a medical scribe's primary duties are to follow a physician through his or her work day and chart patient encounters in real-time using a medical office's electronic health record (ehr) and existing templates. responsibilities will vary with the scribe’s department rules. medical scribes generate referral letters for physicians, book appointments and manage and sort medical documents within the ehr system. some scribes assist with e-prescribing (this is prohibited in some jurisdictions and allowed in others). scribes also find information and people (such as medical records from other hospitals, test results or on-call consultants). medical scribes can be thought of as data care managers and clerical personal assistants, enabling physicians, medical assistants, and nurses to focus on patient in-take and care during clinic hours. medical scribes, by handling data management tasks for physicians in real-time, free the physician to increase patient contact time, give more thought to complex cases, better manage patient flow through the department, and increase productivity to see more patients.