A growing number of U.S. hospitals are hiring medical scribes to enter patient information into electronic health record systems, allowing physicians to spend more time with patients and increasing hospital productivity, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Some doctors say that their productivity declines by about 30% as they make the transition to EHR systems and that they are spending less time with patients. The role of the medical scribe is meant to alleviate these issues.
The scribes typically are young adults -- mostly college students who work part time -- who are familiar with computers.
Scribes document patient information and treatment orders during a physician's examination of a patient. Medical scribes also can facilitate a more efficient billing process, according to the Times. Physicians can increase their revenue by $50 to $60 an hour by seeing more patients and optimizing billing through the use of medical scribes.
The three largest companies that supply medical scribes estimate that about 200 emergency departments in academic medical centers and community hospitals currently use medical scribes.
Concerns
However, some physicians argue that college students with only a few months of training may not be able to handle charting patients. Other doctors question whether the position is necessary, given that EHR systems are meant to be more efficient than paper-based systems (Meyer, Los Angeles Times, 9/6).