Huntsville Memorial Hospital has recently developed a program with Sam Houston State University allowing pre-medical students to work in the emergency department.

The partnership allows SHSU pre-med students to work as scribes in the emergency department under the supervision of physicians and physician assistants on duty.

The students make rounds, work side by side with the doctors and PA’s, learning from the experience while performing essential documentation tasks, which allows the emergency department to be more efficient and de-crease patient wait times.

“The program began about a year ago here in Huntsville under the guidance of Dr. Eric Wilke and Dr. Stephen Antwi, the current emergency department director,” said Dr. Mathew Messa, assistant medical director of at the Huntsville Memorial Emergency Department.

Messa is the physician coordinating the scribe program at the HMH department.

Wilke is the chief medical officer of College Station Medical Center’s emergency department, which is staffed by the same emergency physician group, Affilion, which staffs Huntsville Memorial Hospital’s emergency department.

“The program has grown tremendously in this time and is expected to be a vital part of the cutting edge improvements to HMH’s emergency department, thanks to CEO Sally Nelson,” Messa said,

Many pre-med students at SHSU are members of an organization entitled S.H.A.M.O.S., Sam Houston Association of Medically Oriented Students.

According to its Web site, “SHAMOS students are an organization for students seeking to enter future health professions.

“We aim to help one another achieve our individual goals by working with advisers, as well as preparing our members for their respective careers by working with the Huntsville hospitals, learning CPR and attending other medical diagnostic courses.”

Upper-level pre-med students from the Shamos organization, who have met the expectations and requirements of the hospital for the program, are selected and hired by the hospital as scribes.

There are currently more than 10 SHSU scribes working in the emergency center.

In the College Station Medical Center, students from A&M; fill the eight-hour shifts during the 24 hour work day.

Each student takes at least one or two shifts, working up to 16 hours a week.

“Ideally, we would like to have scribes working around the clock here at HMH just as they do at CSMC,” said Messa. “This provides excellent experience for the students and assistance for the physicians on duty. It benefits everyone.”

“Studies have shown that emergency facilities with scribes are some of the most efficient in the country. The Huntsville Memorial Hospital is the only facility in the area that provides this service.”

“Students with access to physician mentors are more likely to be successful candidates for admission to medical school and physician assistant school,” said Messa. “Dr. Antwi and Dr. Messa both have family ties to Huntsville and their hope is that some of these young future physicians and PA’s will come back to the area to practice as they have.

“The program is a win-win for HMH's emergency department because it allows the physicians and physician assistants (PA’s) to work more efficiently and spend more time at the bedside with critically ill patients.

“All documentation provided by the scribes is reviewed prior to the chart becoming final, which allows immediate feedback for the scribes and helps in the learning process of the art of medical practice.”

Messa will be speaking to the Shamos members Dec. 3 on the SHSU campus. He will be recruiting students for 2010 and promoting the program to those who are unfamiliar with the logistics.