Five Years' Experience With a Medical Scribe Fellowship: Shaping Future Health Professions Students While Addressing Provider Burnout.

Professional burnout has reached epidemic levels among U.S. medical providers. One key driver is the burden of clinical documentation in the electronic health record, which has given rise to medical scribes. Despite the demonstrated benefits of scribes, many providers-especially those in academic health systems-have been unable to make an economic case for them. With the aim of creating a cost-effective scribe program in which premedical students gain skills that better position them for professional schooling, while providers at risk of burnout obtain documentation support, the authors launched the Clinical Observation and Medical Transcription (COMET) Program in June 2015 at Stanford University School of Medicine. COMET is a new type of postbaccalaureate premedical program that combines an apprenticeship-like scribing experience and a package of teaching, advising, application support, and mentored scholarship that is supported by student tuition. Driven by strong demand from both participants and faculty, the program grew rapidly during its first 5 years (2015-2020). Program evaluations indicated high levels of satisfaction among participants and faculty with their mentors and mentees, respectively; that participants felt the experience better positioned them for professional schooling; and that faculty reported improved joy of practice. In summary, tuition-supported medical scribe programs, like COMET, appear to be feasible and cost-effective. The COMET model may have the potential to help shape future health professions students, while simultaneously combating provider burnout. While scalability and generalizability remain uncertain, this model may be worth exploring at other institutions.

Conocimientos, actitudes, prácticas y subregistro de dengue en el municipio de Tocaima, Cundinamarca, 2019 / Knowledge, acttitudes, practices and dengue under registration Tocaima, Cundinamarca 2019

Introducción. Pese a las estrategias de vigilancia se cree que existe subregistro de dengue, lo que puede ser secundario a la no detección de casos ya sea por no consulta del paciente, por falla en el diagnóstico o diligenciamiento de fichas de notificación. Objetivo. Estimar el subregistro de los casos de dengue en el municipio de Tocaima durante el periodo de enero a septiembre de 2019 y establecer los conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas respecto al dengue de los habitantes del municipio. Metodología. Se realizó un estudio transversal de prevalencia durante el período de enero a septiembre de 2019 en la población urbana de Tocaima, mediante encuestas a dos viviendas de las 262 manzanas seleccionadas por muestreo aleatorio simple en la búsqueda activa comunitaria y en el 100% de los registros individuales de prestación de servicios y del sistema de vigilancia nacional en salud pública SIVIGILA mediante Búsqueda Activa Institucional BAI. Resultados. Se encuestaron 440 personas de las cuales 19 manifestaron haber presentado síntomas y signos de dengue en el periodo de estudio, de estos, seis personas no asistieron a consulta médica. El Subregistro Comunitario por falta de asistencia a consulta médica fue de 31,5%. Se identificaron en SIVIGILA 125 casos de dengue notificados en el periodo y 156 en el Registro Individual de Prestación de Servicios (RIPS), aplicando el método de Chandra-Sekar Deming se estimaron un total de 257 casos, para un Subregistro Institucional de SIVIGILA de 48,5%. Conclusiones. Son diversas las razones por las cuales no se notificaron todos los casos de la enfermedad al sistema de vigilancia, la primera es que solo se notifican los casos de las personas que consultan a los servicios de salud y que además viven en Tocaima, la segunda es que algunos casos detectados no se notificaron al sistema de vigilancia por errores de procedimiento, o por desconocimiento del diagnóstico por el personal de salud.

Introduction. Despite the surveillance strategies, it is believed that there is an underreporting of dengue, which may be secondary to the non-detection of cases, either due to non-consultation of the patient, due to failure in the diagnosis or filling in of notification sheets. Objective. Estimate the under-registration of dengue cases in the municipality of Tocaima during the period from January to September 2019 and to establish the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding dengue of the inhabitants of the municipality. Methodology and materials. A cross-sectional study of prevalence was carried out during the period from January to September 2019, in the urban population of Tocaima, through surveys of 2 dwellings of the 262 blocks selected by simple random sampling in the active community search, and in 100% of individual records of service provision and Sivigila through institutional active search. Results. 440 people were surveyed, 19 of whom reported having symptoms and signs of dengue in the study period, of these, six people did not attend a medical consultation. The Community Under-registration for lack of attendance at medical consultation was 31.5%. 125 cases of dengue reported in the period were identified in SIVIGILA and 156 in the Individual Service Provision Registry (RIPS), applying the Chandra-Sekar Deming method, a total of 257 cases were estimated, for a SIVIGILA Institutional Sub-registry of 48,5%. Conclusions. There are several reasons why not all cases of the disease were notified to the surveillance system, the first is that only the cases of people who consult the health services and who also live in Tocaima, the second, some cases detected were not notified to the surveillance system due to procedural errors, or due to lack of knowledge of the diagnosis by health personne.

[Accurate compiling of the hospital discharge records according to clinicians' perception: critical issues and perspectives]. / L'accurata compilazione delle schede di dimissione ospedaliera secondo la percezione dei medici: criticità e prospettive.

