An RX for RN’s with EpicCare

A guest blog by Maureen Swick:

Knox offered me a slice of his blog real estate to briefly talk about how EpicCare will impact our nursing staff. Is this the part where I get to jump up and down and yell “WooHoo?” I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am! EpicCare will provide a data rich environment that will support nursing research, standardized education and, more importantly, a collaborative approach to patient-centric care.

Currently, there are a number of information systems that we use that do not speak to each other. As a result of these fragmented systems, nurses have been forced to document the same information in many places to meet regulatory guidelines as well as to provide patient information for other healthcare professionals.

EpicCare will eliminate many of the these barriers and support nurses in being more effective in their roles as patient advocates, educators and key members of the healthcare team.  We will have one medical record that will be accessible to all members of the healthcare team, no matter where they are physically located. EpicCare will provide nurses and other healthcare professionals with evidence-based literature to guide our practice in providing our patients and families high quality and safe care.

The more time our nurses have to devote to our patients, the better. Better efficiency, the safest care possible and more research opportunities for a better future. I’d do cartwheels if I could, but since I’m not quite that limber, I’ll simply end by jumping up and down and shouting, “WooHoo – I can’t wait!”