UVA Undergraduate Emergency Medicine Medical Scribe Program

In June 2007, Dr. Scott Syverud, Professor of Emergency Medicine, initiated the establishment of the Medical Scribe program within the Department of Emergency Medicine. Through collaborating efforts with, then third year medical student, Courtney Terry, and with guidance from Dr. Brian Clare, the program started with training five scribes: Ben Curtis, Kristen Gruenther, Era Kryzhanovskaya, Sean Meredith, and Andrew Li. The original trainers, Priscilla Cha and Drew Clare, were recruited from outside hospitals to pour the foundation for the program. Years later the program expanded to includes medical scribes for UVA Health clinics.

In January 2024, under new leadership within the Department of Emergency Medicine and University Physicians Group (UPG), a transition team was formed between the two entities. After hundreds of hours of effort, the team transitioned all of the non-Emergency Medicine medical scribes to under the direction of the first UPG Medical Scribe Manager, Ryen Pedersen. The UPG Medical Scribe Program now officially supports clinical locations across UVA Health; whereas the Undergraduate Emergency Medicine Medical Scribe Program continues to support the Emergency Department and research.

Medical scribes within these two programs are extensively trained in both the classroom and the clinical environment. Their work enhances clinical efficiency and accuracy, improves charting, and provides them with valuable clinical knowledge. Their contributions to patient care increase provider availability to the patients and the community. Through close interaction with providers, scribes gain great exposure to patient care and medical practice procedures. Their clinical work includes:

• Documenting patient history, physical exams, assessments, procedure notes, and other results and dictations at the time of service
• Tracking laboratory and radiology results
• Ensuring the completion and signature of charts

We look for undergraduate students with strong academic records and a willingness to commit to a minimum of 2 years, inclusive of training. Commitment exceptions can occur for late third year students and higher. While the time commitment is flexible around academic schedules and requirements, we do require our part-time undergraduate scribes to be committed to working 12-20 hours during the academic year and 30-40 hours during their first summer after being hired.

Undergraduate medical scribes are hired as hourly employees. Additionally, there are opportunities available to be employed through full-time benefited positions within the University and through UPG. The full-time positions support Emergency Medicine research, the Emergency Department, and other clinics and divisions across UVA Health.

The Spring applications for our undergraduate program are typically open in January, with training from February or March and concluding in May. The Fall application cycle begins in August and typically concludes before the winter break. The application can be accessed through the University student employment site, UVA Handshake, as well as links on the UVA Medical Scribe Program Facebook page. Applications for UPG positions are available through Careers at UVA Health.

For further inquiries into the UVA Undergraduate Emergency Medicine Medical Scribe Program, please view up-to-date information on our Facebook page and feel free to email the current Head Scribes at scribeleaders@uvahealth.org.

For other clinical scribe positions or for non-student scribe positions, please connect with UPG Medical Scribe Manager, Ms. Ryen Pedersen at RP2MK@uvahealth.org.