Urgent Care Scribe or ER scribe?

[lovemedicine416]

Hi everyone,

So I have been offered two scribes positions for my gap year. One scribe job is part time ER in a hospital and part time ortho surgery in a clinic, but less pay and more hours (possibly 5 days/week). Another scribe job is urgent care but better pay, more involvement with patients (interview patients with HPI etc.) and only 3 days per week (12 hours each).

I am unsure which one is more valuable for me. I have experiences as an EMT, and have interned at a primary care clinic where I already have experiences interviewing patients with Chief Complaint, history, performing screening tests and vitals. I feel like scribing for the ER will be more valuable and interesting to see more things that may be helpful for my role as an EMT. But I'm not sure how different ER scribe would be from urgent care, and working less days can give me more time for study for the MCAT, volunteer, and take on some hobbies...

Any advice and help will be appreciated! Thanks everyone!

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[rewind100.24]

As an emergency department scribe, you get to see a huge plethora of patient complaint acuity. From cough, to syncopal episode, to "my knee hurts like a 1/10, onset two years ago", to active CPR. This, to me, is truly invaluable experience to gain before training to become a physician. I cannot imagine going into medical school without having the experience I have now-it really changes the way you think about medicine.

I cannot comment on any other of your options, unfortunately.

 

[lovemedicine416]

As an emergency department scribe, you get to see a huge plethora of patient complaint acuity. From cough, to syncopal episode, to "my knee hurts like a 1/10, onset two years ago", to active CPR. This, to me, is truly invaluable experience to gain before training to become a physician. I cannot imagine going into medical school without having the experience I have now-it really changes the way you think about medicine.

I cannot comment on any other of your options, unfortunately.

Hi rewind100.24,
Thank you for your reply. Do you think you were able to learn more about how to respond to emergency situations from your ER experience?

 

[watermelon master]

Hi rewind100.24,
Thank you for your reply. Do you think you were able to learn more about how to respond to emergency situations from your ER experience?

no, and thats not the point of being an ED scribe. everything rewind said I second

 

[Tenk]

ED scribe for sure.

 

[rewind100.24]

Hi rewind100.24,
Thank you for your reply. Do you think you were able to learn more about how to respond to emergency situations from your ER experience?

Kind of. Now for common chief complaints, I can guess which orders/medications will be given based on certain test results. While this doesn't directly change how I would response to most situations, I can imagine this will be extremely helpful during medical school

 

[21Rush12]

Follow the money!


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[Crocognar]

Don't do urgent care if you can do ER. you'll see urgent care cases in the ER anyway, plus the actually emergencies. Forget about pay, this is temporary

 

[scribeguy11]

Based on your other experience I would take the ER job unless you just really need the money.

 

[ortnakas]

Follow the money!


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Agreed. You'll find a medical school application cycle is extraordinarily expensive.

 

[21Rush12]

@lovemedicine416 To elaborate on my last post - I think following the money is a good idea in this case because the difference between these experiences and how they relate to your end goal (acceptance to medical school) will be negligible, and the important things you learn scribing will be taught in medical school in different ways. The real value in this work experience is the patient encounters and getting comfortable doing as much patient contact as you can. If you can get paid more and get more HPI/pt contact time in the same job, that's what I would recommend. A fast pace in the ER has its benefits, but there isn't anything lasting that you will gain from ER that you won't see in urgent care.