Warren Lam, a 22-year-old graduate of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., works 40 hours per week following physicians around the emergency room at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, typing nonstop for minimal pay, according to STAT. Despite the long hours, modest paycheck and finger-exhausting nature of the job, medical scribes are booming across the U.S.
Since the federal meaningful use program spurred hospitals to implement EHRs, the use of scribes in emergency rooms and outpatient settings to help physicians enter information into electronic systems has increased rapidly. According to the American College of Medical Scribe Specialists, the number of medical scribes in the U.S. has risen from about 7,000 in 2014 to nearly 17,000 today.
Pay ranges from minimum wage to $12 per hour, depending on the state and hospital, according to the report.
"We're targeting people who aren't in it for the money," said Cameron Cushman, spokesman for PhysAssist, Mr. Lam's employer, according to the report.
Mr. Lam, like many other medical scribes, was a premed undergraduate and is applying to medical school. While not the highest paying job, medical scribes like Mr. Lam are afforded a rare, frontline view of the job many of them hope to have one day.
Dressed in all black, Mr. Lam follows a physician throughout the ER, who will treat dozens of patients for a variety of conditions on a given day. He carries his laptop and types continuously, even while walking. At the patients' bedsides, he finds creative places to prop up the computer and take notes as the attending physician talks to and treats the patient, according to STAT.
Medical scribes are generally unregulated and no license is required. PhysAssist provides 40 hours of training, in which scribes learn about medical vocabulary, practice law and how to write charts, according to the report. They work eight supervised shifts before beginning to work on their own.
Although turnover is very high among medical scribes, Mr. Cushman calls the job the "best clinical hours and experience you can get" for those seeking an introduction to medicine.
Mr. Lam can attest. "You really learn to appreciate how much doctors work," he told STAT. "They are just constantly working throughout the shift… It's a lot harder than what I would've expected."
Physicians appreciate the help, too. "It generally improves my happiness at work," said Laura Burke, MD, an ER physician with whom Mr. Lam worked. "I feel like I can just think about the patients, and not just think about the charting part of it."