Seeing the Health Care Profession Through the Eyes of a Medical Scribe

Shaquelle (Shaq) Levy ’20 likens his new job as a medical scribe at CityMD, an urgent care walk-in center in Manhattan, to speed dating. “Each patient comes in, you build a rapport with them, get their medical history, the reason they are coming in today, and ask more questions about their complaint,” Levy said.

Levy, who was focused on pre-med at Hamilton, said he found the job after other positions in which he was interested fell though during the coronavirus pandemic.          

Hoping to get more clinical experience in his first job, Levy said he was at first skeptical about the medical scribe position. “Then I realized that a medical scribe at CityMD is quite different from other places. My job entails bringing patients from the waiting room to examination rooms, where I am responsible for taking vitals, getting the chief complaint, medical history, and history of present illness,” he said.

Levy documents the encounter between the provider and the patient and adds the information to the patient’s chart. “Some of my other responsibilities include setting up procedure trays for providers, performing patient care tests, rapid strep, rapid mono, urinalysis, COVID testing, and more,” he said. 

The position is full-time and Levy works 12-hour shifts. He said he most enjoys the patient interactions and is surprised “at how fast 12 hours goes by when you’re busy.”

Levy, who took part in a shadowing and volunteer program at SUNY Upstate Medical University while at Hamilton, said he especially appreciates the support given to him by Leslie Bell, health care professions advisor.  “Throughout my four years at Hamilton, she gave me various opportunities that made me further explore my career path,” he said.

Levy plans to attend medical school within the next three years. “Being able to jump in during the pandemic and help in whatever way through this job is well appreciated,” he said. “I also value the experiences I will gain from this job, seeing as it will help me to better understand the medical profession and what it takes to practice medicine.”