The life of a medical scribe

In order to get clinical experience before I apply to medical school, I got a full time job as a medical scribe.

While the doctor is doing physical exams and check-ups, I’m in the room writing everything down, adjusting prescription dosages, ordering blood work, and printing referrals to specialists.

I’m completely in charge of keeping an accurate medical chart for each patient and making sure everything is properly documented. I have to document every observation the doctor makes from every part of every patient’s exam.

I sit at a desk in the exam room, and I’m mostly facing away from the patient, but sometimes I need to turn around to see what is going on.

Through trial and error, I’ve basically learned when not to turn around. I know a rectal or genital exam is about to happen when the doctor says “Alright, drop those trousers sir,” or something along those lines. I also know to never turn around when he asks the patient to turn his head to the left and cough. I learned that the hard way, and it’s just one of some pretty interesting experiences I’ve had with some pretty interesting patients so far.

For example, once I was walking out of the exam room after an elderly patient’s physical, and the patient called me a ‘sexy nurse.’ Originally I was really creeped out, but then he looked me in the eyes and said, “You’re just beautiful, really, you are. You remind me of my wife when I met her in college.” His wife had died a few years ago. I was so creeped out and flattered at the same time.

I’ve had some other funny experiences too – once, we had to get a urine sample from an elderly Russian patient who barely spoke English. We told him we needed the sample, and he asked if he should do it in the cup right there in the exam room. We tried to say no and to go to the bathroom to do it, and we thought he understood. The doctor got up and left the room for a minute, and the patient started peeing in the cup with me in the room.

I just didn’t say anything. He handed the full cup with no cap to the doctor when he walked back in, and the doctor didn’t say anything either.

A lot of people have asked me how I deal with everything at work, but I’m so used to stuff like this happening now that it barely phases me.

I’m basically in love with my job; it is as close as I can get to being a doctor without actually being one, and I’ve learned that gossiping about patients is one of my favorite past times.