In the early morning on Sunday, March 24, Northwestern Medicine will upgrade to Epic 2018, affecting all users. The Epic upgrade will provide new and enhanced functionality to improve patient care and safety, ease navigation, boost clinician productivity, and increase patient access. Physician-led Health System Clinical Collaboratives have reviewed changes impacting their areas.
No classroom training is required.
Attend an Epic drop-in session for physicians
Members from the training team and Health Informatics will be available to answer questions and provide a preview of enhancements coming with the upgrade at the following locations between 8 am and 4 pm:
Wednesday, February 27: Kishwaukee Hospital and Delnor Hospital Physician Lounges
Thursday, February 28: Central DuPage Hospital Physician Lounge
Monday, March 4: Northwestern Memorial Hospital Feinberg Pavilion, 3rd Floor Conference Room D
Tuesday, March 5: Lake Forest Hospital Physician Lounge
Below is a small sample of major changes that will improve the clinician and patient experience:
Visit Taskbar will reduce screens and clicks, and offer more features on one screen. Your orders will be anchored at the bottom of the screen, so you can enter them anywhere without jumping from one screen to another. Anything you reorder or adjust from the medical list is also added to the taskbar. Learn more about the taskbar by viewing this short video.
Patient Initiated Estimates: Pilots are already underway to enable patients to estimate the cost of care ahead of time. A full rollout is planned for summer 2019.
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI): Discrete documentation for a patient’s sex, gender identity and preferred names will make care more inclusive.
Epic 2018 Upgrade FAQs
The upgrade happens over Spring Break. Do we have to cancel vacations? No. The upgrade is a much smaller event than Project One Go-Live. There are no vacation or hiring freezes.
Will classroom training be required? Classroom training is not required.
Who is evaluating the changes? Health System Clinical and Business Collaboratives comprised of cross-functional groups in the Central, North and West regions have reviewed changes that impact their areas.
How many changes are coming, and how many are considered high-impact? Of the 2,040 total changes scheduled to be made, only 14 are considered high-impact.
Are groups outside Health System Collaboratives reviewing the high-impact changes? Yes, and detailed information on the approved changes will be shared prior to Go-Live. Will end users participate in testing and validation sessions? Yes. The sessions will be scheduled starting in February.
Patient Initiated Estimates: Pilots are already underway to enable patients to estimate the cost of care ahead of time. A full rollout is planned for summer 2019.