Should I take a job as a medical scribe?

aachavez · Jul 11, 2012

any experience you can get probably won't hurt you. While you may not be getting direct patient care, you will be building relationships/networking with people who may be in a position to offer or reccommend you for a job in the future. However, nursing school is very challanging. At orientation (and I've heard this many other places before) we were told to work as little as possible, or not at all if we can. With the amount of time between school, studying, clinicals etc, I'm not sure how much of a job I would be able to fit in, and still be succesful.

Basically, I would say if you feel you can handle the workload without your grades/work suffering, totally go for it.

allnurses Guide · Jul 13, 2012

as said above, it will help with your networking; they just started this in our ER a few weeks ago. I don't think the scribes are really getting much nursing exposure though, they aren't in the room much when we are. Some of the assessments they are transcribing might help, or knowing what gets ordered (nurses do a lot on order anticipating, knowing what to expect).

So, from a very limited exposure, my profound opinion lol, is go for it if you can do both, but don't expect too much out of it for actual nursing experience.

veggie530 · Jul 13, 2012

networking is big in the job market today. do it!

Bobmo88 · Jul 13, 2012

I would recommend it, you will be working closely with physicians so you could network, listen to how they obtain medical histories for different types of chief complaints or just seeing different cases. If you can work and maintain your grades then go for it!

CharmantUn · Jul 16, 2012

Will you have to work more than one shift per week? How heavy is your load? My nursing school requires us to take classes in a specific pattern--all students are taking the exact same 15 units the first semester. It was on par with taking anatomy, physiology, and microbio all in the same semester. You may want to hold off accepting that job until you're aware just how intense school is going to be.

Phoenixbyrd · Jul 18, 2012

I'll be starting my first semester of nursing school in August. In addition I want to take statistics, so it's a very work intensive class load. I have recently been offered a job in an ER as a medical scribe. Although it doesn't involve any direct patient contact, the knowledge I'll gain by working so closely with a physician would be invaluable. I was wondering if anyone has worked as a scribe before, and would you recommend it. I'm preparing for a challenging semester and would hate to add more stress to my life with this job if it isn't really worthwhile. Any feedback from those of you familiar with scribes would be greatly appreciated.

May I PM you? I want to get a medical scribe position, and I would like to talk with you/ask you questions about your obviously winning resume. I really, really want this position and hope you will be willing to share what skills, attributes you highlighted to get your position. Please? :bowingpur:clown:

MissRN2b · Jul 21, 2012

Phoenixbyrd, I don't think I can PM yet as I do not have enough posts. But I'd be happy to share what attributes I think are required for medical scribes. It may have also helped that I am an EMT and used to multi- tasking during high stress situations. During my interview, those were the types of questions I was asked: How do I handle high stress situations? Tell me a time you had to multi- task under stress, and how did you go about it? Etc. Oh, and obviously dictation skills are pretty important. Although they do have an intense training program. Hope this info helped some. Unfortunately I recently had to decline the position just before they flew me out for training. I was told at the last minute that the shifts were 12 hrs and I'd be required to work 2-3 shifts per week. I don't think I could handle that with my school schedule. Good luck to you!

Phoenixbyrd · Jul 21, 2012

Thanks MissRN2b for sharing. How did you answer the question regarding handling high stress situations? I am not coming from a hospital/medical background, but I would answer something like, "I continue to try to maintain my composure while continuing to ask questions to gather the information I need to help." Would you consider that a weak answer? How did you answer?

Are you at the beginning of your nursing training? Before finding your post I was concerned because I will begin clinicals this fall and the job I am interested in also requires me to work 2-3 twelve hour shifts. The position sounds ideal, but I may have to forgo it as well. Drat.

MissRN2b · Jul 23, 2012

Phoenixbyrd, your answer regarding high stress situations sounds great. My answer was very similar. Basically, staying calm is important. I will be starting my first semester of nursing school this fall. I'm taking a full load of classes so time- wise it just wasn't practical to take the job. Although the experience and knowledge you can gain from being a scribe is invaluable, nursing school should be our main priority. I hope it works out for you either way because I was very disappointed having to decline such a great job. Good luck!

Mike1990 · Jun 3, 2013

Hey MissRN2b,

I seen your post on another thread about where you got into school. Congrats . I was also thinking about applying to Mohave and was wondering if you had any advice . I'm actually from California and wanted to move to the area considering I have a house in bullhead. I was just wondering if you think I would have a good chance of acceptance? My overall grade for the required courses would be a 3.8. I also have been an EMT for a year, have my CA CNA license and my Lpn/ Lvn license. I would apply to the bridge program but they require 1 year experience and I really don't wanna work for a year and then apply. I would rather just just strengthen the skills and knowledge acquired from my Lvn program. If you give me any advice I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,

Mike

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Jun 3, 2013

I scribed for several years, including the time I was in nursing school. If you can handle the work load you will appreciate the opportunity to learn. For one thing, you begin to see trends in treatments related to specific diagnoses. Then, when one pt has that DX and the treatment changes, you ask the MD why and learn even more. ANything you learn will be better than learning nothing.