Annual Report 2023-2024

an epic investment in Patient Care Electronic health records system puts patients first

Shriners Children’s commitment to providing the highest quality of care means investing in the latest technology and tools. Last year, the healthcare system completed phase 1 of the endeavor to move to Epic, an electronic medical records system that enhances the way our outpatient sites share and store patient data, medical records and billing. And in January 2024, phase 2 launched, bringing the technology to inpatient areas, as well. This means that pharmacy, radiology, nursing, surgery and all clinical departments will all operate within the same record system by the time the project goes live on April 5, 2025. This initiative reflects a significant investment by the Joint Boards to make it possible for us to care for more kids in more places more efficiently, and at a very high quality. The technology provides more personalized care that’s simpler for patients and staff alike. A user-friendly tool, Epic has many features that allow for higher accuracy, increased collaboration and more efficient scheduling and registration. “It really revolutionizes the care of the children, to have the medical information available the same day for much better coordinated care and efficient care,” said Chief Medical Officer Frances A. Farley, M.D. One way implementing Epic has helped drive improvements in quality is through standardization, said Chief information Officer John McFarland. “Making design decisions that apply across the organization is a great example of leveraging technology assets to drive operational efficiency and clinical best practices across the organization.” To boost accuracy and efficiency, Epic record keeping is streamlined across the healthcare system. “Your patient population might be a little different – you may have a patient with burns or a child in orthopedics, but in general the documentation is standardized

across our system, regardless of your location,” said Shriners Children’s Chief Nursing Officer Beverly Bokovitz, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN. It’s not something patients would necessarily see, but Epic is a workflow tool as much as it is a critical documentation tool, which can be done in real time during a patient’s clinical appointment or at the bedside. There are capabilities that ensure not only that the clinical documentation is right in the chart, but that all members of the team are able to access the next steps for the patient. A systemwide effort For phase 1, medical teams worked hard on their Epic training. The nature of the system required an adjustment to how they interact with patients in exam rooms, due to the need to chart while patients are present. This increases accuracy in records, but families may misinterpret this at first since providers are spending more time on their computers. Communication is key, letting families know how this contributes to even higher-quality care. Nursing and patient care played a pivotal role in the success of transitioning to Epic in phase 1 and continue to do so during phase 2. Clinical transformation specialists, whose role is to assist in connecting the pieces and parts between transformation and optimization in clinicians’ use of healthcare technology. For the Epic project, they are at-the-elbow support, assisting nursing with their workflows as it relates to the electronic health record, providing continuous feedback back to the Epic team. Their work is focused on supporting the transition of clinic workflows to Epic, identification of gaps and optimizing Epic workflows. Our clinical transformation specialists assisted with Epic phase 1 tasks, including system validation testing and providing go-live support at our phase 1 sites, and these efforts encouraged Epic to call upon them again to participate in subsequent rollouts.

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