EPIC Computer Program

Specialties Informatics

Published

Hi,

Does anyone's hospital use the EPIC system for charting?

Our hospital is going to this system this month, and I am really interested in how other nurses feel about it. For me, it is very difficult to learn, and I feel like I will be spending more time on the computer than with my patients.

We keep hearing how much easier it will be, but right now, it doesn't seem easy at all.

I am used to hard copies of charts, and the system we use now in the computer for charting allows for a busy night where I may not look at a computer until the end of my shift. And finding things in the EPIC system is very complicated for me.

Anyone out there that can ease my anxiety?

Amy

THose of you who are claiming of taking training a few days before changeover have extremely incompetent management staff. It took Johns Hopkins 10 years to implement the system. I work at the largest teaching hospital in the country and EPIC has taken 28 months to train everyone.

Hi,

Just completed Epic training (our hospital will go-Live May 30th, had 12 hrs of training...hmmm, not enough?

For those of you that are using Epic already, I have a question. I work on a Renal unit, in training I didn't notice anything about PD caths, HD caths, stuff in care plans specific to new Renal Transplants?

Thanks,

Mylloh

Specializes in Peds/Neo CCT,Flight, ER, Hem/Onc.

We are switching over to Epic in an ambulatory setting. We are getting a total of 6 count 'em 6 hours of training on this behemoth. I've worked with 4 other programs and this is by far the most cumbersome ever. I all ready know which one of our nurses will never get it and which one is going to cry and have a melt-down when she can't figure it out. Not to mention the PTB are rolling it out the first week of July (hello..med students who have magically turned into residents overnight time). One of my friends is scheduled to go on vacation, she's all ready chortling with glee!

Specializes in Post Anesthesia.

BE THANKFUL. Computer charting is becoming the standard everywhere. Even though I have no experience with EPIC, my hospital went with a different program -- what a nightmare! Several of the nurses I work with have used EPIC at another hospital in the area and LOVE it compaired to what we got stuck with. Like anything else- there is a learning curve. Even with a poorly designed system- once you get it down, patient care is still what you spend your time with.

Hi Epic users,

(thought I posted this Friday, but I don't see it anywhere - pardon me if it's hiding out there somewhere!)

We are going live with Epic soon. I work in a Pediatric hospital on a Renal floor. Wondering a few things about items I couldn't find during training:

Place to chart fistuals but nowhere to chart Hemodialysis catheters or peritoneal dialysis caths.

Careplan for kidney transplant/dialysis pt's.

Thanks!

Specializes in Emergency.

Hi again!

I posted this thread originally last year prior to our hospitals "Go Live" date. I have to say that the hospital and the IT people have been really great. We even have a committee of floor nurses from all units who meet regularly with Mgt and IT to improve the system.

I have really changed my opinion and even helped out my sister hospitals (there are 7 in the system) as a "Superuser" when they went live.

Now, I love the system, and I recently picked up a shift at one hospital that had not yet made the change, and was still using paper charts, and hated it.

I am all for the EPIC program now, and recommend it to any hospital, but they have to tweak it to what works for them.

Amy

Specializes in ER/Trauma.

Interesting!

While I've never worked with EPIC, I work with PICIS/IBEX and cannot recommend it enough!

I WILL however state that MEDITECH is probably one of the worst, most cumbersome documentation software on Earth!

cheers,

Specializes in Peds/Neo CCT,Flight, ER, Hem/Onc.

I'm all for computer documentation (been doing it for at least 10 years). But I'm not a big fan of doing a huge system change with minimal education and the expectation that we will "figure it out as we go along" which is what they have actually been telling us. There will be no EPIC representatives on our go-live date. Only "superusers" who have had an additional 4 hours of class. Nor will there be extra staff to help keep the flow going. It is going to be a baptism by fire and I don't particularly like getting burned. Talk to me again in 6 months and by then I'll probably like EPIC. I just don't like how it's being rolled out.

Specializes in tele, oncology.

We're getting ready to roll out EPIC at my facility...several hospitals in the system along with doc's offices have already. I was selected to be a superuser, and have to do 40 (!!!!) hours of training on top of what everyone else does, for a grand total of 56 hours of training. Part of that training includes giving coverage in the classes that everyone has to take to practice helping people through the system. Supposedly we (superusers) are going to have either no patients or else extremely limited number of patients with 24/7 coverage of all floors the first several weeks so that there is always a superuser available to other staff. There is also, I believe, going to be 24/7 IS coverage on site. My system started with the smallest hospital and worked their way up, eliminating bugs and glitches in training along the way.

I cracked up when I saw that the superusers have to take classes with the physicians...then shuddered when I thought about some of the more traditional docs that we're going to be forced to be helping along.

My biggest worry is trying to teach those staff who still, after years, haven't even figured out the current ordering system that we have. It's not very user-friendly and is old and clunky, but I feel like if you've worked with the same darn computer system for a decade and still can't figure it out enough to order a CXR, either you're totally computer deficient or else you just don't want to learn. Either way a potential nightmare for me to deal with.

We go live in August, I may well come back and give updates...with the federal regs that EHR is supposed to be mandatory in a few years (2012 now right?), I'm sure that there will be more and more people dealing with the transition.

Hi, My hospital has been on EPIC since February. A 2 phase Go-live was used. I have been working with epic since august 2008. I am now an AND on a surgical floor. I need to get my nurses on the same page with charting. They are all over the place & have huge frustrations. I can help individuals on a daily basis but need to get away from this. I need a tool/plan something to bring everyone together. We are still very new to Epic & still uncovering all the layers. Our doctors do all their orders but are also very frustrated. If anyone has any suggestions, big or small, please share! Thank you!

It is not the fault of the computer system or IT for a death... There should always be a back up system, like the paper way if the system goes down etc. We have computer charting and when it goes down we use paper and if we need blood STAT we get it... it takes a phone call, fax or someone to run it over...

I am a former staff nurse user of Epic and now an Epic trainer at our hospital. I have used several other EHR's as a traveler, I feel strongly that Epic is the best system. One of it's biggest selling points is that it can be tailored to each hospital that utilizes it. Hopefully at your hospital you do or will have some group that works on optimization so that it can be used to it's full potential at your institution.

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