A pediatric medical scribe is a person who helps the pediatrician by recording interactions with the patient, filling out electronic medical records, and ensuring that all the information is compliant with the regulations and available to the physician. In this article, we will examine their role more closely. We invite you to read on.
What Is a Pediatric Medical Scribe?
A pediatric medical scribe fulfills the same role as any other medical scribe but works only with pediatricians. They are responsible for recording patient visits in real-time, inputting the information into electronic medical records, and ensuring that all the information on a given patient is up-to-date and compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Medical scribes are a great aid to the physicians working in pediatrics. They enable them to focus fully on their patients without worrying about remembering the information given for a long time or spending hours filling out the details about their patients. As such, they are the key to efficient patient care.
What Skills Does a Pediatric Medical Scribe Need?
Pediatric medical scribes need typical medical scribe skills, such as:
- Knowledge of the HIPAA regulations.
- Ability to navigate the EHR system.
- Quick typing (preferably over 40 words per minute).
- Stamina (they perform their tasks standing up).
Additionally, there are some role-specific skills that they need to have:
- Knowledge of general medical terms—patients may come with a plethora of different cases; hence, the medical scribe needs to have a good grasp of all the general medical terminology.
- Mastery of children-related medical terminology—since pediatricians deal with underaged patients, the medical scribe needs to have an exceptional grasp of the terminology related to children-specific conditions.
Who Should Become a Pediatric Medical Scribe?
Becoming a medical scribe, in general, can greatly increase your chances of being accepted into medical school. However, working as a medical scribe in pediatrics isn’t for everyone—in some cases, it might be good to choose a different specialty. So, who is it for?
- Premed students who want to become pediatricians—since it allows you not only to see the physician’s work in practice but also to learn how to interact with children in the office.
- Premed students who don’t have a certain specialty in mind yet but feel comfortable around children—since the job includes working with a number of different cases.
- People ready for a challenge—EHRs frequently aren’t tailored to the needs of children's care. As such, working on them might be a bit challenging, but it will also teach you how to handle such challenges at work, so it’s an invaluable experience.
The Takeaway
A pediatric medical scribe is a role that you should undertake if you plan to apply to a medical school and want to increase your chances of getting admitted. This role might sometimes be challenging, but it’s often highly rewarding—there’s nothing better than to see the smile on your young patient’s face when their issues are finally dealt with. Hence, we recommend it mostly for those who would like to become pediatricians in the future or have a great approach to kids. And if you feel that this job isn’t for you, see other medical scribe specialties:
