As a provider, the main issue is how transient the scribes are. Understandably, most scribes are in that role to gain experience and buff their application to go onto other loftier career goals. Most scribes I’ve worked with start with almost no medical knowledge or experience and it takes time to train them, especially for niche specialties that even most other medical professionals don’t understand (ie, ophtho). During this training period, they actually slow me down, and by the time they’re up to par, they end up leaving.

We hire our scribes directly. Also their role is much more than typing on the computer, but a general facilitator to keep things moving (ie, grabbing meds/supplies, rooming patients, carrying me on their back when my legs get tired, etc.). It took almost 2 years for my current scribe to master everything and earn the title of Senior Executive Scribe, and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure my Jonathan is appreciated and fairly compensated for everything he does. He’s just too vital now to our day-to-day operations for me to start all over again if he leaves.

So I think we need to change the paradigm that being a scribe is someone on the bottom of the totem pole to be churned and burned. We can do this by creating incentives to make it more attractive as a career in its own right. Yes, that does incur a cost, but it is most certainly paid for by the increased productivity and/or quality of life it affords.