How A Medical Scribe Can Save Time And Boost Productivity

It is the responsibility of every healthcare facility to make sure that the patients’ records are updated properly after each visit. This can result in a significant amount of paperwork for the physicians. A study published by the Annals of Internal Medicine says that a physician spends nearly two hours on paperwork for every one hour of seeing patients. This is where the medical scribe comes in. A medical scribe is able to take on this extra responsibility, allowing the physician more time to take care of their patients.

Medical scribes can save time and boost productivity, revenue, and satisfaction

People choose medicine as their career to treat patients and not to do paperwork. Unfortunately, most physicians spend an additional two hours daily completing documentation tasks. Some wake up early to chart prior to the clinic and others work after hours to complete charting. This can be indeed overwhelming. Using medical scribes relieves physicians from the duty of taking notes and documenting the charts, allowing them to be more productive and see more patients than they could have otherwise.

Let us in this article take a look at the various research studies that show how medical scribes can save time and boost productivity, revenue, and satisfaction.

1. A study conducted by the healthcare journal ClinicoEconomics and Outcomes Research says that using medical scribes improved physician productivity by 10% and patient consultations per hour by 9.6%.
2. A report published by the JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that using medical scribes significantly reduced documentation overload and improved physician productivity. This study was conducted amongst 18 primary care physicians. The study revealed that using medical scribes helped the physician to spend 75% of the visit interacting with the patient and less than 25% focusing on their computer. Another report published by the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine also validates that using medical scribes boosts physician productivity considerably.
3. A study published in JAMA Dermatology found that using medical scribes for a year resulted in 50% reduction in documentation time. Also, 79% of the physicians expressed willingness to improve patient volume. Overall, there was a 7.7% increase in revenue, more than enough to offset scribe costs.
4. Yet another study published in the Annals of Family states that medical scribes improved all aspects of physician satisfaction and reduced physician burnout.
5. Becker’s Hospital Review found that using medical scribes resulted in a positive return on investment (ROI) for the emergency department. One organization resulted in an annual savings of more than $62,000.
6. Another research conducted by Dove Medical Press Ltd shows that using medical scribes not only improved physician satisfaction but also patient satisfaction.
7. According to the findings published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, medical scribes considerably increased quality of care and joy of practicing medicine among family physicians.
8. Another study published by the Journal of Family Practice claims that use of medical scribes in a busy primary care practice reduces physician’s time spent on charting and improves work-life balance. Meaning physicians were able to spend more time with their family.

Well, after discussing in detail the various research findings, it is evident that a medical scribe frees up a physician’s time to help focus on what really matters – patient care. So, with physicians focused on clinical responsibilities and medical scribes taking over the administrative tasks – probably saves time and enhances productivity than physicians doing both. What’s more?  Medical scribes can also help boost practice revenue while maintaining both patient and provider satisfaction.