Pro Scribe - Jennifer Orozco
It's becoming increasingly common to take a gap year between undegrad and medical school. People do a variety of things from research to a master's program, pick up a random job, travel...or scribe, like me! I am a medical scribe at St. Vincent's Medical Center in the ER. I started spring semester of my senior year, and it's been a great clinical experience. As a scribe I help document a patient's chart. There are multiple sections to a chart including the history of present illness, review of systems, past medical history, the physical exam, etc. As scribes, we document most of these sections.
I work with MDs, DOs, PAs and NPs. Anytime we have a new patient, I lug my laptop cart around to the triage area or the patient's bed (if they are sent to a bed immediately) and type up the provider-patient encounter. Every provider is different. Some will dictate the physical exam to you while they are with the patient. Others will dictate the physical after they have seen the patient. Others prefer to chart the physical themselves. How much of the chart I document really depends on the provider.
My favorite thing about scribing is the extent to which I am able to observe the physician-patient encounter. The way I see my job is that I am getting paid to shadow, essentially! I shadow not only multiple providers but also different types of providers. As I mentioned, I work with MDs, DOs, PAs, and NPs, and I've developed great relationships with some of these providers - an added bonus. Also, all the providers say we will be experts by the time we have to do our own charting when we get to that point of our medical careers.
Scribing has been an invaluable experience during my last undergraduate year. It's a great option for pre-meds considering a gap year.