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       #Post#: 3925--------------------------------------------------
       I "met" my first medical scribe
       By: agate Date: February 9, 2023, 2:10 am
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       I had an appointment with my primary care doctor today, mainly
       just to go over some routine lab test results.
       The first person I saw was a woman who, I learned, was my
       regular doctor's "M.A.", which I learned means "medical
       assistant."  She asked me some screening questions ("Are you in
       pain now, and how would you rate the level of your pain?").
       She left, and then in came my regular doctor, carrying a laptop
       and some other items.
       She began by saying, as she set the laptop down on the counter,
       "This is my scribe, and she will be sitting in on our session.
       This will make my record-keeping easier and more accurate."
       I drew a blank. One person had entered the room. I saw no
       others. There was nothing on the laptop screen. Surely she
       didn't mean the laptop screen anyway? A laptop isn't a "he" or a
       "she" so far as I know.
       So, perhaps stupidly, I said, looking around, "Um, where is
       she?"
       "Oh!" said my doctor brightly. "She's right here"--gesturing
       toward the laptop.
       I said that I wasn't seeing anything on the screen. Instantly
       the doctor fixed the problem somehow, and a person appeared on
       the screen, a woman sitting at a desk.
       She was there throughout the next 20 minutes or so when the
       doctor and I were talking, the stethoscope was used, and my feet
       were put through a diabetic foot exam.  Actually she was there
       even after the doctor had left the room but later the doctor
       came back to retrieve the laptop.
       So this is the doctors' newest toy. I hope it works well for the
       doctors who are adoping this method as some of the chart notes
       I've had access to haven't been very accurate, but they were
       done before  scribes came along.
       But it is an odd feeling after a lifetime of visits to a
       doctor's office that involve just that doctor and perhaps one
       other family member. In an odd way, the doctor seems more remote
       now.
       And when the doctor left, there was no goodbye. To be sure, she
       had already made it clear that I was to come back in 3 months.
       But often a doctor will say something pleasant, like "Keep up
       the good work" or "Nice to see you again."
       This one just left. I can't help wondering if the enthusiasm for
       streamlining her working day has prompted her to dispense with
       anything resembling chitchat with patients. And maybe the
       presence of the scribe makes pleasantries open to
       question--since, after all, there will now be an exact record of
       precisely everything that happened during that time I spent in
       that doctor's office.
       I'm not sure I liked my first experience with a scribe for that
       reason.
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