Epic Upgrade: Improved Process for Manage Orders Activity

Reviewing and placing orders are two of the most important aspects of the rounding process for a provider. The most influential and considerable change of Epic’s 2012 Upgrade is the Manage Orders activity. This new activity is more than a revamp of the old Order Entry activity; it is replacement for it, offering a whirlwind of additional functionalities.

How Manage Orders Have Changed

Previously, a provider would use Order Entry to simply enter new orders. While this system worked well, it presented some challenges for clinicians and certainly some room for application improvement. While entering orders using Order Entry, it was impossible to simultaneously see active orders, review additional results or reports, view held orders, and display notes that might impact the types of new orders that would be considered for entry. The new Manage Orders activity offers the ability to review all of these order related items in a seamless and user friendly manner. This greatly improves the accuracy of new orders and significantly reduces the opportunity for the entry of duplicate therapy orders.

The Manage Orders activity does more than offer clinicians the ability to review order related items while making new orders. The new Manage Orders activity is intended to be a centralized hub for reviewing and managing all aspects of orders. Active orders can be modified or discontinued using the Manage Orders activity while placing new orders simultaneously. As was previously indicated, various types of held orders can be reviewed, managed, and successively released here. The Manage Orders activity also makes it much easier to find, review, and manage Cosign Orders as well as Prior to Admission Medications.

The basic design and overall functionality of both the Order Review and Order Set activities has not changed but the accessibility of these activities has. Epic has made these activities more easily accessible through the Manage Orders activity in order to make the Manage Orders activity a true one-stop shop for all order related tasks.

Once properly trained, all fundamental hospital staff will quickly embrace this new activity wholeheartedly. Many clinicians identify it as the change of the 2012 upgrade that has the greatest positive impact on their day to day responsibilities. Though it has significant influence on almost all order related workflow items, it is widely considered to be a fan favorite regardless of hospital role due to its overall effectiveness and ease of use.