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Comparing Virtual Medical Scribes vs. Medical Scribes

Updated: Jul 9



The world of healthcare is full of confusing words and titles used to describe its different aspects. When people think of medical scribes, it’s traditionally referred to as physical, in-person medical scribes. However, another type of medical scribe is taking the healthcare world by storm, and with good reason. Virtual medical scribes are very similar to traditional medical scribes, but with one big difference. Virtual medical scribes can fulfill their medical duties without being at the doctor’s side or in person.

In this article, we’ll look at a comparison of virtual medical scribes and traditional medical scribes. Once you understand the difference between the two, you’ll be able to decide which option best fits your needs.

What are the Duties of a Medical Scribe?

Unless you’ve worked in the medical field firsthand, it’s difficult to understand the amount of paperwork and documents that takes place. Doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, and medical professionals of every kind are tasked with pages and hours of documentation and paperwork every day.

Medical scribes are tasked with helping doctors and physicians with their mountain of paperwork. Every piece of information and documentation that doctors do must be input into their patient’s EHR or EMR. Medical scribes assist doctors by documenting their visits with various patients and inputting that information into the EHR (electronic health records.)

How Does a Medical Scribe Assist a Doctor?

Whether in-person or virtual, medical scribes act as the doctor’s right hand and save them tons of time. Every interaction between a doctor and their patient has to be documented in detail and uploaded to that patient’s EHR. Traditionally, doctors were forced to do this, which resulted in a reduction in the number of patients they could see.

Virtual Medical scribes have allowed doctors to spend less time facing a computer screen and more time facing their patients. Documenting and uploading information is essential to complete and ongoing patient care. Just because doctors don’t have time for it doesn’t mean it isn’t essential. Medical scribes are trained and capable of taking this workload away from doctors and performing the work themselves.

How Does Using a Virtual Medical Scribe Work?

You might be thinking that the only way to document a doctor’s interactions with a patient accurately is to be physically in the room with them. However, thanks to modern technology, this is no longer the case. In some ways, having an extra person in the room where the visit occurs complicates matters. This is especially true since social distancing is the way of the future.

When you enlist a virtual medical scribe from MedVA, you can rest assured that they won’t miss anything. You can have a live webcast of your patient interactions and have the medical scribe viewing the visit remotely. You can also record your interactions with patients and send them to our virtual medical scribes via the web. All live visits and recordings are private and will never be released to the public.

Whether your virtual medical scribe is viewing the appointment live or via a recording, they take careful notes and documentation and upload information into the patient’s EHR. Virtual medical scribes can assist you in an emergency room, doctor’s office, outpatient clinic, and a variety of other medical settings.

What are the Benefits of Using a Virtual Medical Scribe vs. an In-Person One?

Virtual medical scribes from MedVA offer many advantages as opposed to using in-person medical scribes. Let’s take a look at some of them now.

Cost Savings

Like most things in business, most things come down to money. It’s hard to provide patients with top-notch medical care when you’re worried about going bankrupt. Virtual medical scribes from MedVA can save you thousands of dollars to put towards important aspects of your practice. You also don’t have to pay for extra office space for a medical scribe if you’re using a virtual one.

Ease and Convenience

Virtual medical scribes from MedVA are easy and convenient and take the stress out of hiring a new employee. By enlisting our help, we can offer you peace of mind knowing that accurate and detailed updates are being made for each of your patients. Our virtual medical scribes are trained and qualified in the art of scribing.

Privacy

Your patients will also appreciate that it’s just you and them during their visit with you. Virtual medical scribes do their work remotely, which gives patients an increased feeling of privacy and protection. You can rest assured that your live connection or recordings will be made via a secure and private online connection with your virtual scribe.

Increased Efficiency

Since you won’t have to spend time between patients or do your scribing, you’ll be able to see more patients. Virtual medical scribes offer you the chance to maximize your work hours and see as many patients as possible.

No Training Time Required

The virtual medical scribes from MedVA are trained medical professionals more than capable of scribing and documenting. You won’t have to waste time training a recruit and worry about not understanding medical terms.

Flexibility

It’s human nature for medical scribes and other professionals to miss a few days of work here and there. You don’t have to worry about that with virtual medical scribes from MedVA. If they cannot view the live appointment between you and your patient, simply send them a recording of the interaction, and they’ll take care of the rest.

Great for Rural Areas

Hiring an in-person medical scribe isn’t always an option in rural areas where medical personnel is limited. However, virtual medical scribes are always an option if you have wifi.

Quicker EHR Updates

Documenting and uploading EHR updates takes valuable time that you often don’t have. Virtual medical scribes from Med VA will have your patient’s EHR updates as quickly and accurately as possible.

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