In general it is unsteady, long hours, fast paced, physically and mentally demanding. Depending on the physician your shift may not include any breaks. And depending on the office, you may not sit for many hours at a time. There is a reason turnover is less than 1 year. The pay is a joke for how much is expected of the employees. The company truly takes advantage of the experience available working with physicians, and makes you feel you should appreciate the gracious minimum wage with a 2% annual merit based raise opportunity.
A note for any employees who may rise up to Chief Scribe - The expectation is a minimum of 125% coverage, and absolutely no uncovered shifts no matter the circumstances. Snowed in? Sick children? Having surgery? Miscarriage? It doesn't matter, you better find coverage even if that means you cover the shift. Any open shift results in a lower rating for the facility for 6 months following every event. With their new pay scale, trainers and admins will only make slightly higher wages while specifically performing “admin duties”. This means you will make regular scribe pay if you need to multitask while on shift say if a patient doesn’t show up, or the physician has a meeting. If you want to make “admin pay” you’ll have to clock out, and back in again under which admin duty you’re performing. But don’t forget to clock back in as a regular scribe when the next patient shows up because heaven forbid you make $1 more as a manager for the entire shift despite having more experience, and hold higher quality in comparison to the other scribes. You are typically not paid for any outside work and stress you take on, but because you are “only being a scribe” while working with a physician, it is justified that you do not get paid for being a CS. This applies even if you suddenly deal with texts, emails, calls, shift changes, scheduling, discussing the program with the physicians, etc. etc. I was specifically told “we are expected to do more with less”. Why?? Why should we allow ourselves to be walked over?
Another side note, if you are a female CS, do not plan to become pregnant. Once you hire and train everyone in adequate time in preparation for maternity leave, including your own replacement(s), they strip you of your title and lower your wage without negotiation (or even agreement) as per “protocol” for the new roll. Don't be surprised if your new wage is lower than other scribes you previously managed despite being the most senior employee. This is apparently acceptable because "it's protocol". And sure, the managers will “look into” a wage increase, but why even give a response when you’ll go on maternity leave in a maximum of 2 months time anyway?
Experience 2+ years.
