Medical Scribes—Are On-site or Virtual Scribes Better?

It’s well established that self-documenting in the EHR is simply too distracting and time-consuming for most doctors. Dividing one’s attention between a computer screen and a patient is not only inconsiderate of the patient, but it can compromise care and result in substandard charting. For this reason, doctors have developed a growing reliance on medical scribes, which are sometimes called physician extenders. Medical scribes navigate the EHR swiftly as they capture all the pertinent clinical details about the visit. And since medical scribes are available both in-person and virtually, it raises an obvious question – are on-site or virtual scribes better?

On-Site Medical Scribes

The medical scribe model familiar to most physicians is where a scribe shadows them throughout their workday. The scribe is physically present and follows the doctor from visit to visit while capturing the relevant clinical data from the doctor-patient conversation. At any time, the provider can prompt their scribe to locate historical information or include specific details on-demand in the EHR. Despite being a doctor’s right hand, some patients feel uncomfortable with a medical scribe in the exam room. So, when a patient wants privacy with their caregiver, a medical scribe may step aside to appease privacy concerns.

Since medical scribes strengthen doctor productivity and job satisfaction, physicians immediately notice their scribe’s absence. Take, for example, when scribes are ill, need to take time off, or are otherwise unavailable. When the medical scribe isn’t around, this places the EHR charting tasks squarely back on the physician. And, when you factor-in that scribes are often medical students who view the work as transitory, on-site scribes tend to work only on a short-term basis. Because of this, healthcare facilities often find themselves working with a revolving door of medical scribes.

Virtual Medical Scribes

As an alternative to in-office scribes, virtual scribes are often a better option for doctors seeking to ease scribe turnover and avoid the scribe training merry-go-round. Virtual medical scribes perform all the same tasks physicians need without the headaches. Virtual scribes, sometimes called remote scribes, remotely listen to patient encounters and place the clinically relevant details directly in the EHR. Physicians no longer need to train new scribes because professional virtual medical scribe companies handle the training. And, because virtual scribes aren’t in the room, privacy concerns from patients are lessened, and exam-room crowding is mitigated. What’s more, medical scribe companies address all the staffing issues, so physicians are never burdened with scribe hiring, leave, payroll, or other HR-related items.

One of the best medical scribe companies that hospitals and clinics prefer is Athreon. Physicians use Athreon’s mobile app to capture their encounters, and Athreon’s trained medical scribes work quickly to enter the data directly in the provider’s EHR. Physicians simply review and sign the completed visit summary in Epic, Allscripts, eClinicalWorks, or whichever EHR they use. Athreon handles all staffing items seamlessly in the background so providers can focus on what they do best – caring for their patients. Contact Athreon for a free consultation. With rates starting at $10.00 an hour, Athreon’s medical scribe service delivers a tremendous value.