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Physicians make their money and make a difference by seeing patients. Yet doctors and their support staff are spending more and more time with documentation and administrative work. This has led to record levels of burn-out among healthcare professionals.

On a sunny afternoon in May, 2015, I joined a dozen other surgeons at a downtown Boston office building to begin sixteen hours of mandatory computer training. We sat in three rows, each of us parked behind a desktop computer. In one month, our daily routines would come to depend upon mastery of Epic, the new medical software system on the screens in front of us. The upgrade from our home-built software would cost the hospital system where we worked, Partners HealthCare, a staggering $1.6 billion, but it aimed to keep us technologically up to date.

Physicians are spending twice as much time on electronic health records as they are face to face with patients, according to a new study by the American Medical Association.

Researchers observed 57 physicians in four specialties (family medicine, internal medicine, cardiology, and orthopedics) and found that for every hour of direct clinical face time with patients, nearly 2 additional hours is spent on EHR and desk work within the clinic day.

Some clinicians are turning to medical scribes to reduce the time spent managing electronic health records (EHRs). In fact, incorporating medical scribes into surgical practice increases the number of patients seen, according to research findings presented at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2019.

The first randomized controlled trial of scribes finds that they produce significant improvements in physician satisfaction without detracting from patient satisfaction.

The use of scribes—team members who document patient encounters in real time under physician supervision—has gained considerable popularity as a strategy to decrease physicians' clerical burden...

Medical scribes can accurately document physician or independent practitioner dictation and activities, allowing providers to spend more time with patients, according to an article published Oct. 10 in Medical Economics. Maxine Lewis, president of Medical Coding & Reimbursement in Cincinnati, discusses the role of scribes in medical practices.

It’s common knowledge that doctors work long hours. From late nights studying in medical school to the 28-hour shifts many young doctors experience during residency, physicians are conditioned to push their bodies and minds to the extreme in pursuit of a noble goal – making patients better. What if, however, those very patients are adversely affecting their doctor’s well-being?

My Virtual Scribe is very smart, easy to work with, and very professional. He is a real benefit to your company, and I hope to work with him for many years to come!

Medical scribes could help solve the issue of physician burnout and ease the electronic health record (EHR) documentation burden, based on a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

According to the study, researchers conducted a yearlong investigation with 18 primary care physicians at two medical centers with integrated healthcare systems. The investigation focused on if the use of a medical scribe would ease the EHR documentation burden, improve patient visits and work efficiency.

Primary care in the United States is in a state of crisis, with fewer trainees entering the field and more current primary care doctors leaving due to professional burnout. Changes in the practice of primary care, including the many burdens related to EHR documentation, has been identified as a major source of physician burnout. There are ongoing efforts to reduce physician burnout by improving the work environment. One innovation has been the use of medical scribes in the exam room who are trained to enter narrative notes based on the patient-provider interview.