Hospital Hires 'Scribes' To Help Docs With E-RecordsHospital Hires 'Scribes' To Help Docs With E-Records
The University of Virginia has hired "scribes" with laptop computers to follow doctors around as they treat patients, updating electronic medical records as they go. The antique-sounding position is one example of the steps hospitals are taking as they struggle to adopt e-health records.
October 8, 2009

The University of Virginia has hired "scribes" with laptop computers to follow doctors around as they treat patients, updating electronic medical records as they go. The antique-sounding position is one example of the steps hospitals are taking as they struggle to adopt e-health records.Other hospitals take different steps to input EHRs. Some doctors dictate notes, which are later taken down by professional transcriptionists at the computer, or use wireless computers on wheels as they make their rounds, according to a report in USA Today.
The University of Virginia program sounds crazy, acknowledges one scribe. "When I tell my friends I'm a scribe, they ask me if I use a quill," says [Derek] Leiner, 22, a University of Virginia graduate who plans to apply to medical school. But doctors at the university see the value.
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