Evaluating Success in Epic System Implementation

D. Plan for evaluating the success of the implementation of the selected system incorporating two professional organization standards.

Several measures can be used to plan for evaluating the success of Epic implementation in an organization. These measures can range from frequent audits to surveys of staff and patients' perception and engagement. Measured outcomes data can be used to compare with the pre-implemented practice data to determine the level of success or failure of the new system. A newly implemented system has a better chance to be successfully adopted in an organization when it is properly planned, managed, and has the support of a credible professional organization. To evaluate the success of this Epic implementation,

As the trusted caregivers and patient advocates, nurses can influence patients to learn and use the electronic health information for their health management. ANA supports and encourages nurses to use personal electronic health record to manage and improve their own health. The nurses will then have the first-hand knowledge of the process and able to share such experience with their patients to promote the patients’ involvement in their health management. Nurses can serve as role models for patients and empower them with knowledge about the EMR and its benefits. The more patients know about the EMR, the more likely they will participate in the system and to take an active part in managing their own health. To determine the success of the implemented system with respect to this assumption, the number of enrolled nurses and their patients, who are also enrolled in the MyChart portal, are collected to establish a baseline data (group 1). The number of non-enrolled nurses and their patients who are enrolled in the system are collected as well (group 2). These two sets of data are then compared to the data sets collected over a three-month period to determine whether the nurses’ first-hand experience in the use of EMRs and role modeling help patients to accept and use EMR to improve their health management. If there are more patients enrolled and used the system in the first group than in the second group after the three-month period, then the system is successful in its strive to promote patients’ participation in their healthcare management. The system implementation and the nurse-to-patient education process need to be re-evaluated if the patient number of enrollment in the first group is lower than in the second group at the end of the three-month time