Medical Scribes

The prospects for employment as a medical scribe are good. There will be available jobs as physicians, medical providers, and facilities become fully compliant with the implementation of electronic medical records systems. It is anticipated there will be a spike in the use of medical scribes as physicians focus on productivity, but wish to spend more time on patient care and less time on data entry.

Additionally, as these positions are often filled by medical or pre-med students or other individuals who wish experience in the medical field, they quickly move on, creating an industry which has high employee turnover and requires a continuous feed of new employees.

The BLS doesn’t specifically track employment of medical scribes; for analysis, the outlook for both medical assistants and transcribers may be considered. The BLS projects the employment of medical assistants to grow by 15 percent through 2033, much faster than the average, but reflects the employment of medical transcriptionists will decline, due to technological advances and outsourcing. This analysis is consistent with the anticipated growth in jobs for medical scribes, as the increased use of scribes significantly decreases the need of medical transcriptionists.