In the study conducted by the University of Wisconsin, more and more physicians today are experiencing less burnout, thanks to the support being provided by remote scribes. The study highlighted several key truths about remote medical scribes, noting that physicians are now less stressed and enjoy their new work dynamic. It is also noted that they are now less prone to burnout. This shift has been due to virtual scribes who took over the time-consuming electronic health records (EHR) documentation and administrative tasks.
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Traditional Vs Remote Medical Scribe
The key difference between traditional medical scribes and a remote medical scribe is their work arrangement.
The traditional medical scribe works in a busy clinic or hospital setup while the other fulfills their roles from a distance or remotely.
The main role of a remote medical scribe is to take note of each patient’s appointment.
Sometimes, it goes beyond this scope, depending on the specialization of the hospital or clinic.
Together, we’ll explore the extent of their roles—the good, the bad, and the ugly—and the benefits they bring to your clinic or hospital.
The Good
This recent trend of integrating virtual medical scribes into clinics or hospitals has changed the dynamics of giving patient care.
Today, we can see a healthcare professional who supports the attending physicians virtually. They provide support by lightening the load of clinicians and doctors.
This creates more time for doctors to provide a higher patient experience and care.
Increased Efficiency
Streamlined Documentation
Virtual medical scribes are experts in taking care of patient documentation.
They can reduce the physicians’ paperwork by up to 10% to 15%.
Allowing physicians to interact and attend to patients efficiently.
Improved Accuracy
Reduction in manual errors
Working in the medical industry means you have to record each patient report accurately.
With a virtual scribe working in your hospital and clinic, you can expect the following:
High standard of record accuracy
Updated patient history
Better health diagnoses
The value of a virtual scribe to the table is unmatched.
When you onboard one in your medical team, expect your attending physicians to be less stressed.
Cost-Effectiveness
From a business perspective
Now, let’s talk about how virtual scribe affects business financially.
The goal of any business is to cut out unnecessary expenses.
And hiring a virtual medical scribe can help reduce unnecessary business cost.
How, you ask? You no longer have to worry about having an extra office desk as your virtual medical scribes work remotely.
In short, you get to save more resources you can spend on the needs of your hospital or clinic.
Plus, the salary of hiring these individuals won’t cost that much.
Enhanced Focus on Patient Care
Increase patient satisfaction
With virtual scribes’ support, physicians can now focus on patient care.
Since a major chunk of the task has been removed, physicians can improve the quality of their consultations and enhance patient experience.
This will now increase the healthcare provider or physicians’ spending on each patient.
Reduced Overhead Costs
By working remotely, these scribes eliminate a huge expense by not needing a physical space to work.
Corporate benefits
The financial advantage goes beyond simple cost savings, improving a healthcare facility’s overall financial and operational process.
Accessibility and flexibility
24/7 Operation and specialization
Virtual scribes can be summed up using two words: flexibility and accessibility.
Since they can work remotely, they can provide service across different time zones.
At the same time, these scribe were trained to assist physicians virtually regardless of the time zone.
They are a great option for medical practices in rural areas where in person scribes are limited.
This means your medical clinic or hospital can extend its operating hours, allowing you to attend to more patients.
Enhanced efficiency and care
Focus on patient interaction.
Healthcare professionals are usually swamped with clerical tasks.
That’s where virtual medical scribes come into play.
They do the heavy lifting of tedious administrative and clerical tasks, allowing physicians and other healthcare providers to provide for your patient’s medical needs.
Creating more time and space for a physician to extend care to patients.
Enhanced outcomes
The goal of having a clinic or hospital is to provide better health to your patient.
So, having a patient-centered approach increases the success rate of any treatment.
This can only be achieved if you work with someone who takes the administrative tasks off your physician’s plate.
Since support is given to physicians, your patients can now expect better health services.
The Bad
Sure, the advantages are there. But let’s not dismiss the challenges of adding virtual medical scribes to your medical team.
We’ve listed some challenges you’ll encounter below.
Technical challenges
Integration challenges
Adding a virtual scribe to your team can be difficult as you must rely on technology.
In some cases, physicians usually encounter workflow and operational issues that disrupt daily operations.
Without a proper system in place, adding a virtual medical scribe will only create more pressure in training them.
So, it is a must to have proper onboarding training before handing over tasks.
Data security concerns
The privacy risk
Taking advantage of the existing technology or platform can pose security concerns.
So, whenever you decide to onboard a virtual scribe, make sure they are computer-literate.
Ensure that they have a computer background and know how to navigate your company’s systems.
Their work often revolves around handling sensitive medical records through a computer, which increases the risk of data breaches and makes it harder to meet HIPAA standards.
