Epic Tip of the Week: April 2019 Week 4

Inpatient - TREWS Information in Chart Header [effective 4/30/19] 

1. Although most Epic users enter patient charts using either system list or Trackboard, there are many situations where a user could easily bypass the system list and thus miss the TREWS alert.
2. A TREWS alert will now appear in the header of a patient's chart. The color of the alert will indicate the progression of the TREWS bundle.  New alerts will appear in yellow, red will indicate the bundle has been initiated, and pink will indicate that the bundle is in progress. Clicking on the alert in the header will take you directly to the Sepsis navigator.

Inpatient - “My List” Column for Displaying Time of Last Vital Signs

A new column, "Time of Last Vitals," has been added as an option for My Lists in the Patient Lists screen. This column displays a point in time or time range of the last vital signs taken.  This column looks only at vital signs filed in the last 24 hours, and will be blank if none have been documented in that time period. To add this column:

1. Navigate to your Patient Lists screen.
2. Highlight the My List you would like to add the column to and click Properties
3. Type "time of last vitals" into the search box, then click on it when it appears in the upper box.
4. Click the Add Column button and it will then appear in the lower box.
5. Use the up and down arrows to move the column to the left or right in your Patient Lists screen
6. Click Accept.

Ambulatory - Quick Communication Replaces Auto-Routed Notes to Referring Providers [effective May 21, 2019]

1. Many providers are creating letters on their own and are unaware that progress notes for each non-primary care encounter are automatically sent by fax or In Basket to referring providers and providers listed as PCPs on the Care Team. This results in duplicate communication.
2. We have changed the process for sending notes to referring providers. When the user opens up the Wrap Up section to finalize the encounter, a letter will automatically be generated for the referring provider in the communications section.
3. If the referring provider is external, the letter will automatically be sent by default. If the provider is internal, the letter will display, but will not be sent out.
4. To send the letter to an internal provider check the send upon close encounter box. Users can also edit the letter and add recipients by clicking the green plus sign.

Screenshots of these features can be found here: https://jh.box.com/s/zs8we1avtprw4vjs2q9g2qtija0ho70a

Epic Training Portal link: https://livejohnshopkins.sharepoint.com/sites/epictraining/Lists/Tips%20and%20Tricks/AllItems.aspx