Epic vs Cerner EMR

Nurses General Nursing

Published

  1. Epic Vs Cerner EMR

    • 10
      Epic is better than Cerner overall
    • 3
      Cerner is better than Epic overall
    • 2
      Epic and Cerner are equal
    • 0
      I have never used Epic or Cerner
    • 2
      No opinion

10 members have participated

Specializes in Epic Trainer ClinDoc/Orders/Ambulatory.

I am an Epic Credentialed Trainer and would like to hear from nurses who have used both Epic and Cerner. Are there pros and cons to each? What do you like most? What do you like least? Thanks!

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

Having used both, I'm personally an Epic fan, but I also feel a lot of that has to do with how the organization has set it up: they really maximized its potential in terms of information accessed and available, as well as what I'm capable of doing with it as a nurse.

IMO, what the facility makes of Cerner/Epic can make or break it. Some organizations have wonderful, detailed, user-friendly setups of their EMRs...and others have the bare-bones "we're only doing this so we're not out of compliance come 2015" version.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

My place of employment uses Cerner for electronic charting and EMRs.

I have never used Epic, although the majority of the hospital systems in my metro area use it. According to nurses who have used both computer charting systems, most have said that Epic is far more user-friendly.

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Cerner. Epic is cumbersome. Things are more at your fingertips with cerner

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Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

Following with ernest. Switching from our current EMR to Cerner this summer. They entertained Epic, but it was three times the cost!

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Just switched to epic from Cerner. Prefer Cerner!!!

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funny because i talked with coworker about this. i asked her if there are any worse program than meditech, and she said if you hear cerner, just walk the other way. lol

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Having used both, I'm personally an Epic fan, but I also feel a lot of that has to do with how the organization has set it up: they really maximized its potential in terms of information accessed and available, as well as what I'm capable of doing with it as a nurse.

IMO, what the facility makes of Cerner/Epic can make or break it. Some organizations have wonderful, detailed, user-friendly setups of their EMRs...and others have the bare-bones "we're only doing this so we're not out of compliance come 2015" version.

Judging by the responses thus far, I think you're dead-on correct.

Experientially, I find Epic to be streamlined and intuitive where using Cerner to accomplish the same task has been a nightmare of rabbit trails and confusing jargon. Locating and navigating desired pages can be absurdly click-heavy.

What takes me a minute to do in Epic might take two in Cerner. When you have a crashing patient or a heavy workload, those extra minutes suddenly become a very, very big deal.

But that is my experience in two different hospital systems. Like you said, some of it may be in how the hospital system has configured the EMR to their own specifications.

All I know is that in using Epic after Cerner has been like walking into the light.

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Specializes in Emergency room, Neurosurgery ICU.
Having used both, I'm personally an Epic fan, but I also feel a lot of that has to do with how the organization has set it up: they really maximized its potential in terms of information accessed and available, as well as what I'm capable of doing with it as a nurse.

IMO, what the facility makes of Cerner/Epic can make or break it. Some organizations have wonderful, detailed, user-friendly setups of their EMRs...and others have the bare-bones "we're only doing this so we're not out of compliance come 2015" version.

yes, this!

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

As a nursing student, I've used Cerner, Epic, and the "Kaiserized" version of Epic. I have to echo that I think it really depends upon how the facility implements the system. I would have to give a slight edge to Epic as it's seems to be a bit more user-friendly from the outset, but the implementation of Cerner that I've seen wasn't all that bad either. With Kaiser's version of Epic, if you've used a generic version before, once you figure out what Kaiser has named something, it's pretty easy to work with.

I've been away from both systems for a while, so my memory of exact workflows is a bit fuzzy right now, but I recall that the user interface/workflow seemed to be only a little more difficult to work with in Cerner, but nothing seriously horrible.

With either system, if you're used to working with computer spreadsheets (like Excel), you should be able to do most of your charting without having to learn new keyboarding skills.

About the only thing I didn't like about Cerner was that if you needed to look up something while you were charting, it wasn't easy to do, if it was even possible. Once I got used to Cerner's quirks, I was able to usually get my charting done fairly quickly and about on par with the speed I was able achieve with Epic. In a way, I'm kind of lucky in that I learned to use EHR's early on, but there are times I just prefer paper charts.

Just my 2 bits based on my mostly limited experience with these systems.

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.
funny because i talked with coworker about this. i asked her if there are any worse program than meditech, and she said if you hear cerner, just walk the other way. lol

Meditech is at the bottom of my list for ER charting for sure. It goes Medhost ( the single best ever ) > EPIC > Meditech

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I love Cerner which I used as nursing student in weekly clinicals and as a nursing assistant and I've never used Epic.

I REALLY dislike Allscripts which I used at the hospital that I precepted in and also in the hospital that I just got a job in!!! They are changing the whole system next year so I hope that they go with Cerner!

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