Doctor-Parent Interactions With Medical Scribes

Doctor-Parent Interactions With Medical Scribes

The purpose of the study is to collect outcomes related to a quality improvement project assessing the feasibility and effectiveness of a medical scribe program in which medical scribes accompany clinicians during their visits with patients. The medical scribes involved in the project are professional scribes and medical students who will accompany clinicians during patient visits and takes notes, enabling the clinician to engage more directly with the patient.

The study has several specific objectives. This study aims to examine the impact of using medical scribes on (1) patient experience (e.g. patient satisfaction) (2) clinician experience (e.g. stress load, burnout, evaluation of the visit, amount of time spent after hours inputting notes), and (3) clinician-patient interaction (e.g. patient and clinician engagement during the visit).

Provider Participants

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Attending clinicians with privileges at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital and/or the Penn State Hershey Internal Medicine. This may include attending MDs or DOs and Nurse Practitioners (NPs).
2. Voluntary participation in the medical scribe QI project.
3. Consents to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Clinician is not participating in the scribe project.
2. Clinician does not consent to participate in the research portion of this project.

Patient Participants

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Patient (if 18 years or older) or parent/guardian (P/G) of patient being seen by a participating clinician.
2. Patient was not seen by a resident or medical student prior to meeting with clinician.
3. English speaking/reading.
4. Patient or P/G has capacity to consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Patient is seeing a clinician who has not consented to participate in the research portion of the study.
2. Non-English speaking/reading.
3. Patient or P/G lacks capacity to consent.