Dive Brief:
-
Scribes improve physician satisfaction and charting efficiency and are “a promising strategy to improve healthcare efficiency and reduce physician burnout,” according to a new study in the Annals of Family Medicine.
-
The study, which was conducted by physicians at the Stanford University School of Medicine, evaluated how medical scribes are impacting physician satisfaction, patient satisfaction and charting efficiency.
-
The study authors said scribes are being used more often despite a “lack of high-quality evidence regarding their effects.”
Dive Insight:
Time spent filling out information in an EHR is a major complaint among providers, and more and more are turning to scribes as a remedy.
The randomized controlled trial included physicians who worked with scribes for one week and then another week without a scribe for one year. The study authors found physician satisfaction, overall satisfaction, face time with patients, time spent charting, chart quality and chart accuracy all improved. On the other hand, scribes did not affect patient satisfaction.
Another report in the journal this week said primary care doctors spend more than half their workday on EHR tasks. That study found providers spent nearly two hours on those tasks for every hour of direct patient care. These and other administrative chores can lead to physician burnout.
Despite hopes to the contrary, EHRs have not led to great physician productivity. Kevin Brady, president of Physicians Angels, a virtual scribe service, told Healthcare Dive earlier this year physicians take at least 3 to 5 minutes to complete a single chart in an EHR. If they see 20 or 30 people in a day, that takes hours away from patients.
In response, physicians are turning to medical scribes to perform data entry and help reduce the administrative burdens associated with EHRs. “Medical scribes are EHR data managers that give back lost time to doctors," Brady said.
There were about 15,000 medical scribes in the U.S. in 2014. That is expected to reach 100,000 by 2020, according to the American College of Medical Scribe Specialists.