I've blogged a couple of times about medical scribes in the last couple of months in a tone more disapproving than not. I recently read a testimonial of a senior in college, who is planning to take his medical school admissions test next year.
I'm still against the concept of medical scribes because they keep the current physicians who are using the scribes from learning to use EMRs. I may sympathize more if the physician is ready to retire, but in a large health system, I doubt this is the case. The practice is basically a way for health systems not to experience productivity plummet during the learning curve or physician resistance.
That said, the testimonial of this one college student swayed me a little. Where else can he get hands-on experience in the ED or in various hospital departments? Perhaps a fourth-year med student or resident gets this kind of on-the-job training, but certainly not an undergraduate student. The college student is young, well-versed in technology and is probably the living definition of what David Blumenthal, MD, has discussed in many a speech of the future physician embracing technology as part of the profession. It's an invaluable gift this student and other medical scribes have received.
There's still another side to this issue. One of the arguments for hiring scribes is to help physicians transition to EMRs. If scribes are entering the data, how are the physicians transitioning? How are they getting on-the-job training for using EMRs?
Another concern is the hand-off between physician and scribe. When you have a middle man in the mix of data entry and interpretation, are you in any way endangering the patient?
Finally, how good is the medical scribe? The medical scribe firm in the article requires a rigorous training program before the scribes are sent to hospitals. That's good to know, but does it make you feel secure if you're the one being wheeled into the ED?
Send in your thoughts. It would be great to hear from medical scribes, physicians and patients.
Photo by Ivo Jansch courtesy of Creative Commons license.
