What are EMRs and How Do Scribes Use Them?

Posted by Allison Dewan on Thu, Jul 31, 2014 @ 04:21 PM

 

By definition provided by the U.S government Health IT website, an electronic medical record (EMR) is a digital version of a paper chart that contains all of a patient’s medical history from one practice. An EMR is mostly used by providers for diagnosis and treatment.

EMRs are more beneficial than paper records because EMRs lead to improved efficiency and organization of records. Digital management systems for tracking patient care and maintaining that patients are properly informed about their health via online records is key to keeping up in the digital age.

Using EMRs can be overwhelming to doctors who are more accustomed to paper charts. 

This is where the scribes come in! Medical scribes focus on completing all of the electronic record work while the physician focuses on the patient.

According to the American College of Emergency Physicians the following are the main duties of scribes:

  • to follow a physician through his or her work day and chart patient encounters in real-time using a medical office's Electronic Health Record and existing templates

  • generate referral letters for physicians, manage and sort medical documents within the EHR system, and assist with e-prescribing

    Thus, by handling data management tasks, scribes allow physicians to have more time with patients and to better manage their patient treatment time.

Topics: EMRs, Scribe, EMR