What Does a Virtual Medical Scribe Do? The Complete Job Description
The healthcare industry continues to evolve as it moves into the future. It grows along with the advancements in technology, regulations, practices, and overall standards. More and more patients are also recognizing the value of frequent check-ups. As such, growing demands are placed on healthcare professionals.
To meet these demands, new roles have emerged within the world of healthcare. Among these new roles is that of the what does a virtual medical scribe do.
The Role of Virtual Medical Scribes in Today’s Healthcare
Virtual medical scribes have become highly crucial in today’s healthcare landscape. Their services enable healthcare professionals to focus better on patients, thus allowing them to provide a higher quality of patient care. These medical professionals assist physicians and doctors through the following services.
Medical Documentation
This is the main responsibility of a virtual medical scribe. They document patient encounters, taking notes of relevant patient details such as medical history, examination finds, diagnoses, and medications or treatment plans.
Scribes document patient visits in real time so that doctors can focus on their patients during these encounters.
EHR Management
Virtual medical scribes are also responsible for EHR documentation. Following patient encounters, scribes update and maintain electronic health records systems so that the medical clinic has a complete and accurate record of their patients.
Standard Data Entry
Virtual medical scribes can also handle standard data entry tasks. This is something they most usually do with electronic health records systems and other similar software. They input relevant medical data such as patient record, medical history, insurance information, and more. This task ensures the medical clinic is able to follow proper formatting protocols and reduces the risks of billing and claims issues.
Chart Management
Prior to a patient visit, the virtual medical scribe can handle and organize patient charts. They prepare charts for physicians so that they can have all the necessary information regarding a specific patient before the visit, allowing for a more focused and efficient consultation.
Following the visit, the scribe can then ensure the chart is updated with new information.
Billing and Coding Assistance
While virtual scribes aren’t mainly responsible for billing, they provide significant support to the billing process through their complete and accurate documentation.
Information Dissemination
Virtual scribes are mainly the main handlers of information within the medical clinic. They absorb information as they document patient encounters and expel them during data entry tasks. As such, they can also be the ones responsible for disseminating information within the clinic.
Whenever someone requires information or answers to specific questions, whether they be a staff member, another healthcare provider, or a patient, the virtual scribe can relay said information smoothly.
Telehealth Support
The demand for telehealth support has grown rapidly over the years. Many medical practitioners offer these kinds of services now and virtual medical scribes play a major role in making this service more streamlined. During digital consultations, scribes can continue to do documentation and make sure all relevant data is captured.
Additional Administrative Assistance
When a virtual scribe is finished with documentation, EHR management, and data entry, they can continue to extend their serviceability by providing further additional administrative assistance when required. Virtual medical scribes can work alongside virtual assistants. They are trained and skilled to lessen administrative burdens to further make a clinic run more efficiently.
Required Skills of Virtual Scribes
To become a great virtual scribe, one must have the following skills.
Attention to Detail
Accuracy is of paramount importance for a medical scribe. In this practice, even minor errors can have dire consequences. As such, every virtual scribe must make sure that their work is perfect down to the last dot.
Medical Terminology Proficiency
A thorough understanding of medical terminology is an absolute requirement for every scribe. They need to have a decent understanding of medical terminology, abbreviations, jargon, and specific language so they can follow conversations between physicians and patients and accurately document every interaction.
Fundamental Medical Knowledge
In addition to having an understanding of medical terminology, a scribe must also have a fundamental understanding of medical procedures, conditions, medications, treatments, and so on. Surface-level knowledge of the medical field can help them understand patient interactions at a deeper level, allowing them to transcribe more accurately.
Technologically Proficiency
Since virtual scribes work remotely, they must be sufficiently proficient in technology in order to do the job properly. Scribes are always exposed to various software tools. A scribe must be familiar with medical programs enough to perform their tasks efficiently.
