The Medical Scribe Onboarding Process

If you are considering implementing a medical scribe program, you will want to know how the process, training and timeline will work. Based on your organization’s size and goals, we will work with you to structure, and implement a scribe program that meets your needs. This document should serve to answer questions regarding what implementation looks like and how long it takes. Please keep in mind, our programs are customized to fit your needs so these items can change.

The following approach and timeline works for organizations that range in size from small private practices to large hospital systems. While there will be more Scribekick personnel involved in a larger deployment, the same principles and systems apply.

Getting Started

Each practice and doctor is unique. Of course, there are regulations that all healthcare organizations must follow, but each has their own idiosyncrasies, needs, and way of doing things. For that reason it is best that a customized plan is laid out for your organization. Here are the steps we take together:

1. Assess Current Needs. During the initial consultation, we will learn more about your specific pain points, so we can create a program that accomplishes your goals.  We will discuss how to set up your program internally for success as well as advise on how to select high potential ROI (return on investment) doctors for a potential pilot. Once you are interested in moving forward, we typically are able to schedule our trial in a couple weeks.
2. Our No-Risk Trial. We understand that working with a scribe is a large change to workflows, so we offer a one-day trial before we move forward with implementation. During the trial day, one of our veteran scribes will shadow the physician for a few patients and scribe for the remainder of the day. We only charge for our trial if a client decides to move forward with our services, as most do. At the end of this trial our goal is to:
   • Confirm the scribe concept is beneficial to the practice.
   • Clarify the skillset and personality requirements for the role.
   • Establish workflows to best utilize a scribe.
3. Standardize procedures. From day one, we document the process and complete an internal preference sheet outlining exactly how to document for that particular doctor to ensure our medical scribes follow established workflow protocol. Additionally, we have found our clients like to document and communicate the process and workflow on their side so no one is in doubt as to their roles and responsibilities.
4. Establish and communicate the workflow. You’ll want to be sure you have educated your staff who will be working closely with their scribe. It is important that your team members understand the workflow with a scribe on board, and what every individual’s responsibility will be under the scribe program. But don’t worry, Scribekick will guide you through this process.
5. Assemble the right team. We will make sure we select the right scribe(s) trained for your exact needs, personality, and skill set. We train smart, tech-savvy, pre-health candidates to be scribes. Through the over 100 hours of training they receive, our scribes understand the medical terminology and specific needs of your specialty and organization.  
6. Train the scribe. The veteran scribe will work with the trainee who studies medical terminology relevant to the specialty and then participates in specialty-specific mock doctor/patient scenarios. (Learn more about our training process here.) Charting shortcuts or dot phrases are developed to improve speed and efficiency, and to further match the physician’s preferences. Once training outside the physician’s office is complete, the veteran scribe accompanies the permanent/trainee scribe for a minimum of two weeks allowing for the trainee to progressively take on responsibilities until they are able to complete the chart on their own without the help of the veteran scribe. The doctor benefits immediately because the veteran scribe handles the training, not the doctor.
7. Test and measure your success. To ensure consistency and continual improvement, we track and measure the program, modifying as needed.
   Scribekick will monitor and analyze the situation to make sure we have the right scribe for the role when it comes to personality and skill set, and we’ll make adjustments as needed. We’ll continue to be open to, and solicit your feedback to make sure your scribe program stays fine-tuned to your needs.

Hiring a medical scribe will help you to become more efficient and take the pressure off your physicians and clinicians. We have designed our onboarding process to get you up and running as soon as possible and minimize any intrusion to your workflow.

If you have questions or would like to get started now on your scribe program, the first step is to schedule a consultation call.