Nurses Participate in Epic Project Planning As Houston Methodist continues on our journey to implement Epic, nurses are playing a key role by using their clinical knowledge to make sure the system is functional and accurate. In 2016, Epic will be rolled out across Houston Methodist as the one system for patient care, medical records and billing. Houston Methodist employees from across the system have become part of the Epic team. Byanca Janog, RN, Epic operational expert, OpTime, joined the team from the operating room at Houston Methodist Hospital. “It’s different not having the patient interaction, but the Houston Methodist Epic Project Team has done a very good job of having a mix of people,” she says. “It’s all really meshed well and everyone is here to help each other, so it’s been a nice transition.”
“It’s the end user you want to help, those who are caring for the patient. You want to make their lives easier.” – Byanca Janog
those who are caring for the patient. You want to make their lives easier.” If you have questions about Epic, contact the appropriate entity-based nurse champion listed below, visit epic.houstonmethodist.org or email epic@houstonmethodist.org.
Entity-based Nurse Champions
With Epic, everyone involved in a patient’s care can access everything they need to know to care for that patient.
HMH – Connie Lauw, cmlauw@houstonmethodist.org
“Epic allows nurses to see the full story of a patient electronically throughout the entire episode of care,” says Suzan Lee, RN, MS, NEA-BC, Epic nurse champion.
HMSL – Susan Laws, sdlaws@houstonmethodist.org
Utilizing nurses during the transition to Epic is imperative because they can offer their clinical expertise during the build decision sessions (Validation Sessions) resulting in clinical workflows that align with our selected EHR. “We make sure it’s designed right so when they build it it’s functional and works with the workflow,” says Janog, who is pursuing a master’s degree in nursing with a specialty in health care informatics. “It’s the end user you want to help,
HMSJ – Cindy Theriot, ctheriot@houstonmethodist.org HMSTC – Richard Hart, rhart2@houstonmethodist.org HMSTC – Caroline Mascarenhas, CMascarenhas@houstonmethodist.org HMSTJ – Krystal Garza, kgarza@houstonmethodist.org HMSTJ – Cynthia Edwards, caedwards2@houstonmethodist.org HMW – Judy Clark-Knight, jclark-knight@houstonmethodist.org HMWB – Mercedes Summers, mtsummers@houstonmethodist.org
More than 30,000 Houstonians will participate in the Heart & Stroke Walk on November 8 at 8:30 a.m. in support of the American Heart Association’s fight against heart disease and stroke. Bigger than ever before, the Heart & Stroke Walk —of which Houston Methodist is a proud sponsor — will take place again at NRG Park (formerly Reliant Park). The walk will feature family fun and physical fitness to promote walking as a part of a healthy lifestyle while raising funds to support cardiovascular research and educational programs for the American Heart Association. For more information, visit houstonheartwalk.org. LEADERS IN NURSING 19