Table 1.

Metrics for evaluating a medical scribe programme for safety primary care providers

Metric	Intervention group	Control group	Source	Data collection period	Limitation
Time spent completing medical notes outside of clinic	Provider sessions with scribes at five clinics with scribe programme	Provider sessions without scribes at five clinics with scribe programme	Daily provider survey	July 2016–December 2016	Self-report and recall bias
Incomplete notes at 72 hours	Clinics with scribes	Clinics without scribes	EHR-generated incomplete notes report	January 2016–November 2016	Intervention group data includes sessions and visits without scribes. This analysis excluded hospital-based clinic where aggregated data combined providers who did and did not use scribes.
Visit length with provider	Provider sessions with scribes at five clinics with scribe programme	Provider sessions without scribes at five clinics with scribe programme	EHR-generated provider cycle time report	January 2016–November 2016	At one clinic, scribes were used only for visit types for complex patients, new patients or for providers with longer cycle times. Scribes were among staff who recorded patient visit status in the EHR during scribed visits. This analysis excluded the hospital-based clinic where providers with scribes used them for all sessions.
Patient satisfaction	Patients receiving primary care from clinics with scribes	Patients receiving primary care from clinics without scribes	Clinician and Group Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey	January 2016–November 2016	Low response rate, limited to English-speaking and Spanish-speaking patients. This analysis excluded hospital-based clinic where aggregated data combined providers who did and did not use scribes.