For example, last month, IS brought Clinical Data Viewer onboard. This provides a single screen view of a patient’s summary data, such as vital signs and I and O flow sheets, as opposed to needing to view multiple screens. It will also help with the transition of the ICU's paper documentation onto SCM. That project is planned for this summer.

Terese Kornet, MSN, RN, clinical director of Clinical Nursing Systems, said that upcoming IS projects this year include integrating allergy information documented on EPIC into SCM and transitioning physician documentation and orders/medication reconciliation onto SCM. This will allow caregivers the ability to do electronic medication reconciliation instead of using a paper form.  

The upgrade to SCM 5.5 -– a certified electronic medical record -- enabled the Health System to meet a requirement of Meaningful Use. So far UPHS has received more than $4 million, thanks to its use of electronic health records to improve health-care quality and effectiveness. 

One nurse at the Meal said that the changes that came with the 5.5 upgrade brought additional pressure on the units.  “Learning it all can be overwhelming.”

“We recognize and appreciate all the efforts of everyone to make the system work,” Black responded. “It’s difficult and complex to make these changes, but it is required to meet challenges of our evolving health-care environment. Looking forward, we will have less money to do what we’ve done in the past.”

Continuing, he noted that many of today’s health-care services are performed on an outpatient basis. The South Pavilion Extension, currently under construction , will allow the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine to house nearly all of HUP’s outpatient services, making it more convenient for our patients but also allowing these practices to expand. “Creating this additional ambulatory space will help us meet our long-range goals and objectives.” 

One participant asked if there are any plans to convert everything to EPIC rather than use different systems for inpatient and outpatient data.  “We want more integration within systems but one system may not meet the needs of all our patient populations,” Kornet said. 

“No company today has a single solution to meet all our needs but we are continuing the discussion,” Black said.

In HR news, Judy James, associate chief HR officer, spoke about a professionalism video on the Intranet that discusses protected health information in today’s world of social media and technology. “Where is the line between remaining professional and talking on sites about what has happened in the work place?” she said. “It’s important for all employees to watch this.” The video can be accessed under ‘What’s Hot’ and through Knowledge Link.