Impact of scribes on emergency department patient throughput one year after implementation

Impact of Medical Scribes on Provider Efficiency in the Pediatric Emergency Department

“…The unpredictability of hour‐to‐hour ED census makes the efficiency status of an ED readily impressionable and responsive to changes such as the addition of a scribe program. Previous literature regarding the effect of scribe use in the ED has had conflicting results . Outside of the ED setting, scribes have been shown to have a similar impact.…”

“…This is an important shift, as direct patient contact is one of the principal predictors of positive patient outcomes and patient satisfaction . However, studies have shown conflicting results regarding a scribe program's effect on efficiency metrics, such as throughput times and number of patients seen per day . It is important to distinguish scribes’ effect on throughput times in EDs, as reduced ED crowding is associated with decreased patient mortality .…”

Effects of medical scribes on physician productivity in a Canadian emergency department: a pilot study

“…7 Furthermore, productivity measures appear to be maintained for up to 1 year after implementation. 8 In contrast to these findings, a previous Canadian study did not find a significant increase in the number of patients seen per hour with a scribe, 9 although improved physician-nurse satisfaction and improved chart legibility were reported. This study took place in an academic hospital and did not indicate whether scribes received prestudy training.…”

Interventions to improve patient flow in emergency departments: an umbrella review

“…The impact of scribes on patient flow was examined in one review that compared services with scribes with those without 22. The settings included six academic and two community EDs across the USA (six), Canada (one) and Australia (one).…”