Provider’s Choice Internship Paper 1
2016 Summer SOC. 4936 Internship Paper
Laura Chapa
01376196
University of Texas at San Antonio
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Introduction:
Purpose of Paper: The importance of this paper is to tie together all of the knowledge
and learning experiences that occur throughout an internship. It helps a person think about the
time spent at the internship and why the time spent there is important. An internship really is an
amazing learning experience. It puts people directly in the field and gives them insight that could
not be gained in any other way. First hand experience beats anything that can be read in a book.
Internships offer an individual a chance to see something different every day and learn new
things every day. It guides an individual to recognize if this is really the correct field that they
would like to invest their life career in. The paper is important because it helps people ponder
their experiences at the internship and think about why things were set up how they were. It
helps people examine the company they worked for, the daily tasks of the job, and why these
things are important in terms of Public Health. The paper ties everything together in a final
conclusion of the internship. Mainly, the paper is important because it makes the person focus on
how Public Health influences organizations, hospitals, aspects of daily life, and how Public
Health can improve the conditions of these institutions and the overall health of people.
Brief Description of Organization: The internship was performed at Provider’s Choice
Scribe Services. This organization is based in San Antonio, Tx but now has branches established
in other cities as well. The company provides scribes to physicians in the emergency room. A
scribe documents for the physician to create a more efficient emergency room setting. A
practicing physician to help other physicians created Provider’s Choice Scribe Services to better
the experience for both physicians and patients. Provider’s Choice improves the functionality of
the emergency department. This organization provides scribing services in both pediatric and
adult facilities and the scribing services span across several different hospitals.
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Why site was chosen: The site was chosen for many different reasons. Provider’s Choice
Scribe Services offers a very unique first hand experience in the emergency room department. A
scribe has the opportunity to witness so many different types of situations every day. The Public
Health presence in the emergency room is very strong. This is one of the main reasons the
internship site was chosen. If offers the opportunity to witness Public Health in terms of policies,
illnesses, and directly through the behavior of individuals in the ER. This internship provided the
perfect setting to really see how many aspects and principles of Public Health are applied in an
actual professional care giving facility. The experience gained by scribing is amazing. There are
so many situations presented throughout the day that offer useful knowledge to be learned. Every
day there is something different. Scribing allows and individual to witness how Public Health
directly interacts with provider to patient care, provider and administrative relationships, and
policy management in regards to the facility, physicians, and patients. This is mainly why the
internship organization was chosen. It offers a learning experience that many other institutions
do not. Every day is different and every day allows for something knew to be seen and learned.
Research on Public Health Concern Organization was created for:
The usage of medical scribes helps to alleviate several different Public Health concerns.
One of the main concerns is creating a health care system that is centered on the patient. The
patient should be the main focus of the visit. Medical scribes help make this happen. Dr. Baum, a
urologist from New Orleans explains, “By using a scribe, you can focus on communicating
with the patient instead of writing or using the computer” (Baum, 2006). A scribe allows the
physician to spend more time with the patient. The scribes remove the stress of documentation
from the physician and the physician now has more time to communicate with the patient. This
allows the doctor to receive extensive information from the patient such as the patient’s medical
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history, review of symptoms, activity prior to the emergency room visit, and so on. This also
allows the physician to spend more time on and the physical exam. Patient to provider
communication is important to Public Health because it shows the patient that he/she is
important and that their health is a priority. This is important because it improves patient
satisfaction.
The increased time spent with the patient also aids Public Health efforts in other ways as
well. One of those ways is an increase in education when it comes to health care. The physician
now has the advantage of having more time to converse with the patient. The provider is able to
inform patients more in depth now about their condition, how to treat the condition, and how to
manage the symptoms properly. This is very important. Education plays a key role in the
treatment and management of illness. There are different situations that could have been avoided
if the patient or caretaker had access to better education about health care. For example, there are
times that patients come to the emergency room when that is definitely not where they should be.
If the patient were educated on a viral illness versus a bacterial illness the patient would not have
shown up in the emergency room. The patient could have managed the symptoms at home and
waited for the viral illness to pass instead of coming into the ER. The positive of this though is
that the increased patient physician time now allows the physician to explain and educate the
patient/caregiver on issues like these and decrease unnecessary emergency room visits.
Another example is an issue that could have been avoided all together. An example of this
is a patient being seen for penile swelling. The reason the patient is having this issue is because
the patient’s caretaker was not educated on how to care for the foreskin. The improper care
caused the patient to develop an infection, which is why the patient visited the emergency room.
Since the scribe allows the physician more time with the patient, the physician can now explain
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why it is important to clean the foreskin and how to clean the foreskin. Now that the patient and
caregiver are educated it will help any similar issues from happening again. This is just of many
examples of how increased education in health care is beneficial.
Scribing and time management work together well. Time management is important in
health care because it is cost friendly and can lead to a higher patient satisfaction rate. This ties
into the Public Health principle that patients need to feel as if their health care is important and
they are valued. Medical scribing adds efficiency to medical settings. Dr. Baum, an urologist
mentioned earlier, states “In my practice, using a scribe allows me to see five or six additional
patients each full day in the office” (Baum, 2006). This is the perfect example that scribes
increase cost efficiency and lead to higher patient satisfaction rates. The use of a scribe allows
more patients to be seen because the doctor doesn’t have to use his or her time filling out medical
