What is a Medical Scribe?
A Medical Scribe is essentially a personal assistant to the physician, and serving in this role is a great way to get premed experience.
Traditionally, a physician’s job has been focusing solely on direct patient contact and care. However, the advent of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) created an overload of documentation and clerical responsibilities that slows physicians down and pulls them away from actual patient care. To relieve the documentation overload, physicians across the country are turning to Medical Scribe services.
For someone interested in medicine, whether it is a personal interest, or part of a career goal to become a physician or physician assistant, the chance to become a medical scribe offers exciting one-on-one collaboration with a physician, and can give you a high level of exposure to real medicine in practice.
A background in Medical Scribing is quickly becoming one of the standards for premedical experience, and is suggested by medical school acceptance committees across the country. The competition to become a Medical Scribe is intense, and the demand for Medical Scribe services across the country is extremely high.
Keys to Success in Being a Medical Scribe
-
A passion for medicine
-
Able to balance school AND work
-
Computer skills: this is a must, and will accelerate training as most hospitals are transforming to complete electronic charting
-
Mature sophomores can benefit throughout college. Also, people taking time off before medical school are favored and the opportunity is highly beneficial to the applicant
This article was adapted from a piece developed by ScribeAmerica, a US-based medical scribe company with more than 15,000 employees in all 50 US states. ScribeAmerica invests heavily in the professional development of our scribes by providing them with unique resources such as the industry’s only academic textbook, paid attendance to our national scribe leadership conference, online education, networking opportunities through social media, and development of the ScribeAmerica Mobile Scribe App™.
ScribeAmerica is ranked on the Inc. 500/5000 list seven years in a row for fastest growing private companies. In addition, Modern Healthcare named ScribeAmerica one of the Hottest Healthcare Companies in 2013. In turn, we’ve been rewarded through successful development of the nation’s first “career scribes”, that is, individuals with advanced degrees who have chosen to make a career with ScribeAmerica. Clients have benefitted too, having received the prestigious Press Ganey Summit and Stuart Fleming Patient Safety awards.
Testimonials from Former Scribes
“Scribe America is a great program that prepared me in many ways for medical school. Working side by side with doctors in the emergency room gave me an incredible real-life experience to apply to all the classes I am taking now.”
– Kim Riegel
“Being a scribe is a perfect job for anyone wanting to pursue a career in medicine. The job is not only a tremendous learning experience, but you’re actually making a difference by assisting the doctors to be more efficient so they can focus more on the quality of care for their patients.”
– Amy Hogan