Scribes in an Australian private emergency department: A description of physician productivity

Abstract

In this pilot study, scribe usage was feasible, and overall improvements in consultations per hour were seen. Overall income improved by AUD104.86 (95% CI AUD38.52, AUD171.21) per scribed hour. Further study is recommended to determine if results are sustained or improved over a longer period.

Review article: Potential of medical scribes to allay the burden of documentation and enhance efficiency in Australian emergency departments

“…However, another US study reported much larger and significant decreases in mean time to clinician from 1.2 h to 1 h ( P < 0.001) . This result was replicated in the Australian study, where time to clinician also significantly decreased by 22 min (pre‐scribes 1 h vs post‐scribes 0.6 h, P < 0.001) …”

Medical scribes have no impact on the patient experience of an emergency department

“…We also note that in the research at Cabrini on scribe utilisation to date, over 2000 scribed consultations have taken place, during which no patient has asked a scribe to leave and less than 1% of consultations have excluded the scribe at the physician's discretion due to the sensitive nature of the consultation.…”

“…There are approximately 24 000 Cabrini ED attendances each year with a 48% admission rate. Data were collected during a one‐year scribe economic study (ACTRN12615000607572), which followed two smaller‐scale pilot studies …”

“…Increasing need for ED services and increased health costs drive the need for improved productivity and cost containment . There is inconsistent evidence regarding the economic benefit of scribes in the ED …”

An economic evaluation of the costs of training a medical scribe to work in Emergency Medicine

“…Most cost–benefit analyses of scribes have presumed that the scribe is trained and experienced. These analyses estimate 13%–20% medical productivity gains,1 5 8 13 with overall economic gains based on more patients and increased revenue per patient (in the USA, not Australia) set against salary costs of the scribes.…”