TY - JOUR T1 - Effects of medical scribes on physician productivity in a Canadian emergency department: a pilot study JF - CMAJ Open JO - CMAJ SP - E360 LP - E364 DO - 10.9778/cmajo.20180031 VL - 6 IS - 3 AU - Peter S. Graves AU - Stephen R. Graves AU - Tanvir Minhas AU - Rebecca E. Lewinson AU - Isabelle A. Vallerand AU - Ryan T. Lewinson Y1 - 2018/07/01 UR - http://www.cmajopen.ca/content/6/3/E360.abstract N2 - Background: Emergency department efficiency is a priority across Canada. In the United States, scribes may increase the number of patients seen per hour per physician; however, Canadian data are lacking. We sought to implement scribes in a Canadian emergency department with the hypothesis that scribes would increase the number of patients seen per hour per physician.Methods: We conducted a 4-month quality improvement pilot study in a community emergency department in Ottawa, Ontario. Data collection began January 2015 after scribe training. Physicians received shifts with and without a scribe for a period of 4 months. Across the study, the mean number of patients seen per hour was determined for each physician during shifts with and without a scribe. We compared mean (± standard deviation [SD]) number of patients seen per hour based on presence or absence of a scribe by 2-tailed paired-samples t test.Results: Eleven scribes participated and ranged in age from 18 to 23 years. Twenty-two full- or part-time emergency physicians were followed. We documented 463 physician-hours without use of a scribe and 693.75 physician-hours with use of a scribe. Across all 22 physicians, 18 (81.8%) saw more patients per hour with use of a scribe. Overall, the number of patients seen per hour per physician was significantly greater (+12.9%) during shifts with a scribe (mean [± SD] 2.81 [± 0.78]) than during shifts without a scribe (mean [± SD] 2.49 [± 0.60]; p = 0.006).Interpretation: In this pilot study, the use of scribes resulted in an increased number of patients seen per hour per physician. Because this was a small study at a single centre, further research on the effects of scribes in Canada is warranted. ER -