Scribe Experience

[mizunas]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted people’s opinions on where scribing experience comes from. I know not all programs accept scribing as PCE, but for the programs that do, what is the opinion on scribe experiences from companies like ProScribe, Scribe America, etc? Or should scribe experience only come from the ED? 

Thanks in advance! 

[karebear12892]

I've posted about my scribe experience in various threads. Feel free to take a look and PM me if you still have questions. Happy to help!

[EMEDPA]

I've also posted about scribe experience in various threads. Feel free to take a look and PM me if you still have questions.

[Patricia5827]

I’m kind of confused on what you’re asking, but I’m a Scribe currently at Scribe America. Any questions, lemme know 

[EMEDPA]

5 minutes ago, Patricia5827 said:

I’m kind of confused on what you’re asking, but I’m a Scribe currently at Scribe America. Any questions, lemme know 

they want to know if all scribe experience is considered equal or if some experiences are more reputable than others.

[SRUPAprogramisgarbage]

Depends on the school. Many schools do count this as PCE, but at the very least it will be considered HCE. If you are a scribe for ScribeAmerica, more than not, you are getting experience that is considered PCE. My advice is to scribe in place where it is very involved. In the ED, you will always get PCE. Same goes for a trauma unit etc. Anywhere where there is a huge patient turnover and requires tons of documentation and involves providers having to treat patients quickly to either transport, transfer or discharge them. I got my scribing hours at a neurosurgery office where I got some PCE because it involved patient transport and a lot of communication regarding FMLA forms, excuse notes and playing with insurance information to get the adequate billing for their visits. Really, it depends on how involved you are. Scribing is just one of those jobs where it is kind of a toss up. There are a ton of sites that show you what schools count scribing as PCE. A lot of new programs with Accreditation-Provisional or Developing statuses count scribing as PCE and love that you know how to form an HPI and properly document in a chart. Being familiar with EMRs is skill that PA schools look at fondly because the training to be a PA is much shorter than being a MD, DO or NP so you don't get as much exposure to EMRs (disregarding your previous PCE experiences). Anyways, that is my two cents!

 

Here is a good thread that the two above people participated on as far as PCE for scribing. https://www.physicianassistantforum.com/topic/16196-scribe-as-hce/

Edited November 16, 2018 by TMayne2

[mizunas]

9 hours ago, EMEDPA said:

they want to know if all scribe experience is considered equal or if some experiences are more reputable than others.

Exactly. I was wondering where people’s scribe experiences came from. When I read through some threads, there wasn’t any mention of people being scribes through ScribeAmerica, etc, so I was confused as to whether people were employed by these companies or through the hospitals/clinics themselves. 

For example, my local hospital currently has a job ad out for a medical scribe. So, i was wondering if people were working through the facilities or through companies. I hope that makes sense!

[SRUPAprogramisgarbage]

1 hour ago, mizunas said:

Exactly. I was wondering where people’s scribe experiences came from. When I read through some threads, there wasn’t any mention of people being scribes through ScribeAmerica, etc, so I was confused as to whether people were employed by these companies or through the hospitals/clinics themselves. 

For example, my local hospital currently has a job ad out for a medical scribe. So, i was wondering if people were working through the facilities or through companies. I hope that makes sense!

Lots of people scribe for facilities and it works out just fine as far as PCE goes!

[Victory1322]

I wasn't a scribe for any of the companies you mentioned but I did scribe in an ED for two years under a local scribe company in MN. We were hired by the scribe company and then contracted out to various sites. I requested to be in an ED whereas others went to work in clinics such as dermatology, oncology, etc.  

Obviously I'm biased, but if you're looking to be a scribe I believe scribing in an ED would give you the best exposure when compared to an outpatient clinic. I worked in a level 3 trauma center, and while we may not have received a lot of the "cool" stuff (i.e. gunshot wounds, stabbings, car wrecks) we received a fair amount of heart attacks, strokes, diabetic emergencies, etc with patients that had multiple comorbidities, providing a lot of learning opportunities. Many of the providers were more than willing to teach about any case we had questions on and were invested in us learning as much about medicine as possible. Many times, I was invited in to come watch various procedures in the ED as well as in IR. Overall, scribing gives you a great knowledge base when it comes to medical terminology and various presentations, but as far as PCE it's definitely low tier, if schools even count it at all. In my case, our job was simply to document the provider's findings and we rarely interacted with patients. If we did, it was usually to grab the nurse for them or to get them a blanket; it was hospital policy that we did not interact with patients since insurance did not cover our interactions with a patient or their family. From others on this site, their experiences sound different but that was how our company had it set up.

Scribing was a great experience for me as far as learning the fundamentals like how to write an HPI, documenting patient findings and navigating an EMR, but my most beneficial PCE was definitely being an ER tech. I wouldn't rely on just scribing to accumulate your PCE but it is a good starting point if you're looking to begin somewhere in the medical field. I used my connections I made as a scribe to land the ER tech job at the same hospital so there's something to be said about using it to get your foot in the door. 

Edited November 14, 2018 by Victory1322

[EMEDPA]

5 hours ago, TMayne2 said:

 the training to be a PA is much shorter than being a MD, DO or nurse so you don't get as much exposure to EMRs (disregarding your previous PCE experiences). Anyways, that is my two cents!

Um, no. It takes a minimum of 6 years to become a PA (BS + 2 years pa school). one can become an RN with an associates degree at a community college in about 1/2 the time....

