Scribes in the ED

Annisme · Sep 17, 2009

We have scribes in our ED. They can be a great help to a nurse or a pain in the neck, depending. I appreciate that they have a job to do, but assessing patients is the nurse's job. All in all, I really do like the scribes we have and appreciate them.

diane227, LPN, RN · Sep 17, 2009

I worked in one ED who used them and I feel that the money and time would have been better spent on hiring a PA or an NP to see patients.

Katnip, RN · Sep 17, 2009

I think if a doctor has the time to dictate to a scribe, then he or she has time to type it out himself and save the hospital the money.

Guest219794 · Sep 18, 2009

I did a travel gig in an ER that used scribes.

I thought it worked great. It was a high volume ER, and it allowed docs more patient time. I saw no more errors there than anywhere else.

If I had a scribe, I could easily increase my pt load by at least 1/3.

emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Sep 18, 2009

Our docs use scribes. I think it saves time. The docs can dictate waaaaaay faster than they can type.

cookienay · Sep 20, 2009

Our docs use scribes. They can be a help to the docs but a pain to the nurses. The nurses don't like it when the scribes make our jobs harder. Just be sensitive that the nurses have a job to do, too. If you would like clarification or more info, you can PM me. good luck.

trueschatzi · Sep 28, 2009

we use scribes in our ER too, they are sooo much help to our doctors. they dont bother us nurses at all actually, like some other people have said. plus some of our doctors are a little slower than others, so they help to keep them on tract and see pts faster.

whichone'spink, BSN, RN · Sep 28, 2009

Good that many of you here don't seem to mind those college students who carry laptops or notepads and follow the docs around. But what is one way scribes can not make the nurses' jobs harder? Last thing I want to do is annoy the nurses at the ED I work at. I eventually want to work in that ED as an RN.

deemo21 · Oct 16, 2009

I was a scribe at a level I trauma center, while I was a nursing student. I felt that we were a very valuable member of the ER team. The doctors relied on us to be there. We did a lot and the nurses valued our presence. I had worked in that department for 4-5 years and was able to help out A LOT. I helped to expedite patients through the ER. I helped to make the physicians more productive. I updated the physician and the nurse on pertinent lab results, CT/Xray/MRI results. Receiving the dictation for physician H&Ps was the smallest part of my job honestly. The time that it took for the physician to tell me an assessment was

robinbird · Oct 16, 2009

Can you tell me how you become a scribe? My son will be attending the local community college next year and that would be a great job for him while he's in school. What kind of training do you need?

whichone'spink, BSN, RN · Oct 17, 2009

Well robinbird, I don't know about your area, but I live in Co. Springs. I found the scribe job on my college job listing website.