Title

An Ethical Case for Medical Scribes

Document Type

Article

Department or Administrative Unit

Philosophy and Religious Studies

Publication Date

1-20-2022

Abstract

This article addresses ethical concerns with the use of electronic health records (EHRs) by physicians in clinical practice. It presents arguments for two claims. First, requiring physicians to maintain patient EHRs for medically unnecessary tasks is likely contributing to increased burnout, decreased quality of care, and potential risks to patient safety. Second, medical institutions have ethical reasons to employ medical scribes to maintain patient EHRs. Finally, this article reviews central objections to employing medical scribes and provides responses to each.

Comments

This article was originally published in Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics. The full-text article from the publisher can be found here.

Due to copyright restrictions, this article is not available for free download from ScholarWorks @ CWU.

Journal

Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics

Rights

© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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