How to Become a Medical Scribe in Schools, Requirements

Every physician needs someone to document information regarding a patient’s medical status. This function is necessary, especially when the physician is still examining the patient.

To perform excellently at this task, the individual must have good knowledge of medical terms and great writing skills. The professionals who occupy this role are medical scribes, and we can show you how to become a medical scribe if you are interested in this role.

According to OHSU, the use of medical scribes accelerated roughly 10 years ago, which is largely a direct result of EHR use, as healthcare legislation requires. Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, the meaningful use of health information technology (HIT) was required to satisfy or avoid certain incentives or penalties.

An estimate reveals 20,000 scribes worked in hospitals and medical practices nationwide in 2016, with projections of 100,000 scribes by 2023. As a result, medical scribing is the fastest-growing healthcare profession in the nation.

So, throughout this article, we will show you how to become a medical scribe. Additionally, we will itemize key requirements everyone who wants to become a scribe must fulfill. You’ll find the full details in the table of content.

Who is a Medical Scribe?

According to Wikipedia, a medical scribe, or paraprofessional, specializes in charting physician-patient encounters in real-time, such as during medical examinations. Additionally, they locate information and patients for physicians and complete forms needed for patient care.

Many people often make the mistake of thinking that medical scribes are physicians. Well, it’s simply because they spend most of their time walking up and down with physicians gathering data.

Other times, they’re either gathering data to give a report that will help the physician make the best decision regarding patient healthcare. Indeed, these individuals are exceptional and have been helpful.

Why Be a Medical Scribe?

Due to the need to help physicians make accurate decisions regarding their patient’s medical history, medical scribes came to perform a primary and much-needed function. Since they started performing this function, there’s been a sharp rise in the proper diagnosis of sicknesses.

Unlike so many other professions, you play a role that truly benefits humans greatly. You need to picture yourself as the assistant surgeon ensuring you save the life of a Father, Brother, and Friend to people outside the theatre waiting for positive news.

The beautiful thing is that you don’t need a lot of qualifications. You can easily learn on the job although you’ll need basic requirements. As a graduate, you can easily fit into this role with just a little training from your place of duty.

In all honesty, becoming a medical scribe is key if you want to venture into the medical field eventually. With the experience you gather as a scribe, you will easily fit into any position in the health field.

Read more: How can I become a Chiropractor 

What Qualifies You for a Medical Scribe Position?

Before you can become a scribe in the field of medicine, you must prove that you’re worthy of such a position. To be precise, you must ensure your qualifications help you fit into that position effortlessly.

Generally speaking, some of these qualifications include the following;

• High School Diploma/College Degree
• Ability to Work 16 hours
• Little Knowledge of Best Health Practices
• Training Certification

What Skills Are Required to Function as a Medical Scribe?

Performing optimally at the medical scribe role demands that you fulfill key responsibilities. Fulfilling these responsibilities excellently basically demands that you possess a strong skill set. These skill sets help you perform well and can give you a chance to rise in your position.

So, the key skill sets required to become a medical scribe include the following;

• Effective writing skills
• Strong attention to detail
• Understanding of medical terminologies
• Strong ethical standards
• Communication
• Documentation and Organization

How does a Medical Scribe Help a Physician?

At this point, we clearly understand that most of the medical scribe’s duties involve assisting the physician. However, we didn’t look into how he achieves this objective.

So, a medical scribe helps a physician in the following ways which include;

• Accurate documentation of medical visits and physician procedures
• Preparation of phone calls
• Performance of clerical tasks
• Address inconsistencies in medical documentation
• Collect, Organize and Catalog Data for Physician Quality Reporting System
• Proofreading and editing all physician’s medical documents

What does a Medical Scribe make?

As a medical scribe, you benefit financially from using your expertise to solve problems. Although the financial benefit is unequal across all states and countries, we will give you an average.

According to ZipRecruiter, the average salary of a medical scribe is $33,138. Indeed, we can agree that this salary is fair for an entry-level position in the health center.

Read more: 15 Best Early Assurance Medical Programs

What is the Job Outlook of a Medical Scribe?

As a professional scribe, you must understand that your position is vital to proper and timely diagnosis. Hence, you are important to the general health and well-being of society.

According to BLS, the employment of medical transcriptionists is projected to decline by 3% from 2018 to 2028. The growing volume of healthcare services is expected to continue to increase the demand for transcription services.

