Physician Assistants and Medical Scribes
The word scribe is Latin for scribere, which means "to write." A scribe has been known historically for recording events, making written copies of documents, and more recently, "transcribing" word for word. Medical scribes have emerged most recently in response to the extensive use of EMR into clinical practice from widely used handwritten and dictation methods.
What Role do Medical Scribes Have in Healthcare?
Medical practices, hospitals, and typically lots of emergency departments hire medical scribes to relieve the providers unequipped with rapid typing skills or who cannot simply find their way around on EMR software. A medical scribe serves to record the actions and words spoken as they occur. Scribes cannot implement their own observations into the medical record. The scribe documents the activities of the provider as they occur and must include the name and signature of the provider who performed the encounter. The provider is required to attest of his/her presence during the encounter, verifying they have reviewed the scribe's documentation and the accuracy. The provider must also sign and date the encounter.
