Medical Scribe

[pm504]

I am currently a ER Medical scribe, and have been one for over a year now. I wondering if scribe experience will help me when I apply to PA school? Is being a scribe acceptable direct patient/ HCE?

[GreatChecko]

Short answer yes. Whether it is equal to/better/worse than more traditional routes, is debated ad nauseam (you might get a taste of it in a moment).

 

Acceptance as HCE is very school dependent. Where I go, it is acceptable, but you will find some schools will not take it due to the fact that you don't actually touch patients. 

 

Personally, I think it gives you a very good background on DDx, Labs, and medical knowledge. However, most scribing leaves potential candidates short on the experience of dealing with patients and their families while performing procedures and having to make care decisions on one's own. YMMV.

[PACdan]

It's at the lower end of the totem pole. Consider jobs with a more hands on experience.

 

I don't like the way scribe companies are marketing themselves as "great HCE for pre-PAs". They're throwing out tag lines for cheap labor and could care less if you get into schools. I saw it at my school and local hospital, and it irks me.

[JohnnyM2]

My daughter, who is starting PA school in May, has worked for two years as an ED scribe in a program at one of our local medical centers. It has been a fantastic experience for her. Several times I suggested she switch to something else to broaden her HCE but she felt that she was learning so much working in the ED that it would be a mistake. The answer to your question may depend on the schools to which you apply but I would offer the following thoughts:

1. While there is probably no better HCE than working several years as a paramedic or nurse, those are careers in themselves requiring both education and certification and very few pre-PAs get that experience. Many other forms of HCE may give you more hands on than scribe but I have seen enough MAs, for example, to know that they learn very little. Taking my vitals and recording my meds and how I am feeling is just plain boring (apologies to any MAs reading this). Also, with all due respect to EKG techs, attaching electrodes and running strips to hand off to an MD is an equally narrow experience. Point being that most forms of HCE may have relatively little to do with actually treating patients. The reason PA schools want paid HCE is to ensure that you are involved in the practice of medicine doing something that adds enough value to get paid for it.

2. In my daughter's case, she was so interested in what she was learning as a scribe that, after 6 mos, she began volunteering at a rural clinic for the underinsured. The clinic was short on both funds and staff so they were glad to have her help. Mostly, she took histories and vitals and processed specimens to send out to labs (MA sort of stuff). She wove these experiences together in her personal statement in a very effective way. Point being, she found a way to cover the base of touching and talking to patients. Even after being accepted to PA school she continued to work at the clinic and has now recruited several of her scribe colleagues to work there.

3. You don't have to be the one that touches the patient and converses with them to get the "experience". As a scribe, if you are sharp, a good doc will often bring you into the conversation, may ask you to report something back to the patient and family and may even ask you to comment. (They do appreciate the fact that you are a student, even if just a grasshopper.) The important thing is how much variety you will see and how much you will learn.

4.The main disadvantages to Scribing are lower pay than most other forms of HCE, possibly limited hours (my daughter typically get assigned three 10 hr shifts per week), shifts themselves may start at 6am or 9 pm and you will usually eat on the fly.

BTW, my daughter got interviews at four of the six schools she applied to and compared to "A" level applicants, she was probably a B to B+, depending on how you think schools rate an application overall.

Good luck to you.

 

Sent from my Kindle Fire HDX using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[pm504]

My daughter, who is starting PA school in May, has worked for two years as an ED scribe in a program at one of our local medical centers. It has been a fantastic experience for her. Several times I suggested she switch to something else to broaden her HCE but she felt that she was learning so much working in the ED that it would be a mistake. The answer to your question may depend on the schools to which you apply but I would offer the following thoughts:

1. While there is probably no better HCE than working several years as a paramedic or nurse, those are careers in themselves requiring both education and certification and very few pre-PAs get that experience. Many other forms of HCE may give you more hands on than scribe but I have seen enough MAs, for example, to know that they learn very little. Taking my vitals and recording my meds and how I am feeling is just plain boring (apologies to any MAs reading this). Also, with all due respect to EKG techs, attaching electrodes and running strips to hand off to an MD is an equally narrow experience. Point being that most forms of HCE may have relatively little to do with actually treating patients. The reason PA schools want paid HCE is to ensure that you are involved in the practice of medicine doing something that adds enough value to get paid for it.

2. In my daughter's case, she was so interested in what she was learning as a scribe that, after 6 mos, she began volunteering at a rural clinic for the underinsured. The clinic was short on both funds and staff so they were glad to have her help. Mostly, she took histories and vitals and processed specimens to send out to labs (MA sort of stuff). She wove these experiences together in her personal statement in a very effective way. Point being, she found a way to cover the base of touching and talking to patients. Even after being accepted to PA school she continued to work at the clinic and has now recruited several of her scribe colleagues to work there.

3. You don't have to be the one that touches the patient and converses with them to get the "experience". As a scribe, if you are sharp, a good doc will often bring you into the conversation, may ask you to report something back to the patient and family and may even ask you to comment. (They do appreciate the fact that you are a student, even if just a grasshopper.) The important thing is how much variety you will see and how much you will learn.

4.The main disadvantages to Scribing are lower pay than most other forms of HCE, possibly limited hours (my daughter typically get assigned three 10 hr shifts per week), shifts themselves may start at 6am or 9 pm and you will usually eat on the fly.

BTW, my daughter got interviews at four of the six schools she applied to and compared to "A" level applicants, she was probably a B to B+, depending on how you think schools rate an application overall.

Good luck to you.

 

Sent from my Kindle Fire HDX using Tapatalk 2

Thanks so much, I was contemplating if I should gain other forms of HCE.

[Joelseff]

Thanks so much, I was contemplating if I should gain other forms of HCE.

Depends if you are simply checking off a box for HCE for your application or do you really want to get the experience to really work in healthcare. SUre scribe qualifies in some schools for "HCE" but there are better ways of obtaining real hands on pt care.

[skyfall]

I did scribing for a little less than a year. You're definitely underpaid, and it's true that you're often too busy slaving away to watch the cool procedures that happen. But luckily I got a lot of experience volunteering a  free clinic that allowed me to triage patients. Volunteering didn't count as HCE but it helped. Scribing also helped because writing a good patient history will be part of your PA education. Plus, one of my interviewers turned out to be a scribe before, so that that worked in my favor. 

[pacman54]

3. You don't have to be the one that touches the patient and converses with them to get the "experience". As a scribe, if you are sharp, a good doc will often bring you into the conversation, may ask you to report something back to the patient and family and may even ask you to comment. 

 

 

This is completely dependent on the scribe company. I would have been fired on the spot if I were to enter a room unaccompanied and deliver medical information to a patient and their family. This may not be the case for all scribe companies. The experience is Doctor dependent. Some docs love teaching their scribes and will quiz them about lab tests and differentials while others ignore them completely. 

 

I was offered interviews at 11 of the 12 schools I applied. The scribe experience did not hinder my ability to receive interview invites.