Scribes also find information (such as medical records from other hospitals or test results) and people (such as on-call consultants).
However, the complexity of some systems has resulted in providers spending more time documenting the encounter instead of speaking with and examining the patient.
[6] An increasing body of research has shown the use of medical scribes is usually,[7][8][9][10] but not always,[11] associated with improved overall physician productivity, cost- and time-savings.
Their duties may include overseeing the documentation of each patient's visit to the ED and acting as the physician's personal assistant.
A prospective scribe is required to learn a large and extensive amount of medical terminology, as well as become familiar with human anatomy.
There are some programs that have expanded beyond the original model and its core subjects considerably, including more pertinent and up-to-date information.
A few programs have included more advanced training topics and utilize standardized tests to certify preparedness to work in a particular clinical environment.
It is the Joint Commission’s stand that the scribe does not and may not act independently but can document the previously determined physician’s or practitioner’s dictation and/or activities.
"[23] The American Health Information Management Association also published guidance in its November 2012 edition of Journal of AHIMA for physicians on the use of medical scribes, echoing and elaborating on The Joint Commission's guidance by explaining that "a scribe can be found in multiple settings including physician practices, hospitals, emergency departments, long-term care facilities, long-term acute care hospitals, public health clinics, and ambulatory care centers.
[27] Aside from these, there are also independent medical scribe companies that contract with a hospital or doctor's group to provide services.
The American College of Medical Scribe Specialists (ACMSS) is the nation’s only nonprofit professional society.
[28] The decision about whether to commence a scribe program at a clinic, practice or facility, is usually either decided based on economic information, the impact on physicians or a combination of both.
Economic information regarding the impact of a scribe program has been summarised in a systematic review undertaken by Heaton et al.[29] The cost of training program and training scribes in-house has been reported[30] and there is a multicentre randomised study evaluating the impact of scribes on emergency physician productivity and patient throughput[31] which demonstrates increased physician productivity and reduced patient length of stay in emergency rooms.
Clinician used their own mobile phones or tablets to record the conversation and notes during patient visit which then sent to the scribe to transform into EHR.
It is considered that this system has the ability to replace medical scribes if the software used ensures validity and integrated with the EHR.
All this information needs to be appropriately edited into the record otherwise no one can eliminate the necessity of a physical scribe at the clinic.