EPIC Medical Charting Software...a journey

[Tri-Ungulate]

University of Utah/Huntsman Cancer Institute used to be on Cerner, but switched (at great expense) to Epic. Overall, the gestalt is that clinician UI is superior but that's not saying much since Cerner is a complete sack of shit and the bar is unimaginably low.

Intermountain is stuck with Cerner, essentially forever, since they are major owners/developers of the platform as of about 2017 or so. It sucks so bad, it's painful.

[old goat]

My old fart way of dealing with Epic was to free text all my notes, except for op notes for routine procedures that I templated--like hernia repairs. I didn't copy all the labs, tests, and vitals--they're in the chart already so why repeat--just comment on any unusual results, I saved my typing for how the patient was doing and what my thinking and plan was. I heartily recommend that approach.

In the office I never typed while talking to patients. I sat facing them, took a few notes on paper if needed, and entered it into the computer afterwards, in my office.

[whipski]

spend your day mouse clicking quality measures and if time allows take care of the patient

[MagnificentUnicorn]

spend your day mouse clicking quality measures and if time allows take care of the patient

This never happens


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[mtnjam]

EPIC..ally continual problems with patient flow, scheduling (nuclear medicine isn't exactly cut and dry kind of procedures, a little more complex than a standard CT or Xray) and billing are a complete dismal nightmare.

[365wp]

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...heir-computers

[mtnjam]

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...heir-computers

Hmmm 504 Gateway Error with that link.

Yep, that pretty much sums up Epic

[Trackhead]

i preferred when providers would actually look at you, even touch you occasionally to see your responses - now they just ask questions from behind a wall hung monitor & type into the database

Blame 15-20 minute primary care appointments, low reimbursement rates, and mandated 2009 HITECH act (among other things), not the provider.

[Trackhead]

spend your day mouse clicking quality measures and if time allows take care of the patient

All true

[mtnjam]

2009 HITECH act....meaningful use of healthcare information technology. I have yet to see anything of meaningful use without stepping on a bunch of egos or toes for that matter.

The more data collected for some reason means better outcomes or is that meaningful use data being put to absolutely minimal use at all and clogging up patients charts and servers?

So if Epic is so much better for the patients then perhaps make it better for the patients by making it easier for the providers to do their jobs. In my experience, the more data people see in their charts the more confused they get and misinformation they have accumulated because said patients have very little understanding of medical results and what they mean.

Grrrr......

[Trackhead]

To play devil's advocate, was on Cerner downtime the other day, and writing notes with pen/paper was brutal, tedious, and felt impossible.

[mtnjam]

To play devil's advocate, was on Cerner downtime the other day, and writing notes with pen/paper was brutal, tedious, and felt impossible.

Yep, Cerner was clunky, but Epic seems clunkier for clinical staff. I wonder how many things we are currently doing in Epic are going to be swept aside and never charted kind of like some things we found in Cerner that were completely useless and never looked at after the patient was discharged.

[old goat]

Yep, Cerner was clunky, but Epic seems clunkier for clinical staff. I wonder how many things we are currently doing in Epic are going to be swept aside and never charted kind of like some things we found in Cerner that were completely useless and never looked at until the patient sued.

FIFY