Welcome back everyone! Oh, how I’ve missed you all so much. The last time you heard from me, I was saying goodbye to Montclair State University. I have finally moved on from being a full-time student to now a full-time working woman. I’ll be back to talk about medical school at some point in my life when I begin that process, but today’s blog is all about my new job. Not too long ago, I posted a poll on Instagram asking my followers if they wanted me to write a blog about my new job. The majority of you responded so positively, so here I am, lol.
Before I get into the details, I have to first thank God for providing me with this job. Many of you may or may not know this, but I was offered the job before graduating! To be even more specific, I got the job during finals week. Isn’t God good!? I don’t think I’ll ever have enough words to express how grateful I am to have such a faithful Father. He exceeds all of my expectations, and I am so honored to be called His.
Now, you are probably thinking to yourself, “Alex, we see you in the scrubs, so what do you do?”. I am proud to say that I am a medical scribe for CityMD. CityMD is an urgent care that is a part of the Summit Health medical group/company. Before stepping foot into the company, I had my own perception of what I thought the job would entail. Guys, I kid you not, my perception could not have been any further from reality. Before starting, I was to train at headquarters for about a week in Manhattan, New York. That, my friends, was quite the experience. I had never taken the train alone before so I was a mess the majority of the time. I had to learn how to take the subway, and let me tell you, it was not fun. In the process, I had to familiarize myself with New York ALL BY MYSELF. I’m not going to lie, I really struggled that week. Before coming into this, I thought my job was only going to consist of me taking notes of what took place during the doctor/patient visit. Boy, was I in for a rude awakening!
Although one of my biggest responsibilities is to take notes during the doctor or physician assistants’ (PA) visit with the patient, it’s not my only responsibility as a medical scribe. To make it easier for you guys to follow along, here is a list of some of my duties at work as a medical scribe….
View our EMR system (electronic medical records); This is where I see the names of our patients (pt) and why they are visiting.
I assign the patient to a room and to a Doctor/PA (Most of the time, our excellent managers or PCR’s do this part to manage the flow, but scribes can do it as well)
I call the pt to the room and introduce myself
Take their vitals and ask what brings them in
As the pt is communicating the reason for their visit, I am typing most of what’s being said into their chart for medical records and for the Doctor/PA to see from their computers outside of the room (this gives them an idea of what’s happening before they even meet the pt)
Whether the Doctor/PA has read the chart already or not, it is my responsibility to always tell them about the pt (i.e., gender and age), why they are visiting us today, and what have I done so far in terms of testing (I’ll explain this a little later)
Once I communicate what is going on with the patient, I follow the Doctor/PA back into the patient’s room and start typing what is taking place (i.e., physical exam, diagnosis, treatment, immunizations, prescriptions, etc.).
After step seven, the visit is pretty much over, but my job isn’t. After the patient walks out of the room, I clean the room up and make sure it’s ready for the next patient. Lastly, whatever I did not catch or understand while the Doctor/PA was communicating with the previous patient, it is my responsibility to ask the Doctor/PA to repeat any information that I missed before they lock the pt’s chart. Then, I record whatever I missed into the chart and am pretty much done unless I am told otherwise.
Depending on the patient’s visit, I can administer some but not all tests (this is part of step 6). For example, if a pt is requesting a rapid covid test for travel or is feeling sick with symptoms resembling covid, I can do covid testing before the Doctor/PA sees the pt themselves. Another example is if a pt is complaining of an awful sore throat, I can perform a strep test. Or say a pt is complaining of urinary discomfort or abnormalities, I can also begin urinary testing. These are just a couple of instances where I am on my own before the Doctor/PA sees the pt. This may sound easy but it becomes a lot more difficult when you see, on average, about 150-200 patients a day and are sometimes juggling 2-3 patients at a time.
Although my new job comes with a lot of new lessons, I am so happy to be there. The company wholeheartedly stands by providing quality care with kindness. My co-workers welcomed me with open arms and have been nothing but so kind and supportive through my transition. In addition, the dDoctor/PA have been amazing and have been a great source of help when answering my questions and teaching me what they know as successful healthcare providers themselves.
To be clear, this isn’t everything. I know that there is so much more to learn at CityMD, and I am excited to do so. It has been a lovely ride so far and I pray that it only keeps going up from here. I am praying that I receive the tools that I’ll need to be one of the best physicians within my community someday. I hope you guys have a better idea of what I do after reading this blog entry and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask away in the comment section. Once again, I love you guys, thank you for your support, and God bless!