Family physicians who work with medical scribes report increased benefits related to quality of care and "joy of practice," according to a study published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.
The researchers engaged four physicians working with medical scribes at an undisclosed academic family medicine practice for the study. They collected 361 open-ended reflections written by the physicians during the course of one year, covering topics such as daily work, attitudes and relationships with patients.
After analyzing the physicians' reflections, the researchers discerned four main themes. The themes, listed from the most frequently discussed to the least frequently discussed, were: clinic operations, joy of practice, quality of care and patient experience.
"Our study suggests that integrating scribes into a primary care clinic can produce positive outcomes that go beyond reducing clerical burden for physicians," the study authors concluded.