003]

In response to OP, I would say take the scribe position. I'm currently a scribe and as CaliGirl14 said, the experience is simply invaluable. Working side-by-side with a physician is completely different than just shadowing them. Even though the physicians do pay for our services, ALL the physicians I work with consider the scribes as an asset and heck a couple of them even pay out of pocket to have a scribe at all times.

In response to nm06003: I have been an scribe for about 7 months now working for an ER physician group. I got the job in June last year but I applied a couple months before. From what I understand they hire scribes every few months as people leave (to go on to med school or whatever) and we usually have about 15 scribes in our group at any given time. My boss told me that if I had applied before one of the other applicants I would have been hired during the previous hiring process, hopefully you won't have to wait that long. I'm not sure about OC since I'm from the east coast. As far as medical terminology goes, I knew very little before going in, and yes I was tested on it a little during the interview and did horrible but my boss told me not to sweat it. We spent our first week as new hires, about 6 or 7 of us, in a classroom setting learning med terminology and how to document. I went from knowing almost nothing to being fairly fluent in a matter of about a month so I definitely would not worry about it too much. I hope that I didn't bore you with my long story and I believe I hit all your questions.

No thank you, you were great help! 🙂

 

[nm06003]

I've worked as a scribe in the OC for quite some time (so there's a good chance you might have applied with my company!). If you don't hear for a while, definitely be persistent. They have a lot of applicants but you should just keep checking up on your application. Spots are frequently opening up, you just have to make sure you're at the top of the pile when they're going to schedule interviews again.

Do you remember which company you got hired through?
And should I call them and ask about the progress with my application, or should I resubmit my app after a month or so?
Thank you!

 

[cinamin]

do you happen to be in southern california?

Scribe over cce for sure.

+1

 

[GopherMD]

Put me down as another vote for scribing.

(I'm an IM scribe, so I may be slightly biased)

 

[bollywoodlover]

Ya you don't want to be lumped in that cookie cutter group of California premeds that all do CCE.

 

[angldrps]

I have done both and I can easily say Scribe>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>CCE

 

[a13bfiend]

These are the places EMSS is hiring at right now. They sent this out in a company newsletter a week or so ago. Hope this can help somebody.

Phoenix, AZ
Shasta, CA
Palmdale, CA
Loma Linda, CA
Rome, GA
Baltimore, MD
Jackson, MS
El Paso, TX

If you know someone who might be interested, tell them to download the application at www.scribejob.com. Once completed, send to [email protected]."

 

[Lumberjill]

Put me down as another vote for scribing.

(I'm a FM scribe, so I may be slightly biased)

ditto 👍