[Idamin]

On 11/14/2018 at 6:55 AM, mizunas said:

Exactly. I was wondering where people’s scribe experiences came from. When I read through some threads, there wasn’t any mention of people being scribes through ScribeAmerica, etc, so I was confused as to whether people were employed by these companies or through the hospitals/clinics themselves. 

For example, my local hospital currently has a job ad out for a medical scribe. So, i was wondering if people were working through the facilities or through companies. I hope that makes sense!

To answer your question: I have been a scribe with Scribe America for almost 2 years now. I don't think it matters how you become a scribe, just make sure to enter your job responsibilities in the "description" field on CASPA when you enter your PCE or HCE. 

Background: I am a scribe at 2 out-patient clinics in primary care and family medicine. I work with a PA and a Physician. Honestly, I did not have direct patient contact through this experience however it was still a valuable experience in another sense. I was part of a team with a PA, was following the PA and learned a lot about the PA practice and scope. During the interviews, I mentioned how this experience reiterated how I was right for the PA profession, watching PA-Doc relationship, learning the good/bad about the practice and learning the process of medical decision making. Overall, make sure you clarify how each experience was valuable to you and how it has prepared you to be a PA or even a PA student. All other logistics are individualistic. 

[SRUPAprogramisgarbage]

On 11/14/2018 at 2:34 PM, EMEDPA said:

Um, no. It takes a minimum of 6 years to become a PA (BS + 2 years pa school). one can become an RN with an associates degree at a community college in about 1/2 the time....

I'm sorry, I meant NP. To be an NP, you have to get your BSN (can't get the aforementioned ARN to become an NP), which makes getting your NP take longer than becoming a PA  (4 undergrad years+ 2-4 years in a doctorate program). 

[EMEDPA]

10 hours ago, TMayne2 said:

I'm sorry, I meant NP. To be an NP, you have to get your BSN (can't get the aforementioned ARN to become an NP), which makes getting your NP take longer than becoming a PA  (4 undergrad years+ 2-4 years in a doctorate program). 

if you have a bs in anything you can do an accelerated 2nd degree bsn in 1 yr and go immediately into an np program, so total 7 years(1 more). If your bs is a bsn, you do 2 more years for np, totaling 6, so same as PA.

also remember not all NP programs are DNP yet. one may still become an msn/np in 6-7 years as above. also it really is hard to say that an np training year is equivalent to a PA training year. PA is full time . on campus, no outside work. NP can be part time , online, while working full time as an RN. NP clinical year is 500-800 hours. PA is 2000-3000.

also consider many PAs have pre-training years as well if they are a paramedic, RN, or resp therapist, etc at the time of application. My path for example was BS medical anthro 4 years+ 1 yr paramedic program+ PA school+ post PA school coursework leading to an MS and a DHSc, total 10 years.

[SRUPAprogramisgarbage]

21 hours ago, EMEDPA said:

if you have a bs in anything you can do an accelerated 2nd degree bsn in 1 yr and go immediately into an np program, so total 7 years(1 more). If your bs is a bsn, you do 2 more years for np, totaling 6, so same as PA.

also remember not all NP programs are DNP yet. one may still become an msn/np in 6-7 years as above. also it really is hard to say that an np training year is equivalent to a PA training year. PA is full time . on campus, no outside work. NP can be part time , online, while working full time as an RN. NP clinical year is 500-800 hours. PA is 2000-3000.

also consider many PAs have pre-training years as well if they are a paramedic, RN, or resp therapist, etc at the time of application. My path for example was BS medical anthro 4 years+ 1 yr paramedic program+ PA school+ post PA school coursework leading to an MS and a DHSc, total 10 years.

Thank you so much for that insight! I love these forums because we all can learn new things from more experienced people in the medical field. You helped me grow today. Thank you!

[Diana67]

Hey, I’m Diana Franklin working as a virtual scribe for a leading scribing company. As the entire world has switched to a virtual mode on account of the pandemic outbreak virtual medical scribing would definitely count as clinical experience, depending on the medical school you wish to enroll in. To be more specific some schools do not accept this as PCE but they do consider it as HCE. I do scribe for an ED and in my opinion I feel it gives the best clinical exposure and experience. In short, scribing provides you with an extensive knowledge of medical terminology that helps you build a strong foundation if you seriously wish to pursue medicine.

I would also like to share with you a recent data compiled from 162 medical schools across the nation. Of these 106 medical schools are accepting virtual scribing hours as clinical experience during this Covid-19 situation.

[eventuallyPA]

On 11/12/2018 at 1:17 PM, mizunas said:

Hi everyone,

Just wanted people’s opinions on where scribing experience comes from. I know not all programs accept scribing as PCE, but for the programs that do, what is the opinion on scribe experiences from companies like ProScribe, Scribe America, etc? Or should scribe experience only come from the ED? 

Thanks in advance! 

I worked scribing for a private clinic and learned a lot and had a lot of experience from it. I would highly suggest NOT working for Scribe America. I had a very bad experience with the company, their management was a mess and their pay rate is insultingly low. Also, the amount of patient interactions available was limited with them... I'd recommend looking at private clinics where pay can be double and you can get more benefits. Also you can try taking a MA course and working as a certified MA for some time if you're worried about the title and position not being accepted. I didn't take any certification but I started off as a scribe and grew at my job to doing much more and had far more patient interactions than I did at scribe america. My PA program took the hours as experience, I would just research into your top schools to see if they accept that title or not at patient care experience. Hope this helped some