EHR Fatigue? Scribes Are On The Way

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

EHRs interactions forcing doctors to consider scribes

Diagnosing patients and prescribing treatment make for a full day for any physician, and adding stresses related to managing electronic records can make an already long day even longer.

According to one study, physicians spend an average of 16 more minutes inputting data to an EHR system than they previously spent on paper documentation. That adds up quickly, especially considering doctors spend about one-third of appointment time looking at a patient's electronic record on a screen.

As The New York Times has reported, physicians who use scribes feel liberated from the EHR. “The patients get undivided attention from the physicians. The scribes are continuously learning while making an important contribution, and the physician gets the satisfaction of doing the work they went into medicine for in the first place,” Dr. Christine Sinsky, a primary care physician at Medical Associates Clinic and Health Plans, told The Times.

Before he began using a scribe, Dr. Devesh Ramnath said he found he was spending an extra two to three hours on data entry after implementing an EHR system. "I was really focused on just trying to get the information in, and not really focusing on the patient anymore," Ramnath told NPR.

With scribes receiving $8 to $16 an hour, Dr. Ramnath hired one to enter information into the record for him. "I would more than happily sacrifice a significant chunk of my income for the improved quality of life I have," Ramnath says.

One scribe staffing company, PhysAssist, is growing by 50 percent every year. Their scribes are trained to understand multiple EHR software in addition to medical terminology and billing coding. "You're listening to the physician, you're listening to the nurse, you're listening to the patient,” says instructor Brandon Torres. “And you're gathering all that information and presenting it back to the physician."