| You touched on a pet idea of mine and, since you made the mistake of actually intelligently responding to online forum comments, now I get to make a pitch for it. Thesis: every student accepted into medical school must complete 9 months as a medical scribe (financially compensated at some reasonable level) assigned to various medical team(s) prior to their actual entrance into med school. They are formally trained on the latest and greatest scribing tech (which clinicians probably deprioritize). They get exposure to what it means to work as part of a medical team. A heads-up before they pursue a medical career. They get exposed to operational ethics, formality of ops, etc. in a role where they probably aren’t going to kill anyone. They learn useful operational jargon and the lore of clinical practice to motivate the unending hours they will spend memorizing metabolic pathways and general trivia in med school. They provide a friendlier, more humane “UI” for clinicians who loathe automated scribing systems, but love the fact they get to actually go home at a reasonable hour instead of charting til the wee hours. They should be actually, visibly and directly making the clinician’s job easier and more pleasant, so will be more likely to be treated with respect, perhaps even be coveted, and ultimately view the experience as a life-affirming one. They make some decent money, less than a permanent professional scribe but more than flipping burgers, enough to secure decent med school student housing, maybe even pay for their books. The program fits nicely into the concept of interning already part of medical training, being a sort of “data intern” with no access to the more physically impactful elements of medical practice. |
I have an intellectual disorder where I think people can be swayed by facts. :)