How Long Does it Take to Become a Medical Scribe?

If you want to venture into the medical scribe field, you must ensure you fulfill all the requirements and make your application in addition to receiving an acceptance letter.

We cannot add that time frame into the time length because it varies so we will focus on training time. Generally, it takes about 120 hours to become a medical scribe based on the training alone.

Read more: How Long Does it Take to Become a Doctor

How to Become a Medical Scribe?

This section will meticulously show you how to become a medical scribe. Furthermore, you will learn how to follow each step accordingly. So, the required steps you need to fulfill to become a medical scribe include the following;

• Fulfil All the Requirements
• Submit an Application
• Attend Interview
• Write a Typing Test
• Accept Offer
• Attend Training

#1. Fulfill all the Requirements

To consider becoming a medical scribe, you must check to see if you have fulfilled all the requirements. You can check for all the requirements you need to attain even to consider the medical scribe position. Although some requirements may vary by state, this conversation focuses on the general requirements.

#2. Submit an Application

Submitting your application is your way of indicating interest in an open position. So, you must submit your application to the required health institution, telling them of your intention to serve as a medical scribe.

A good number of these applications are online. So, you have to submit your application to your desired institute online. However, if they desire that you submit your application through another means, please follow it.

#3. Attend Interview

When your application pulls through, you will get a request to attend an interview. This interview is usually online and runs over a media platform; however, some health centres might want to see your knowledge in action practically.

You must conduct yourself properly during your interview with all dignity, poise, and flair. You must answer each question confidently, always wanting to learn and grow.

#4. Write a Typing Test

As a medical scribe, most of your work falls on proper data documentation. A large part of that organizing requires a lot of speed. So, as a medical scribe, you must possess the ability to type fast.

After your interview session is complete, you will attend a typing test. The typing test aims to gauge your understanding, speed, and ability to get, document, and organize data. Hence, your organization makes it easy to pick out the necessary information.

The typing test is usually conducted by your choice health institution, and the system varies per industry.

#5. Accept Offer

Immediately you complete your interview and typing test; you’ll wait for your choice of health institute to collate your results. You might need to wait for as much as two weeks, depending on the number of your fellow applicants.

So, check your mail to accept the offer to work as a medical scribe. The details of your work hours, schedule, and all other information, are dependent on your institute.

#6. Attend Training

Once you have accepted the offer, you will need to attend training. This training specifically focuses on the industry’s system of doing work to create uniformity.

You will get training in three key areas such as;

Web-Based

According to TrainingIndustry, web-based training refers to training done through a web-based or online environment. Web-based training is often called virtual training or distance learning and utilizes cloud-based computing tools for access, administration, delivery, and analytics.

This training will expose you to the key aspects of medical scribe duties. Because you will organize a lot of training over the web, you need this training to scale your game.

Instructor-Led

After your web-based training, an instructor will teach you and your other qualified applicants about other medical scribing areas. This teaching is usually conducted within halls or even over the web.

Clinical

The clinical training is the last training you will attend. This training is usually conducted at the clinic. It’s practical training that is usually conducted at the clinic.

In this training, a senior medical scribe and new scribes like yourself, will walk with a physician to gather data on a patient’s medical history and problems.

How to Become a Certified Medical Scribe?

For a lot of professions, especially in the medical field, nothing beats a license. A license means that you have satisfied every necessary body responsible for ensuring only qualified professionals practice.

In America, the American College of Medical Scribe Specialists ensures that all scribes who serve different health institutes have a license. They usually organize an aptitude test and a licensing exam.

Every scribe who scales through the licensing exam and test gets a license. With this license, the scribe can fully function anywhere in the country.

Conclusion

Medical scribes remain key to building the health industry. Physicians worldwide remain grateful to them for the tremendous help they offer every time.

As a booming career path, you’re not making the wrong decision if you decide to become a medical scribe. You don’t need to fulfil many conditions to apply for a position.

I hope you make the best decision for yourself.

References

• OHSU – History
• Wikipedia – Medical Scribe
• TrainingIndustry – Web-Based Training
• ZipRecruiter– What Is the Average Medical Scribe Salary
• BLS – Occupational Outlook Handbook, Medical Transcriptionists
• AHDPG – The Job Description
• ACMSS – Becoming Licensed: Certified Medical Scribe Specialist (CMSS™)

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