Position Statement on Medical Scribes

Medical scribes should be considered ancillary staff members employed to assist the emergency physician with data entry and documentation requirements. Their function should be to free the emergency physician to focus on clinical duties.  All information entered or generated in a health care record by a medical scribe should be reviewed for accuracy by the treating emergency medicine physician. The documentation generated by a medical scribe is by necessity an accurate reflection of the encounter between the emergency medicine physician and the patient.  Medical scribes should be prohibited from taking liberties with documenting from their own perspective.  The medical scribe duties should not include independent interaction with a patient, order entry or selection of discharge plans or documents.

Approved: 8/21/14