Emergency Department Medical Scribe at LewisGale Medical Center Salem, VA August 2015 - Present
When people ask me what I do at the hospital, I smile and proudly say, “I am a scribe in the emergency department. I do charting for doctors every day.” Being a scribe has helped me in many ways that I never expected. As a scribe, I have the privilege of witnessing the interaction between patients and physicians. My main responsibility is to serve as a personal assistant to the physician by gathering information from patient encounters, looking up patients' past medical history, monitoring patient lab and imaging results, and entering data into electronic medical records (MEDITECH).
Working side by side with physicians has given me illuminating real-life experiences, which I apply to the classes I am taking. On a typical day I work 8-10 hours with one physician and see 15-25 patients. While the work can sometimes feel overwhelming, the people I work with are amazing and make me all the more excited to begin my journey as a dietetic intern. The most important lesson I learned from them is how to function as part of a health care team and truly make a difference in people's lives.