OBJECTIVES: to explore clinicians vision on hospital discharge records in order to identify useful elements to foster a more accurate compiling. DESIGN: qualitative research with phenomenological approach. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: participants were selected through purposive sampling among clinicians of two hospitals located in Sardinia; the sample included 76 people (32 medical directors and 44 doctors in training). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: identified codes for themes under investigation: vision of accurate compiling, difficulties, and proposals. RESULTS: collected data highlighted two prevailing visions, respectively focused on the importance of an accurate compiling and on the burden of such activity. The accurate compiling is hindered by the lack of motivation and training, by the limits of the registration system and the information technology, by the distortions induced by the prominent role of the hospital discharge records in the evaluation processes. Training, timely updating of the information system accompanied by a proper cross-cultural validation process, improvement of the computer system, and activation of support services could promote more accurate compiling. CONCLUSIONS: the implementation of services, unconnected with evaluation and control processes, dedicated to training and support in the compiling of the hospital discharge records and in the conduction of related epidemiological studies would facilitate the compliance to the compilation. Such services will make tangible the benefits obtainable from this registration system, increasing skills, motivation, ownership, and facilitating greater accuracy in compiling.

The Role of Health Information Management Professionals in the Use of Geographic Information Systems.

In recent years the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in healthcare has expanded rapidly. Although the use of GIS has increased quickly, very little consensus has been reached on which healthcare professionals are best suited to be trained in and use GIS. A moderate amount of research has addressed the use of GIS in healthcare, but very little research has addressed selecting and training healthcare professionals in the area of GIS. As the use of GIS becomes more closely tied to electronic health records (EHRs), the thought arises that those best versed in EHRs, health information management (HIM) professionals, would be best suited to take on the GIS role. This mixed-methods study explored the current status of HIM professionals' role in GIS as well as the extent to which GIS is being taught in health information educational programs. Although the findings indicate that few HIM professionals are currently using GIS in their jobs and few HIM programs are currently teaching GIS, there is interest in GIS in the future for HIM professionals and in HIM educational programs.

Impact of scribes on emergency department patient throughput one year after implementation.

OBJECTIVES: Assess the impact of scribes on an academic emergency department's (ED) throughput one year after implementation. METHODS: A prospective cohort design compared throughput metrics of patients managed when scribes were and were not a part of the treatment team during pre-defined study hours in a tertiary academic ED with both an adult and pediatric ED. An alternating-day pattern one year following scribe implementation ensured balance between the scribe and non-scribe groups in time of day, day of week, and patient complexity. RESULTS: Adult: Overall length of stay (LOS) was essentially the same in both groups (214 vs. 215min, p=0.34). In area A where staffing includes an attending and residents, scribes made a significant impact in treatment room time in the afternoon (190 vs 179min, p=0.021) with an increase in patients seen per hour on scribed days (2.00 vs. 2.13). There was no statistically significant changes in throughput metrics in area B staffed by an attending and a nurse practitioner/physician assistant, however scribed days did average more patients per hour (2.01 vs. 2.14). Pediatric: All throughput measurements were significantly longer when the treatment team had a scribe; however, patients per hour increased from 2.33 to 2.49 on scribed days. CONCLUSIONS: Overall patient throughput was not enhanced by scribes. Certain areas and staffing combinations yielded improvements in treatment room and door to provider time, however, scribes appear to have enabled attending physicians to see more patients per hour. This effect varied across treatment areas and times of day.

An economic evaluation of the costs of training a medical scribe to work in Emergency Medicine.

OBJECTIVE: To undertake a cost analysis of training medical scribes in an ED. METHODS: This was a pilot, observational, single-centre study at Cabrini ED, Melbourne, Australia, studying the costs of initiating a scribe programme from the perspective of the hospital and Australian Health sector. Recruitment and training occurred between August 2015 and February 2016 and comprised of a prework course (1 month), prework training sessions and clinical training shifts for scribe trainees (2-4 months, one shift per week) who were trained by emergency physicians. Costs of start-up, recruitment, administration, preclinical training, clinical training shifts and productivity changes for trainers were calculated. RESULTS: 10 trainees were recruited to the prework course, 9 finished, 6 were offered clinical training after simulation assessment, 5 achieved competency. Scribes required clinical training ranging from 68 to 118 hours to become competent after initial classroom training. Medical students (2) required 7 shifts to become competent, premedical students (3) 8-16 shifts, while a trainee from an alternative background did not achieve competency. Based on a scribe salary of US$15.91/hour (including 25% on-costs) plus shift loadings, costs were: recruitment and start-up US$3111, education US$1257, administration US$866 and clinical shift costs US$1137 (overall cost US$6317 per competent scribe). Physicians who trained the clinical trainee scribes during shifts did not lose productivity. CONCLUSIONS: Training scribes outside the USA is feasible using an on-line training course and local physicians. It makes economic sense to hire individuals who can work over a long period of time to recoup training costs. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ACTRN12615000607572.

The coding countdown.

As the time for ICD-10 implementation draws near, hospitals and health systems should prepare not only for the switch but also for long-term compliance. Key areas of preparation include: Training of personnel, including coders and physicians. Ensuring IT systems are compliant. Monitoring third parties for compliance.