Epic Systems

My nephew was one of hundreds interviewing for a position at Epic, the major provider of computer charting for hospitals and clinics. He got a job at this massive site. He can't tell us what he is working on. I go to Sutter, a medical clinic in northern CA; they have an EPIC system, and I love it because I can make appointments, send messages to my providers, look up my lab and radiology results, and see what preventive care items I need to do. On the other hand, as a retired RN, I am ecstatic that I retired before I had to use EPIC on the job. Nurses are having to spend enormous amounts of time inputting data on the computer, using EPIC and other systems. Most of what they input are checks on what they did to the patient, without leaving a clear picture of the patient as a whole. It is burdensome. EPIC SHOULD HAVE REAL NURSES AND DOCTORS HELP DESIGN THE SYSTEM! The old-time charting allowed us nurses to provide real information about the patient. Dr. Green, an author of 2 books about Emergency Departments, offered a real look at any computer system, and it was more work upon more work because some situations just don't fit the patient's situations. Computerized charting is the future, but please, EPIC, use the advice of the people who have to actually USE your systems!