Will a generation of physicians that worked as scribes as premeds use scribes?

[SterlingMaloryArcher]

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And also who has ever scribed for a doctor who sends the scribe out of the room the last quarter of the patient visit? At first I thought it was weird but now I think it's actually a nice thing to do for patients to make sure there is nothing they want to talk about in private.

 

[aldol16]

If we haven't invented mobile robots to do scribing by that point.

 

[workaholic181]

And also who has ever scribed for a doctor who sends the scribe out of the room the last quarter of the patient visit? At first I thought it was weird but now I think it's actually a nice thing to do for patients to make sure there is nothing they want to talk about in private.

I could see scribing being commonplace in EDs and some PC offices down the line but I doubt scribing will be used by all types of docs someday.

I've never been asked to leave an exam room but I have come to appreciate that often the chief compliant is not really want the patient wants to be seen for and I imagine your doc is asking you to leave to explore if this is the case. It is definitely not something to take personally! Not an indictment on how you do your job.

 

[Styrene]

And also who has ever scribed for a doctor who sends the scribe out of the room the last quarter of the patient visit? At first I thought it was weird but now I think it's actually a nice thing to do for patients to make sure there is nothing they want to talk about in private.

Prob because you got all the relevant info by that time. Then they do brief exam (may involve undressing) and tell you findings later. That's what happened to me.

 

[SpoiledMilk]

Nope. Not taking 30K off my yearly for a scribe

Is that common? I thought that the hospital or clinic eats the cost of the scribe. Did not know it can come out of the physician's income...

 

[mimelim]

Nope. Not taking 30K off my yearly for a scribe

Many doctors use scribes to increase their efficiency and increase their billing. That is also why many hospitals will cover the costs of scribes for some of their doctors. If they can see 25% more patients and have improved billing practices, you pay for your scribe several times over each year. I have found that many older physicians or less tech savvy physicians utilize scribes very effectively in their practices because they are unable or more often, unwilling to learn how to use their EMR efficiently/effectively.

Personally, I can document in my specialty relatively quickly, but I also spent 200+ hours customizing literally thousands of templates for people in my and closely related specialties. Many EMRs will allow you to front load a lot of your work, but it requires not only time, but dedication toward maintenance which many physicians don't have.

Is that common? I thought that the hospital or clinic eats the cost of the scribe. Did not know it can come out of the physician's income...

You have to remember that the majority of physicians are in private practice. There are a great many different ways that people have their practices setup. While increasing more challenging, there are still a large number of physicians that own their own practices and any support staff come directly out of their practices profits. Thus effectively lowering their income if they don't increase their revenue by hiring those new people.

 

[SterlingMaloryArcher]

I'm scribing in a very large specialty clinic which is divided into about 5 subspecialty clinics, with over 40 partners who trained at "top tier" medical schools and residencies. The clinic is associated with a private hospital system and is not academic, and I get the feeling like maybe some of the doctors like having scribes because they can get their teaching fix in when they want to, but also don't have to teach you anything when they're busy/don't feel like it. A few of them are very nice and (seem) genuinely interested in their scribes path to medical school.

 

[MareNostrummm]

Nope. Not taking 30K off my yearly for a scribe

If the scribe increases the amount of patients you can see per hour that 30k pays for itself. Some doctors can see double with a scribe.

 

[Ismet]

One of the subspecialty clinics I rotated through last year had a scribe and it was the best thing ever. The notes in that clinic can be notoriously long due to what gets discussed, so it was nice to not have to write many notes and could instead focus on seeing the patients and learning. If I have the choice/option to employ a scribe when I'm practicing, I would certainly consider it. I was never a scribe though, FWIW.

 

[calivianya]

I've never seen a physician use a scribe, so I wouldn't plan on doing it either. It seems like Dragon works just fine for writing notes, and most EMRs have premade templates that pull in relevant labs/tests/etc. so the actual amount of writing a physician has to do is minimal.

Most progress notes I see around a paragraph of real writing by the physician (if the phrasing wasn't just copied over from a previous physician/PA/NP/RN note), which probably takes all of two minutes to say into a microphone, tops.

Granted, I've done my shadowing/working in the hospital setting, where I intend to do 100% of my work in the future if possible.

 

[darkjedi]

EMR and notewriting are easily some of the most frustrating aspects of modern medicine. Having a scribe to offload a lot of those non-medical aspects of typing and manipilating an EMR would be absolutely worth the cost.

I consider my self a very tech-savvy person and have gotten my templates to save me a ton of time, but it would be my dream to not have to spend a third of my time on shift in front of a computer.

 

[deleted600623]

I was just promoted from ophthalmic technician to scribe in a 1 physician ophthalmology practice in a rural area and I can definitely see myself using a scribe as a physician one day. It not only increases my physician's efficiency but also decreases her workload because the 30 notes are 90-95% done by the end of the day(she typically likes to add a few things that I haven't learned yet or that she picks up on during the conversation with the patient). She also doesn't spend 95% of the time typing into an EMR and is able to focus solely on talking with the patient which is what has made her practice so successful. I would gladly pay a scribe if it meant I didn't have to bring home notes every night/weekend.

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

Many doctors use scribes to increase their efficiency and increase their billing. That is also why many hospitals will cover the costs of scribes for some of their doctors. If they can see 25% more patients and have improved billing practices, you pay for your scribe several times over each year. I have found that many older physicians or less tech savvy physicians utilize scribes very effectively in their practices because they are unable or more often, unwilling to learn how to use their EMR efficiently/effectively.

Personally, I can document in my specialty relatively quickly, but I also spent 200+ hours customizing literally thousands of templates for people in my and closely related specialties. Many EMRs will allow you to front load a lot of your work, but it requires not only time, but dedication toward maintenance which many physicians don't have.



You have to remember that the majority of physicians are in private practice. There are a great many different ways that people have their practices setup. While increasing more challenging, there are still a large number of physicians that own their own practices and any support staff come directly out of their practices profits. Thus effectively lowering their income if they don't increase their revenue by hiring those new people.

Are there practices where paper isn't used at all?