Internal Medicine Scribes: Enhancing Provider Patient Experience and Clinic Throughput

Documentation, once a small part of the patient visit, now takes up a considerable portion of physicians' time. With the introduction of electronic health records, medical notes have become as important as patient care itself. This trend has a negative impact on patient-centered care and work-life balance of general internists. For each hour of direct patient care, they spend two hours on EHR and desk work during clinic hours. Additionally, they spend another 1 to 2 hours of personal time daily on computers and clerical work outside office hours. This level of clerical workload is way too much. So, what could be the solution? One proposed way to lighten this burden is the use of internal medicine scribes. In this blog post let’s delve into a study that shows how scribes can be beneficial in an academic internal medicine practice.

The Study – A Closer Look

A recent study conducted in an academic general internal medicine practice analyzed the impact of medical scribes on provider-patient experience and patient throughput. Let's take a closer look at what the study found and what it means for the future of patient care.

A study was carried out in a large hospital-based academic general internal medicine practice to evaluate the impact of medical scribes on patient satisfaction, provider satisfaction, and productivity. Four attending physicians worked with scribes, while nine control physicians did not, serving as a comparison group. Various metrics were evaluated both before and after scribes were introduced, including provider and patient experience scores, along with productivity measures.

The Findings

Providers participated in 664 clinic sessions and returned 547 surveys, with an 82% response rate. The results of the study were promising.

Provider Experience: The findings showed that providers using scribes experienced a significant reduction in documentation burden and an improvement in workflow efficiency. Despite the shorter visit durations, providers were able to maintain quality care without feeling rushed or falling behind on schedule. This shows how scribes play a crucial role in easing administrative burdens and enabling providers to focus on patient interactions, ultimately enhancing job satisfaction.

Patient Experience: Despite concerns that having scribes might affect patient experiences, the study found no significant differences in patient satisfaction between the groups. Patients continued to report high levels of satisfaction in both groups. With shorter visit durations, patients still felt heard and understood by their providers. This shows that scribes can help optimize clinical workflows without compromising quality of care.

Provider Productivity: One of the most impressive findings was the significant boost in provider productivity resulting from the use of scribes. Providers working with scribes saw a substantial increase in the number of patients seen per hour and generated higher work relative value units (wRVUs) per hour. This enhanced efficiency not only brings financial benefits for the practice but also enables providers to handle greater patient volumes without sacrificing quality or experiencing burnout.

Financial Impact: Despite the initial investment in scribe services, the study found a positive return on investment, with the increased revenue more than offsetting the costs of hiring scribes. This shows that scribe programs can provide clear financial benefits while also enhancing provider well-being and patient care.

Conclusion

Scribes in an academic general internal medicine setting appears to be a promising strategy to address the growing challenges of documentation burden and provider burnout, all while maintaining high levels of patient satisfaction. Looking to hire one for your internal medicine practice? We’ve got you covered. We at Physicians Angels have a team of certified internal medicine scribes who can provide the much-needed documentation support. Our highly skilled internal medicine scribes excel at providing accurate and real-time documentation of patient visits. Hire one today and get set to streamline workflows, ease administrative burdens, and enhance both provider and patient satisfaction. Don’t let documentation burdens overwhelm your practice! Consider adding an internal medicine scribe to you team today!