Pros
-There is absolutely no better way to prepare oneself with a wealth of medical knowledge and patient contact examples than scribing before getting into medical school, aside from getting an RN. If you are nervous about your 2nd/3rd year med school clinicals like most pre-med/med students, spending a year or more writing SOAP notes 10-30 times a day with a doctor performing the interview in front of you is a hell of a way to prep. -Scribing is generally satisfying work. You write the notes, and when you and your doc are done seeing patients you go home. -There are opportunities mostly in ER and family medicine, but increasingly specialty clinics as well. -It is usually a pleasure to work with the physicians and PA's you work with. Most are extremely grateful for a good job done. -Managing your own team as a Chief Scribe can vary in difficulty (mostly depending on how good a job you and your predecessors did recruiting in your region), but is very rewarding. -Traveling PM roles offer the possibility of paid travel and housing expense to go to a new area and implement new scribe programs and/or assist in management of struggling teams. -The company is expanding a lot, so it's a good time to get in and get on a management track if you are looking for healthcare management experience. General expectations: 60+ Words Per Minute typing speed (some managers expect higher, some teams require 90+ given the amount of documentation they are doing). Ideally some biology/anatomy/physiology/biochem background, but not required. Computer proficiency and ability to learn new software quickly is a must. Ability to develop technical writing skills. Somewhat self-motivated - your physician will expect the charts to be done with pretty minimal direct input from them to you.
Cons
-Some scribe positions are much harder than others and it is not obvious when you apply (because you can only apply to a region, not a specific hospital). If you are applying, and if you are worried about your typing speed, medical learning abilities, computer literacy, or time commitment (<2 shifts/week) then I would recommend asking your interviewer about the workflow. E.G. A high-volume ER or a busy Derm clinic typically wants 80+ WPM typing and bright, highly attentive and adaptable scribes that are quiet and do their work in the background with minimal interference in the time-limited patient interaction. A 12-patient-per-day family med doctor can be kept up with by pretty much anyone. -Some physicians also have much higher expectations than others when it comes to documentation preferences, and some are outright picky. As with all "personal assistant" type roles, some doctors are jerks to work with as well. -You probably will work with many different physicians. This can be a pro or a con depending on your point of view and skillset. -The software EPIC is a real pain, but it is usable and learn-able, -Be wary that when offered a scribe position, that you ask the specific locations you will be working and hold them to it if you are concerned about commute distance. -Scribe wage is typically your local minimum wage, with meager annual raises, which you will not be eligible for if you are hired after March until the 2nd year of employment. -No real cons to the Chief Scribe role. If you can manage your time reasonably well, manage a team of college-aged workers, communicate weekly with your manager by phone or video conference, work 3-4 shifts/week and make sure you can project staffing needs 90 days into the future, you're golden. In my experience the raise was about $2-4 dollars above the scribe rate, but it varies a lot. -Salary and bonus structure does not scale well with the volume and difficulty of the role at management level until reaching the Regional Manager or Director of Operations position. In my experience as an Associate Regional Manager, the salary was approx 50,000/annual, +/- metric-based bonuses. This was not commensurate with the volume of work, usually requiring 55-60 hour weeks, sometimes more. Client satisfaction (read as endless emails and meetings and phone calls) and internal management meetings took up a huge portion of the workweek and severely limited my ability to handle other tasks including team management, succession planning for local managers, expansions, and quality assurance, particularly when these teams are spread over a relatively large geographical region.
