Medical schools across the board want to know that the people they admit know what they’re getting into and have an understanding of clinical practice based on personal experience. Clinical exposure is virtually a requirement for acceptance to ALL U.S. medical schools. A great way to get such exposure is by working as a scribe.

Today’s guest is Matthew Glowinsky, Strategy and Operational Planning Associate at ScribeAmerica, one of the largest scribe training and placement companies in the U.S. Matthew earned his B.S. in psychology from SUNY Brockport, and an MSW from the University of Denver in 2011. He also did postbac work at the University of Denver. He started working as a scribe in May 2013 and became a Scribe manager for Scribe America in May 2014. Welcome, Matthew!

How did you get involved with ScribeAmerica? [1:50]

I moved to Denver to complete my MSW, and was working for a cool nonprofit that did adventure programs for young adults with cancer. I wanted to do something more intellectual, and circled back to the ideal of going to med school, so I did some postbac courses. It seemed like being a medical scribe would get me closer to that medical school goal. So I started scribing 16 hours a week.

Scribing is a really cool job. I often say that it’s easy to do but difficult to learn. It took a while to go through the training, which covers everything from medical terminology, to the workflow, to labs and imaging tests. I learned that doctors rely on scribes.

No patient encounter is ever the same. No workup is ever the same.

I scribed for six months in a level-two emergency department in Denver. Later the opportunity arose to take on more of a management role with the scribing company, which I really enjoy – implementing scribing programs around the country.

What does a typical scribing shift look like? [6:05]

A lot depends on the client location. Some shifts are as short as four hours – maybe in surgical specialties where the doctor may only see patients in clinic for four hours and then do surgeries or procedures after that. Or there may be shifts up to 12 hours, more often in an ER setting.

We work in 60 different specialties, including inpatient (hospitalist) and outpatient settings. We try to adapt to what the clients’ needs are. An orthopedic surgeon’s scribal needs are different than an ER doc or a family medicine provider.

Do you remember any especially meaningful experiences from your own scribing? [7:50]

The provider can better focus their care with a scribe – the scribe can look up history, etc. So the provider doesn’t need to fumble around in the electronic medical record. It’s a game changer for the provider and the patient – improving care. That’s part of why I wanted to go into medicine in the first place.

Do you still plan to go into medicine? [9:20]

No, I don’t. I was always interested in business and tech, and I found a way to do that with this work.

What type of feedback do you get from scribes? [10:10]

It varies among specialties.

But there’s really not another experience where you, as a college student, can go in and work alongside a medical provider (and get paid for it!) and get direct experience/understanding of how patient interactions work, how a medical practice works, etc.