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Communication Patterns in the Perioperative Environment During Epic Electronic Health Record System Implementation

  • Systems-Level Quality Improvement
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Abstract

In April 2016, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) went live with the Epic electronic health records (EHR) system, replacing a variety of EHRs that previously existed in different departments throughout the hospital. At the time of implementation, the Vocera® Badge Communication System, a wireless hands-free communication device distributed to perioperative team members, had increased perioperative communication flow and efficiency. As a quality improvement effort to better understand communication patterns during an EHR go-live, we monitored our Vocera call volume and user volume before, during and after our go-live. We noticed that call volume and user volume significantly increased during our immediate go-live period and quickly returned to baseline levels. We also noticed that call volume increased during periods of unplanned EHR downtime long after our immediate go-live period. When planning the implementation of a new EHR, leadership must plan for and support this critical communication need at the time of the go-live and must also be aware of these needs during unplanned downtime.

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Abbreviations

MGH:

Massachusetts General Hospital

SPC:

Statistical process control

EHR:

Electronic health records

EMR:

Electronic medical records

OR:

Operating room

σ:

Standard deviation

VoIP:

Voice-over internet protocol

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Acknowledgements

All authors would like to thank the MGH Perioperative Communications Committee. T.F. thanks Joseph Szokol, M.D.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, WHT 400, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Tynan H. Friend, Samantha J. Jennings & Wilton C. Levine

Authors
  1. Tynan H. Friend
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  2. Samantha J. Jennings
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  3. Wilton C. Levine
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Tynan H. Friend or Wilton C. Levine.

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Conflict of interest

Dr. Wilton Levine receives royalties for intellectual property licensed to Codonics, Inc., and Western Enterprises, Inc. Tynan Friend and Samantha Jennings declare no conflicts of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Systems-Level Quality Improvement

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Friend, T.H., Jennings, S.J. & Levine, W.C. Communication Patterns in the Perioperative Environment During Epic Electronic Health Record System Implementation. J Med Syst 41, 22 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-016-0674-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-016-0674-3

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