My Time as a Scribe
I was an EPPA scribe for just under two years, with the majority spent working as a full-timer. I had the joy of working in the Emergency Department and then transitioned to help build a scribe program at an orthopedic center! In the summer of 2016, I made the BIG move down to Alabama to attend medical school at the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine (ACOM). Culture shock aside, medical school has been pretty much what I expected. I think a huge part of the reason I found the transition easy was because of all the advice and wisdom passed onto me from the wonderful docs and PAs I worked with at EPPA.
Although I am just a first-year student and spend all of my time with my head in the books (more like a computer or tablet because this is 2017 after all…) something I consistently look forward to is applying and growing the clinical knowledge I learned while working as a medical scribe. At ACOM, one of the opportunities we have to apply our clinical skills is in SIM Challenge. SIM Challenge is a voluntary competition between teams of four classmates each. We run through emergency, ICU, and trauma simulations using a 3G SIM man—a robot patient that can simulate pretty much any finding needed for the case!
My SIM Team
I joined a SIM team as an alternate at the beginning of the school year. We call ourselves “Nothing but Netters”—a reference to one of the most useful anatomy atlases around. Our team is entirely made up of first year students and we all come from different backgrounds. There is another former scribe, two EMTs, one of whom was also a research assistant, and a certified athletic trainer. When we run cases for the SIM Challenge, we split up into specific roles. One person takes the history, another does the physical exam, someone acts as scribe, and another is the team leader. My team kindly welcomed me as alternate and honored me with designation of “coach.”
On the first week in SIM practice we brought our stethoscopes to listen to heart sounds. My mind immediately went back to a handful of scribe shifts in the Emergency Department when some of the doctors let me listen to their patients’ hearts. I tried to listen for “Tennessee” or “Kentucky” without quite remembering what that meant. To my great surprise, I correctly named several irregular rhythms that day! We continued practicing throughout the semester, and I tried my very best to coach my team through clinical cases. I would think back… ‘What did I see happen a lot during each ER shift?’ What labs did I type repeatedly on patients with abdominal pain? What type of imaging studies would be useful in someone with neurologic signs?
It wasn’t long before our team won second place at our school competition (against a team of second years— with about a decade of combined experience prior to school no less) and progressed to win second place against the same second year ACOM team at the 2017 AMSA National Convention SIM Challenge in Washington, DC!
Looking Back
With every success, I was reminded of my time as an EPPA scribe. Sure, there are lots of people who scribe before going to medical school. But in my opinion, being an EPPA scribe is best. I could have gone to work every day, typed charts, added in labs, and done that final spell check before telling the doctor it was ready to sign. Instead, I got to sit right next to some of the brightest, most generous, and competent physicians, PAs, and NPs. They willingly gave their time to teach me during shifts even though they didn’t have to. They answered any question I asked about medicine, explained their clinical decisions to me, let me observe procedures… and they let me listen to heart sounds.
To any EPPA provider reading this, THANK YOU! The second-place national trophy is thanks to you.
Ellen Pappas, Former EPPA Scribe, Current Medical Student at Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine