A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Scribing with some additional training of course - Old Hand

Posted: May 03, 2011

I am feeling very insecure these days, and since I am not old enough to retire (although I feel old enough) I am reading the handwriting on the wall and considering a career change. Things are not good for us, and I don't think they are going to get any better. The electronic immigrant isn't going away. I think my (our) skill-sets would lend themselves well to scribing -- with some additional training of course. Has any one made the change, or seriously looked into it? Is this a good idea? Any comments?

We are more than qualified - no1joe

[ In Reply To ..]
as MTs to fill a scribe position, in fact, overqualified. Many places are looking for no more than a high school diploma to fill these positions. If you are considering a scribe position, prepare yourself for a pay cut (depending on how much you're currently making as an MT) in exchange for some job security; however, do NOT pay for a training program if that is the latest thing being offered these days by "schools." I would consider it a scam.

I work as a scribe for a psychiatrist - Livewire

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as well as do MT (when there is work, that is). I have been trying and trying to get OUT of MT for nearly a year now w/o much success. Nobody wants to hire an MT w/o any other experience. It has been very frustrating. But like the above poster said, no, do not pay for a course. If you've done MT, you've got the goods. Oh and the pay is definitely not great :(

Question - no1joe

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From what I gather about the scribe positions (and I have interviewed for one before), the scribe follows the MD in the room during the patient visit and uses a drop-down menu in order to fill out the patient record. Now... you said you work for a psychiatrist. Are you in the room with the MD and the patient? If I had to go to a psychiatrist (or a gynecologist, for example) and had no choice but to have a nonmedical staff member in the exam room with me, I would be FURIOUS (and that's putting it mildly). In the back of my mind (and I'm not wishing that your scribe position be phased out) I was hoping and kind of expecting there to be some element of patient unacceptance and intolerance of this practice, thus sending some of the work back toward the MTs.

So, if you are in the exam room with the MD and the patient, have there been any complaints? I'm just curious. I know I need to get out of this field, but a) I'm pretty good at it and b) I don't have the money or the time right now to pursue further eduction. It stinks.

You betcha there would be complaints - Old Pro

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I only allow my MD in the room with me. NEVER,EVER, would I allow a scribe or anyone else to be present. It violates the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship, IMHO. No slam intended to scribes, but it would not work for me!

Couldn't agree more with you both.... - Livewire

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I'm not so sure how I feel about it either. He is the psychiatrist at a small hospital (10-15) bed facility. I don't accompany him when he sees his own patients in his practice though. He brings each patient into his office to be interviewed and all interviews are different. Somtimes it's just me/doc/the patient, sometimes an R.N., social worker, PA. The patient can request any and all other personnel to leave and speak to the doc him/herself but that has only been the case 2-3 times the whole time I've been doing it. When I first started, I was surprized myself and can understand why people would be furious, antcy, and upset. I probably would be too. At least now I have something ELSE on my resume though.

Back to scribing as an alternative, what makes anyone - think it would outlast MT/editor? NM

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x

I'll chime in... - no1joe

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With EMR evolving, many of the programs are being sold with the drop-down menu point and click your way through option for medical documentation. It's being pushed on clients as a fantastic money saver (the same way that some of the EMR programs are coming with front-end speech wreck programs). The cheaper the client... the more determined they will be to make it work. Whether this means that they will take the time to sit and teach front-end until it actually works or fire their MT and hire a scribe at a fraction of the price to point and click is up to them and which program they have been sold. I heard horror stories where both have been complete failures. Some who have been sold the point-and-click system rely on it only to put in a ROS or MEDHX (basically the receptionist will enter in the info from the patient intake sheet), and they will still have an MT transcribe the rest of the report.

Now, I don't know if the up and coming doctors are being trained on these programs only and will never know anything else. If that's the case, our profession will eventually have the same fate as the milkman. Obsolete.

There is also a nice little stimulus that is - paid out by the government

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for these doctors who are switching to these EMR systems, and there are a lot of rules with the stimulus package. The stimulus, I think, is paid out over 5 years.

So, for the docs that have been wanting to try these systems out, this year and next is the perfect year for it with the stimulus.

They probably hire the scribes until they can get the time to really be able to learn the system good, if ever.

That's what I was thinking - no1joe

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And the thing that gets me the most is that the EMR is supposed to enhance patient care by giving multiple specialists instant access to the patient record; however, how is it going to help the patient if the record isn't accurate. I can't imagine when working off a drop-down selection "menu" of findings and diagnoses that every possible variable imaginable is on it. How much settling is going on where the drop-down selection is "good enough" because it's "close enough?" McDonaldization of the medical record should not be acceptable. If and when I see it as a patient, which isn't often because I can't afford insurance in ths business, I for one am going to say something. Documenting my medical care shouldn't be like ordering off a value menu at a drive thru.

Looks like they're touting scribing as a good thing... - anon4

[ In Reply To ..]
for people in med school as a learning experience and not so much for (former) medical transcribers though if I were younger it might be an option to consider. Wonder what the PA's think of this? Looks like it's kind of horning in on some of their work. I googled "scribes" and the "schools" are sure out there. Well, the young folks can have this strange new world coming where you're expected to be able to multitask and work maybe 12-hour shifts doing it. So much for accuracy.

I imagine PAs would want their own scribes. If - anything, it should take some of the

[ In Reply To ..]
scut work off their shoulders so they can get to what they went through all that schooling for.

I'm not at all pessimistic about our future medical records. Generally speaking, they will inevitably get not just better, but so much better we'll look back on the era we stumbled along in as a dark age. What on earth took us sooo long?

Apparently my optometrist has a scribe. I just - did not know what it was.

[ In Reply To ..]
He rambled off measurements and diagnoses and she pretty much used a drop-down menu and typed in a little.

I'm with you - Tough Old Typist

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I agree. We are going the way of the dodo bird and a lot quicker than anyone thought we would. I'm thinking about coding....or being a street lady and live in a tent under a bridge with my dogs.

I'm pretty old to be starting over, but too young to retire!

My question is - why does nearly everyone

[ In Reply To ..]
trying to get out MT think they have to stick with medical? Unless you are a doctor, nurse, tech or high administrator, you only get crumbs in a hospital or doctor's office.

As I plot my own escape from MT I am considering ways to break into other fields such as legal, financial or business. I can't even stomach the thought of being a door mat for a doctor any more.

Great, but stay way away from lower-level clerical. - Many of those jobs are long gone,

[ In Reply To ..]
such as transcriptionist, secretary, etc., and more to folllow, also lots of high-level clerical support jobs that can be offshored.

?lower-level?! - spss40

[ In Reply To ..]
Whether or not the field is dying or drastically transforming remains to be seen, but it is inaccurate to compare MT to secretary and to proclaim MLS/medical editing as ''lower level''. Low paid for the amount of specialized knowledge required? Definitely. But it takes years of experience and knowledge to become a qualified, seasoned MLS/medical editor and it is incorrect to deem it ''low level''.

Legal/Financial/Business - Scholar

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More and more legal work is being outsourced overseas. My attorney told me THEY are losing work to overseas attorneys who look up U.S. laws.

Financial? You have to be kidding... Remember the LAYOFFS? You won't make anything in banking or finance now unless you're a CEO or a mover and shaker Wall Street. Tellers don't make squat... Neither do most lowly bank employees.

"Business" is fairly broad, but I do know that an MBA (unless it's from Harvard or Yale) is considered passe these days.

Legal/financial - Old Pro

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My goddaughter was an arbitrageur on Wall Street and making the big buck$ (she has a law degree from a fancy-schmancy law school in NYC). Anyway, she found it to be so boring that she went to a trucking school in Tennessee and became an over-the-road trucker! I was floored, and you cannot make as nearly as much in trucking as in arbitrage, but she wanted to avoid boredom at all costs. So now you have a 5-2 110-pound woman taking an 18-wheeler over the road all over the US. What a world! (I tell this story encouraging people to think outside the box for new careers!)

Because there are no other jobs that aren't also doing poorly - No jobs left in America

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There are very few options these days.

The local doctor's office where I used to work - was advertising for a scribe

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a while back. It's a busy hem/onc practice, and I used to be a biller there.

They were offering to pay $15 an hour for a scribe.

15 bucks an hour, on my feet all day long, plus the commute and the wardrobe.

I don't THINK so!!

Plus, keeping that pleasant smile plastered and - being bored to death while you wait. NM

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x

Here is my question - See Message

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So, is it 1 scribe per doctor or per practice? If you scribe for a practice, what if 2 docs are seeing patients at the same time? Is there enough to keep them busy all day? I don't understand where is the cost savings over transcription.

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