EPIC VOICES
robust reporting component in Epic will help pinpoint health problems within the community. One example of this component power was demonstrated in Flint, Michigan, when a pediatrician noticed an increasing number of children in her practice having high levels of lead in their blood. That prompted contacting other providers in the community and tracking symptoms to a change in the
city’s water system. Without Epic, it would have taken hundreds of hours to compile the data to support what doctors suspected. With Epic, the data was compiled easily, allowing steps to be taken more quickly to safeguard the community. Lisa says, “We are fortunate to have an impressive Epic team, made up of representatives from across the entire Bryan Health organization. This group has
Dawn Isaacs, RN, director of nursing
invested a significant amount of time and expertise to prepare us for this change that will truly benefit our entire community today and into the future.”
Dawn Isaacs, RN, director of nursing, Bryan Medical Center
“I
t’s Epic!” Dawn Isaacs, director of nursing, can’t help but exclaim as she rattles off all the advantages the new electronic health record brings to Bryan Health patients. As a patient and mother, she values having her family’s medical information all in one place. She’s able to schedule appointments in the middle of the night and get reminders of when her kids’ immunizations are due through Bryan Health MyChart. As a nurse, she sees the quality of care improving through systemwide efficiencies and clinical safeguards. “A big advantage of Epic is freeing up a nurse’s time to be with patients,” she says. “Time will be saved as patient history and clinical information from multiple systems is brought together automatically. For instance, nurses used to have to document patient vital signs in
several places. Now they only need to document it once, and the information shows up wherever it is needed.” Epic provides excellent clinical alerts. For example, the system tracks test results and vital sign trends, and if something doesn’t look right, it will alert the health care team. Another helpful feature of Epic is in the medication system. If a patient has an IV with medication, the system will automatically track and calculate how much medication the patient has received. Nurses still will check patient IVs, they just won’t have to spend time documenting on the computer, unless they change the course of the medication. Though patients will likely be unaware of these and many other clinical features, they or their loved ones in the past may have noticed nurses spending a great deal of time on computers. Once charting time is reduced through Epic, nurses can spend less time on the computer and more time with their patients. According to Dawn, “When we talk about improving the quality of care, we don’t mean that it isn’t already excellent. Epic will just make us more efficient so doctors and nurses can spend more time at the bedside, which benefits patients and improves quality of care.”
Bryan Journeys 9