Dependence on technology
System failures
When you rely heavily on medical scribe virtual services, it also means you’re putting a lot of faith in technology.
The moment your digital system fails so does the documentation and patient management.
Which poses a threat when there is an urgent medical need.
Initial setup and training cost
Upfront Investments
Transitioning from traditional medical scribes to remote medical scribes means you have to spend a lot of time training people.
This training aims to make your new hire easily adapt to your pre-existing system and support your medical team and physicians.
You have to train them with the following:
Pre-existing system
Workflows
Standard operating procedures
Communication channels
Tools and platforms
Having a virtual medical scribe service in your medical facility is optimal for providing extensive patient care.
Your attending physician and medical team will love that.
But here’s what most companies miss when they implement it:
They lack strategic planning and proper allocation of resources.
So, for you to avoid these costly mistakes, take time to plan.
Take time to create a strategy, process, and system in place.
The Ugly
Implementing a new process is always messy at the start.
If it’s not addressed properly, deeper issues will arise.
These issues may stem from your new system, legal, company, security, hiring process, workflow procedures, and the list of challenges goes on.
Potential for reduced human interaction
Impersonal care
The transition from in-person to virtual scribes might optimize medical documentation but comes with a heavy price tag.
That is the absence of human interaction.
Sadly, there’s a huge difference between speaking to an in-person scribe and talking to a virtual scribe.
Human interaction is important whenever we talk about health.
The absence of personal touch could lead to a lesser patient experience and health outcomes.
This loss can impact the perceived quality of care providers provide to patients in the medical field, which requires a higher level of quality care.
Ethical and legal issues
The potential of data breach and liability
One major concern in employing virtual medical scribe services is the increased risk of data breaches.
And when there’s a data breach, companies need to shoulder its liability.
From a legal perspective, protecting the company or hospital’s reputation and reliability is critical.
Also, ethical dilemmas might arise since your virtual scribes are working remotely, raising questions about accountability and oversight in using medical virtual scribes.
That’s why your virtual scribes should spend a good amount of time being trained.
Practices must create processes for security purposes.
Quality control issues
Consistency in service
Ensuring consistent quality in medical documentation when using virtual scribes can be challenging.
The remote work arrangement can also bring in lapses in monitoring and managing workload and quality service, unlike traditional scribes, where immediate physical oversight is possible.
Job Displacement
Managing work shift schedules
Sure, virtual medical scribe services provide flexibility.
But you have to take into account some drawbacks.
One drawback you have to consider is managing the work shift schedules.
Managing the work shift schedules is critical.
Why, you ask? Because there will be instances when a patient must be admitted beyond the regular working schedule.
The differentiation
Just like the traditional setup, virtual scribes can be categorized into two:
Here are the two types of virtual scribes:
Generalist virtual scribe
Specialist virtual scribe
Each category has unique demands and roles stored within their job description.
In general practice
In a general practice setting, a virtual scribe handles a wide array of cases, requiring extensive experience and the ability to quickly switch between different types of medical documentation.
Versatility is Key
Here, virtual scribes are the ultimate multitaskers.
Throughout a single day, they might handle everything from:
Medical documentation
Consultation calls
Setting of appointments
Taking note of patients’ medical history
Managing chronic disease
Which could mean a smaller workload for your in-house physician.
Preventive focus
Their role revolves around preventive tasks such as:
Recoding of vaccinations
Lifestyle advice
Regular screenings
Following up prescriptions
Charting
Their extensive skill in documentation helps ensure patients achieve better health outcomes.
In specialized medicine
In contrast, specialized medicine requires extensive training to perform the role, such as providing real-time documentation, administrative tasks, and application of their skills.
This means the virtual scribe has their own specialty training.
Deep dive into complex care
Due to the high demands of working with physicians with specialization, virtual scribes must understand medical terminology.
Because they will often deal with a patient who demands oncology or rheumatology.
The depth of their experience is critical in assisting the attending physician to provide high-quality and personalized care.
Support for Advanced Procedures
Virtual scribes do meticulous tasks such as taking notes of pre to post-operative care to patients.
By taking on the burden of administrative and clerical tasks, specialists could focus on attending to patients’ complex needs.
In summary
Virtual scribes have both advantages and disadvantages for your hospital’s medical professionals. With that said, there is no doubt you’ll gain a significant advantage to having a virtual scribe on your medical team.
So, is it worth it to hire a virtual medical scribe? A resounding yes.
Links:
https://www.medicaleconomics.com/view/remote-scribes-may-reduce-burnout-by-cutting-time-spent-on-ehr
