EPIC Computer Charting

Specialties MICU

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Hello everyone! I'm a CCRN and I currently work in an SICU in a teaching hospital in my state. Starting on June 1st, our facilty will be going to be transitioning to the Epic computer system hospital-wide. I have no experience with Epic whatsoever and was wondering what to expect. We will be receiving training of course, but there's no better resource than a fellow nurse who went through the same process. Anyone have any experience with the Epic system and willing to share?

Thanks!

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.
rebelccrn said:
Hello everyone! I'm a CCRN and I currently work in an SICU in a teaching hospital in my state. Starting on June 1st, our facilty will be going to be transitioning to the Epic computer system hospital-wide. I have no experience with Epic whatsoever and was wondering what to expect. We will be receiving training of course, but there's no better resource than a fellow nurse who went through the same process. Anyone have any experience with the Epic system and willing to share?

Thanks!

My hospital will be converting to Epic, also in November. I too have been wondering a lot about what people think of it.

I work in the ER and I want to know....

1. When will I know that there are new orders/admissions/discharges for a pt.

2. How can I use Epic to communicate to our float nurses and EMT-Ps that after CT scan the pt needs to be encouraged to pee or communicate that the pt is to be discharged when ride arrives. (Rt now we use a white board/expeditor system)

3. If the physician has another opened chart and viewing radiology or lab results and I come to him for a stat order of Zofran, does he need to close all of his work, lose his place, and enter under the pt's file to put in the order for Zofran?

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Specializes in cardiac/critical care/ informatics.

1. when will I know that there are new orders/admissions/discharges for a pt.

there are many different ways, order review, acknowledge orders and new order icon on trackboard

2. how can I use epic to communicate to our float nurses and emt-ps that after ct scan the pt needs to be encouraged to pee or communicate that the pt is to be discharged when ride arrives. (rt now we use a white board/expeditor system)d sticky notes, orders or the old fashion way talk to someone

3. if the physician has another opened chart and viewing radiology or lab results and I come to him for a stat order of zofran, does he need to close all of his work, lose his place, and enter under the pt's file to put in the order for zofran?you can have multiple charts open, depending on how your facility sets it up;

libran1984 said:
my hospital will be converting to epic, also in November. I too have been wondering a lot about what people think of it.

I work in the er and I want to know....

1. when will I know that there are new orders/admissions/discharges for a pt.

2. how can I use epic to communicate to our float nurses and emt-ps that after ct scan the pt needs to be encouraged to pee or communicate that the pt is to be discharged when ride arrives. (rt now we use a white board/expeditor system)d

3. if the physician has another opened chart and viewing radiology or lab results and I come to him for a stat order of zofran, does he need to close all of his work, lose his place, and enter under the pt's file to put in the order for zofran?

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Specializes in cardiac/critical care/ informatics.

You will attend many classes, and there will a learning curve. It does take time, practice when you can.

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Specializes in ICU/CCU, CCRN.

My facility just transitioned to Epic last year. It is quite a change up, especially if you are moving from a paper charting to a full EHR like we did. The training might not be all that useful, none of the trainers that did our training were nurses, just training/education specialists. As with many other things in nursing, the best learning will be done hands-on, in the trenches so to say. Be prepared for a big learning curve.

One of the biggest obstacles that many nurses found was moving to a EHR they lost many of the "prompts" or reminders that they had in a paper-based system. Blood transfusion charting is a bit wonky at times, even now. Expect many things to be not quite configured for your work flow or your specific hospital policy.

It really works well once you get used to it, and the legibility of progress notes and orders almost makes up for the inconvenience of learning a completely new method of charting. :)

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Specializes in ICU/PACU.

I only like it with the copy/paste feature ENABLED. I love the orders being computerized, I hate searching through charts for old orders. Everything is in one place. But yes, it's so much easier when the copy/paste feature is enabled, some hospitals do it and some don't.

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Ooooh you are so lucky!!! I went from a hospital that used Epic which I loved, to one that uses Meditech for it's charting....you will really like Epic, but remember it's like any new tool...takes some time to master and to find all that it can do for you!!! Good luck and enjoy!!!

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I recently moved from a hospital with computer charting to a hospital that uses Epic. It's taken me a while to find all the short-cuts and easiest ways to get to the screens I use most, but it's growing on me. You can personalize your patient list to show an alert when you have new orders, lab results, etc. That's one of the most helpful features for me so far.

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What hospital are you working for I am looking at difrent hospitals to move too since my husband's work is requiering us to move to a new location of his/our choice and I really prefer to work with Epic since it is such a great system!!!!

Thanks

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Specializes in ICU.

I have been trained in: Epic, Sorian, McKesson, Sunrise & Meditech.

Sunrise - is still my favorite - easy to use fully integrated with VS on monitors in room, flags to show new order is present.

Sorian - another easy system to use, visually one of the better ones (looks like programming language is ASP.net)

McKesson - short learning curve, ability to copy & paste assessments (revise as needed). Good visual.

Epic - Big learning curve. Looks like its a bit over the top in trying to provide everything to everyone. Visually it feels like I am working inside microsoft excel. Visually cumbersome. Very powerful system.

Meditech - used it for three months. Dreadful. I believe I was using F keys as it was Dos based. If you are still using this program at your work you are working for one cheap hospital.

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Specializes in ICU.

Epic is the most cumbersome charting system I've ever used. It's simply dreadful.

The learning curve is steep, but I guess one can learn anything over time.

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Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.

Our hospital have a multi-phase plan to transition to EPIC as well. We're already on the EPIC eMAR as of a couple months ago and will start electronic order entry and electronic progress notes, H&P's, consults, and procedure notes in June. As an NP, I've attended multiple provider training sessions both online and in-class. It does appear cumbersome and overwhelming as the screen appears rather busy but I love many of the features. It seems like there are tons of shortcuts and secrets built into the program itself.

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