Nikita (Niki) James was part of the scribe/practice assistant educational program with Dr. Novikov Wellness and Skin Care for two years. She is an alum of Brandeis University with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Neuroscience. Her goal for her time with the practice was to gain more medical experience before applying to medical school. She leaves the position with so much more as she takes her next steps to begin the Physician Assistant program at Duke University, Durham campus in August 2024.
She said the scribe program provided her with the opportunity to build a variety of skills. Niki’s leadership role as head scribe gave her managerial experience. She led meetings, communicated with a lot of people, and learned about every aspect of how a healthcare practice works. Additionally, the exposure to patient care in a nursing home environment was beneficial.
“I was really interested in what care looked like in a nursing home setting for patients with complex cases,” she said. “I was able to meet so many people from patients to doctors and nurses.”
Working with the practice’s PAs also solidified her decision to pursue a career as a PA versus a MD.
She also credits her experiences as a scribe/practice assistant for her successful PA school interviews and being accepted to her top choice.
“Having interview content from this position had a lot to do with that,” said Niki. “I was able to talk a lot about different aspects of healthcare. There are ethical cases in nursing homes because not everyone is their own decision maker. I definitely had a lot of hands-on experience- assisting with procedures, learning how to suture, working with different people and seeing first hand that healthcare is a team effort.”
In addition, Niki said the use of medical terminology is helpful if going into any area of medicine.
The scribe role is not an easy one, but prepares you well for what a career in medicine looks like.
“There’s definitely a steep learning curve,” Niki said. “You need to learn so much in a relatively short training period. There are lots of roles and tasks. You have to be really good at multitasking in a high case environment.”
She says you are able to build confidence in handling stress and higher intensity situations.
“The more you see it, the less scary,” she said. “If you put in the work, you will receive a lot of benefits in the long run if you go to medical school.”