What typing speed do you need to be a medical scribe?

The medical scribe postings we read ask for a minimum of 60 words per minute on the keyboard ¹. That figure comes from employers, not from a national rule, and we found no certifying body that sets one. Treat 60 as the bar to aim for, and treat accuracy as the other half of the test. A fast scribe who leaves errors in the note does not do the job.

This answer belongs to our guide to AI medical scribes, which covers what a scribe does, and to our overview of dictation for work. For the broader speed numbers, see our guide to typing speed.

Employer postings ask for 60 words per minute

Our clearest evidence is what employers write in their own postings. A HealthScribe posting for a part-time, on-site medical scribe in Glendale, dated March 12, 2025, lists "Minimum typing speed of 60 WPM" as a requirement ¹. The same employer's Phoenix posting, dated March 28, 2024, asks for the same minimum ². Two postings from one employer, a year apart, are a small sample. They show a consistent requirement at that employer, not a standard across the field.

Those are the only employer requirements we could read in full. Other postings we found by search either blocked our reader or did not show a typing figure, so we cannot say how common 60 is. Check the posting you are applying to, since each employer sets its own number.

The minimum is about 16 percent above the average typist

The average online typist is a useful yardstick. In a 2018 study of 136 million keystrokes from an online typing test, participants averaged 51.56 words per minute ³. Against that benchmark, a 60 minimum is about 16 percent faster ⁴. The fastest tenth of that sample typed above about 78 words per minute ⁵.

Those benchmarks have limits. The volunteers chose to take an online test, so they were not a random sample of the population, and most were younger users from the United States ³. The test also counts words in a particular way, which is explained in our words per minute entry. Use the benchmark to place yourself, not to judge a job offer.

Accuracy matters as much as speed in a clinical note

A scribe's typing goes into a medical record, so an error there costs more than one in a casual email. In the 2018 typing study, faster typists also made fewer error corrections across participants, with a correlation of -0.36 ⁶. Slow typists also left more errors uncorrected than fast typists did ⁷. That is a correlation in general typing, not a finding about scribes, but it points the same way as the job: speed and accuracy tend to rise together.

The stakes in a clinic are higher than in most typing. In a UC Davis pilot of AI-drafted notes, 19 notes, or 5.3 percent, contained an error that physicians rated as posing serious or imminent risk if left uncorrected ⁸. The error came from software, but the same duty applies to typed notes: a wrong dose or a dropped symptom is an error whoever typed it. A speed of 60 words per minute only helps if those words are correct, so count errors as carefully as you count words.

It depends on the setting and on who drafts the note

The postings we read all come from one employer, HealthScribe, for its Phoenix and Glendale roles, and they do not show how the bar changes by setting. Ask the employer whether there is a timed test, what accuracy it needs, and which charting software you will use, since those details decide how much speed you need in practice.

Software changes the job too. An ambient AI scribe listens to the visit and drafts the note, and the clinician reviews it. Where a person still types the note, speed matters directly. Where software drafts it, much of the work shifts to checking the draft, and review skill matters as much as the keyboard. The question on how accurate AI medical scribes are covers those error rates.

What to do: build to 60 words per minute with clean work

1. Time yourself on a medical passage. Use practice audio or a text with a finished version, so you can check each word against it.
2. Score accuracy with the speed. Count the words you typed correctly in one minute. A run of 60 with many errors is worth less than a clean run at 55.
3. Practice until 60 is steady. Work in short timed blocks and track your typical result, not your best day.
4. Drill the terms you will type most. Practice drug names and anatomy words until they come without a pause.
5. Ask for the test before you accept. A posting with a clear minimum tells you what you are signing up for.

For the two roles side by side, the question on medical scribes and medical transcriptionists explains the difference, and the glossary entry for medical scribe defines the term.

The bottom line

Plan for about 60 words per minute with high accuracy, since that is the minimum the employers we read asked for ¹. That is above the average typist's pace, so practice to reach it, and count your errors as carefully as your speed. Where software drafts the note, review skill matters as much as the keyboard.