How Do Virtual Medical Scribes Compare to In-Person Scribes

When considering the impact of a medical scribe on your organization, you may be driven to consider whether an in-person scribe or a virtual scribe would be better for you.

Well, there’s a lot of information to consider for your health, with key points of cost, training, and connectivity being of vital importance.

In this article, we’re going to discuss these two forms of medical scribing and discuss how they differ in their nature.

What is the role of a medical scribe?

A medical scribe plays an increasingly important role in the modern healthcare system. Essentially, a scribe’s job is to record everything that happens during a medical meeting or appointment. This might sound a little odd, but the real functionality of this role is that it prevents a doctor from having to take notes.

This allows the doctor to take more time and care focusing on the patient, and ensuring that they care for them in the most efficient way possible. Overall, the doctor and the scribe therefore work as a team to offer both high-quality medical care and skilled note-taking for the patient’s files and the hospital’s systems.

A medical scribe may also be expected to carry out some minor admin tasks. Typically, these are connected to the notes that they’re scribing and may involve error-checking them and saving them to the appropriate location in an organization’s systems. These tasks can sometimes be a little more far-reaching, with the medical scribe sometimes functioning to allow the doctor to work more efficiently by ensuring their appointments and schedule are as they should be.

What is the difference between a virtual and in-person scribe?

The core difference between a virtual medical scribe and an in-person medical scribe is that only the in-person scribe is physical with the doctor and the patient in the hospital. The advantage of this is that the communication can be understood more clearly by the scribe, and they can ask questions of the patient and doctor to ensure better record-keeping.

A virtual scribe may be consulted via phone or video conferencing. Then, they will virtually sit in on the appointment that’s unfolding and take the appropriate notes that an in-person scribe may also take.

The main reason healthcare organizations can choose this is as a cost-saving measure. A remote worker tends to cost less than an in-person worker per hour, plus they can rapidly flit between different appointments and doctors using advanced video conferencing techniques. This improves the overall efficiency and flexibility of the role of the scribe.

Furthermore, some patients tend to prefer virtual scribes, feeling that a face on a screen or a voice on a phone is a little more private than another physical person in the room. This is a double-edged sword, however, as the phone or internet connection can pose data security concerns, especially if the scribe is international.

The main drawback of virtual scribes is simple: essentially, the scribes are much less likely to have the training in biology and anatomy needed to construct accurate documentation. Since there’s no official qualification needed for the role, a lengthy interview process can determine the skill level of an in-person scribe. A virtual scribe, however, may not be subject to that same process.

Which is better for your organization?

Well, that’s a very tricky question to answer. Essentially, deciding which suits your work best comes down to money and accuracy.

Money

A lot of the time, a virtual scribe will be a lot cheaper than an in-person scribe. The reason for this is simple – the virtual scribe is often working from their home and may be doing this work as something of a side hustle.

Since an in-person scribe is physically at your organization, however, you often need to pay them more and furnish them with the relevant equipment. This does represent a higher upfront cost, but with the savings and increased efficiency they represent, they may pay for themselves with time.

Accuracy

An in-person medical scribe can be trained and tested much more rigorously than a virtual one. This also applies to non-medical issues, such as accents and regional dialects. A virtual scribe is less likely to understand inflections and regional words for a place that they’ve never actually been to. An in-person scribe, however, may have that accent themself and have been using that terminology for their whole life.

Comparing a virtual medical scribe and an in-person medical scribe can be tricky, but it’s important to weigh the options well to consider which is best for you and your needs.

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