I Like My Job

I like my job. I don't like that nobody knows what it is I do. I say, "I'm a medical scribe!" ... And then they respond, "Oh, you mean a transcriptionist?" ... No, that's not actually it. I'm a scribe.

Here's the difference.

Transcriptionist: The physician makes a recording of their chart note, a.k.a dictation. He or she sends the dictation to the transcriptionist, who types it up verbatim and inserts it into the chart note. The physician reviews it and signs it. This can take days, or, in a worst case scenario, weeks.

Scribe: The scribe follows the physician into the patient appointment. The scribe types up the chart note during the visit, and the doctor interacts with the patient instead of a computer screen. The scribe summarizes the patient's complaints and the doctor's assessment and plan... fills out the 10 million drop-down boxes and fill-in-the-blanks. The chart note, ideally, is done by the time the patient visit is over. The physician looks over the chart note and makes changes or additions as needed, and then signs it.

So yeah. Much different.

People haven't heard of it because it's a new thing... and there aren't very many scribes in existence. Dr. Austin and Sue loooove it. I pretty sure they break into a sweat just remembering life before scribes... Anyway, they think medical scribing will become a booming industry, but I sometimes wonder.

Typically, scribes are aspiring medical students in between undergrad and med school who want experience in the medical field. In other words, people who don't know squat about medicinal terminology, charting, coding, billing... So it's a steep learning curve. Thankfully, I work in a pretty specialized office (woo reproductive endocrinologyyyy), so I didn't have to learn all about the cardiac system or the respiratory system or the nervous system... all on the first day. And I just can't imagine the first day scribing for a family practice doctor, as they encounter every problem and disease under the sun.

So not everyone is cut out for a job like this. We're not sure who is, actually. Dr. Austin has hired four so far... my predecessor, me, ex-scribe, and other current scribe. Ex-scribe was not so good at it and never got any better. Other current scribe wasn't a natural, but is getting tons better and is learning.

So yeah. I have a pretty unique job. And I wonder how likely it is that once James and I move away from Eugene, how likely it is it would be possible to find another job like this if I had to. At the very least, I could maybe try medical transcription... ;)

P.S. Here is an article about medical scribes.