Strong Typing Skills
Strong typing skills are one of the most important skills for a medical scribe to have. Not only do they need to type fast, but they must also be accurate. A minimum speed of 60 words per minute without losing accuracy is a great target for aspiring scribes to reach.
Excellent Communication Skills
Medical scribes are also required to occasionally interact with other physicians, administrative staff members, and patients. They need to be able to communicate with others clearly and concisely so that they can deliver information accurately.
Virtual Scribe Backgrounds and Qualifications
Doctors and employers pay close attention to an applicant’s background when they are hiring virtual medical scribes. These are the specific backgrounds they take a look at.
Educational Background
Formal education requirements for virtual scribes can vary. Some employers and doctors require a scribe that has a medical degree, others settle for those who have a degree in different fields. Non-degree holders can still get hired by certain doctors and employers under special conditions.
Medical Background
A lot of the best virtual scribes today come from medical backgrounds. Many of them were former nurses, medical assistants, pharmacists, and more before they chose to shift careers so they could work remotely. This background is a valuable asset for those who are looking to secure a career as a scribe.
Professional Background
Those who do not have a medical background but have acquired transferrable administrative skills that are relevant to virtual medical scribing can have a great chance of getting hired as a scribe. Skills such as the ones listed above aren’t only helpful, but almost necessary for aspiring scribes.
Certifications
Those who don’t have a medical degree or have prior experience in the medical field can jump-start their career as a scribe by getting certified by recognized scribe programs. Certification demonstrates that a scribe has undergone rigorous training and is prepared to tackle the intricacies of the position.
Why Healthcare Providers Hire Virtual Scribes
Healthcare providers hire medical scribes so that they are free to focus better on their patients. The burden of medical documentation during patient encounters can be cumbersome. It can detract focus and restrict physicians from reaching proper patient outcomes.
Medical scribes provide valuable assistance by removing this burden from the shoulders of doctors. When a doctor can focus better on their patients thanks to the absence of this administrative burden, they can improve patient outcomes and patient experience.
Healthcare professionals hire virtual scribes so they can attain this level of efficiency. At the end of the day, virtual scribing contributes to patient care and that is why they have become more sought-after in the industry.
A Day in the Life of a Virtual Medical Scribe
As professionals in the healthcare industry, a work day for scribes can vary from day to day. After all, the healthcare industry is known for being unpredictable and fluid. Having said that, scribes can have a fair expectation of what a “usual” workday can look like.
Working Remotely
As they work from home or from another remote location, they connect with their doctors or employers via online platforms. Through their personal computer, they can perform their duties without being physically present in the healthcare facility.
The remote work arrangement of scribes offers great flexibility, but it also requires strong discipline as they are essentially left to manage their own hours with minimal supervision.
Typical Workflow
Scribes logs and listen in on patient appointments, interactions, procedures, and more to create medical documentation and SOAP notes. Following these visits, they must update the EHR system and input any new relevant information.
Depending on the workload, a scribe can also be tasked with other administrative duties on a regular basis.
Potential Challenges
Virtual scribing can come with several challenges. The most common challenge medical scribes face is a high influx of patients in a short amount of time. This requires a medical scribe to be attentive in a long period of time without losing speed and accuracy.
Medical scribes must also face the complexities of medical software and adjust whenever required, which is why scribes are required to be technologically proficient.
Another hurdle medical scribes can face is technical issues. They may experience network connectivity problems or hardware-related problems. Many experienced scribes mitigate this issue by having a backup internet connection and work set-up.
Excelling in the World of Healthcare as a Virtual Scribe With VMeDx
At VMeDx, we empower our virtual medical scribes to support healthcare professionals to their highest possible capacity. With a selective and efficient hiring process, rigorous training, and ongoing support, we make sure our scribes are more than equipped to tackle the intricacies of any medical clinic.
Whether you’re a healthcare professional who’s looking to experience the benefits of virtual scribes, or a scribe looking to excel in your career, VMeDx is the platform for you.