15 months until Epic, can't wait

[wtm1114]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Just got told by the computer people that my hospital will have Epic implemented in about 15 months. I'll host a party on the Epic launch day. So tired of writing with a fatigued wrist. So tired of reading notes with horrible handwriting (which is ~70% of the notes out there). I know there will be new problems with EMR, such as more restrictions on "verbal orders" and upper-generation attendings who type with two fingers (a true ominous sign), but dude copy-and-paste is really much needed right now. Not to mention order sets.

 

[njac]

I hates Epic. I hae worked at a few Cerner hospital and am now at an Epic hospital and just prefer Cerner overall. Although it's very interesting how each hospital implements it differently.

I think cut and paste is very much overused though, and how a lot of chart lore gets perpetuated. It does crack me up when I see my pharmacist note cut and pasted all over a chart though.

 

[iwumd07]

I miss handwritten progress notes. Saves so much more time and makes rounding much easier. Epic is not user-friendly, nor intuitive.

 

[Law2Doc]

I hates Epic. I hae worked at a few Cerner hospital and am now at an Epic hospital and just prefer Cerner overall. Although it's very interesting how each hospital implements it differently.

Agreed. Epic is a fiasco at a lot of hospitals. I would save your party until you see how it actually plays out. Sometimes the "idea" of something is much better than the reality, and I think you will see that this is an example of one of those.

 

[peppy]

While I agree that some EMRs are easier to use than others, I hate paper charts so much that every place I've been to that uses an EMR has been an improvement.
Having to hunt down whoever has the paper chart when you need it is such a ridiculous waste of time. Being post-call, going up to the patient's floor to put a handwritten note in the chart, only to find out that the patient's chart went with them down to radiology or something used to drive me nuts.

There were plenty of times when I would be looking at old records and some of the handwritten notes were just so illegible that they were useless to me.
It's safer for patients if everyone's note is clearly typed.
I'm happy to just enter orders into the computer myself rather than giving verbal orders. Heck, it's better than having to go back later and sign a verbal order. I'm so thankful that most of the rotations at my current residency use EMR. Say what you will about the VA, but I love their EMR. 😍 It makes it so much easier to wade through the convoluted stories of some of the older guys there.

 

[Law2Doc]

While I agree that some EMRs are easier to use than others, I hate paper charts so much that every place I've been to that uses an EMR has been an improvement.
Having to hunt down whoever has the paper chart when you need it is such a ridiculous waste of time. Being post-call, going up to the patient's floor to put a handwritten note in the chart, only to find out that the patient's chart went with them down to radiology or something used to drive me nuts.

There were plenty of times when I would be looking at old records and some of the handwritten notes were just so illegible that they were useless to me.
It's safer for patients if everyone's note is clearly typed.
I'm happy to just enter orders into the computer myself rather than giving verbal orders. Heck, it's better than having to go back later and sign a verbal order. I'm so thankful that most of the rotations at my current residency use EMR. Say what you will about the VA, but I love their EMR. 😍 It makes it so much easier to wade through the convoluted stories of some of the older guys there.

The VA system is a lot more user friendly than some EMRs. I think the OP is in for a surprise if he/she thinks Epic is party-worthy.

 

[45408]

The VA system is a lot more user friendly than some EMRs. I think the OP is in for a surprise if he/she thinks Epic is party-worthy.

I think Epic varies from one place to the next, depending on what modules are installed. Once I got to know Epic better, it was a lot easier to find what you needed (sometimes really quickly). My program has a proprietary software package, and I tweaked it a bit to really find what I need quickly. It makes a huge difference once you know what you're looking for.

 

[WingedOx]

Agreed. Epic is a fiasco at a lot of hospitals. I would save your party until you see how it actually plays out. Sometimes the "idea" of something is much better than the reality, and I think you will see that this is an example of one of those.

when the alternative is paper notes, I'll take EPIC any day of the week.

Epic also beats the inpatient EMR my hospital uses looks like it was coded on MS DOS in the '80s.

 

[wtm1114]

My med school had full epic installed. Now my residency uses pure paper charts. I'm extremely efficient with computers and I made the best Epic templates for everyone. I so much miss those days when I could click one button in Epic and 70% of my H&P was done. Not to mention 95% of my admission orders and procedure notes look absolutely identical. Writing the same crap over and over again is really annoying.

 

[dpmd]

There were plenty of times when I would be looking at old records and some of the handwritten notes were just so illegible that they were useless to me.
It's safer for patients if everyone's note is clearly typed.

Have seen plenty of those wonderful electronic notes that are two pages long and have every lab and official read on them but are completely useless for understanding what the plan was, especially since each days note is roughly identical. When people have to write something down, they tend to stick with the pertinent stuff. I wish they did so in their electronic notes as well. Plus it is a large pain in the ass when the system is so slow it takes twice as long to chart than just finding the paper chart and writing the four lines it would take to get the point across for what is going on with the patient.

 

[34140]

has anyone used eclipsys? is that better or worse than epic?

i used eclipsys through out school and now will be going to an epic only hosp.

 

[Buzz Me]

I agree that often there is so much of that auto-populated nonsense (do we really need the last week's worth of labs, vitals, home meds, inpatient meds, etc. EVERY SINGLE DAY) that the most important part - the assessment and plan - gets lost.

Then there are those who just blatantly copy and paste from other's notes. Or from their own note from the previous day...except they forget to update it.

 

[Tone2002]

I agree that often there is so much of that auto-populated nonsense (do we really need the last week's worth of labs, vitals, home meds, inpatient meds, etc. EVERY SINGLE DAY) that the most important part - the assessment and plan - gets lost.

Then there are those who just blatantly copy and paste from other's notes. Or from their own note from the previous day...except they forget to update it.

A lot of places have created monsters with the good old "cut and paste"...

 

[sohsie]

I remember doing some rotations in the VA hospital as a medical student and I loved their computer system. I would cut and paste my note every day from the previous day but then update it to reflect what happened the previous day, what the updated assessment/plan was, and cut out the stuff that was no longer pertinent. I used to laugh though when I would have the weekend off (or I was gone for a day for some other med school required activity) and I would find my last note replicated by whichever intern or resident was covering the patient each day I was gone without any changes whatsoever!

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Epic is a little harder to use than CPRS, but it's not so bad. It definitely beats paper charts. We write ridiculously long notes in my field, and handwriting them seems so painful. And admittedly, copying and pasting isn't always the best, but I'm glad to be able to do it for my assessment and plan for my patients who have been there more than 30 days. We're not really changing that A&P much on day 31.

 

[psipsina]

We have paper charts at my school but I used Epic on away rotations and I definitely prefer it. I'm so much more efficient with it and digging through other providers notes is more fruitfull for the most part simply because I can read everyone elses notes! I love not having to hunt for the physical chart. I definitely think that the autopopulate and cut&paste features are hideously overused. I handwrite all the labs onto my list for the day so I know that I have really processed it all as I found that if your note autopopulates its easier to miss stuff. And clearly there needs to be consequences for a complete copy & paste job from the day before (I only saw this once with an intern going off-service the next day).