Jessica Sauls (far right), of Information Systems, with respiratory therapists Gabriella Andrade (at left) and Jane Bartholomew in the eCare information center

Across BWH, BWFH and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, more than 14,000 employees are preparing for the go-live of Partners eCare (PeC) on May 30.

With about two months left before implementation, BWHCers are sharing their thoughts about their training experiences and what they are most looking forward to about PeC—from better coordination and streamlined processes to improved efficiency and communication.

Several Respiratory Care Services staff at BWH have attended super-user training, and many others have been practicing in the Epic “playground,” a practice version of BWHC’s PeC system, where employees can log in from a Partners workstation, practice skills and become more familiar with the system. Some staff have also participated in “test drives” at the PeC information center at BWH, getting the experience of completing activities in the medical record using a typical scenario.

Marshall Wolf, internist and emeritus vice chair for Medical Education, with Sally Carlson, Partners eCare communications lead

“Because Epic is so data-rich, it will help with our quality assurance,” said Keith Hirst, MS, RRT, manager of Newborn Respiratory Care. “We will be able to obtain better data to improve upon our patient care outcomes.”

Respiratory clinical coordinator Carol Spada, RRT, got a glimpse of the new way to keep track of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) patients’ vital signs and monitor the ECMO pump while attending a “playground” session.

“I couldn’t wait to share it with the other ECMO specialists in our department,” she said.

Paul Nuccio, director of Pulmonary Services, added: “One of the things I am thrilled about is the fact that my staff will no longer need to double and triple document. Having one system that can capture everything will be amazing. The Epic system, from what I have seen thus far, will be so much more complete; we will no longer have to piece together information from several different systems. I am convinced that once the dust settles and we are all familiar with the new system, we will all look back and wonder why we didn’t do this sooner.”

Read highlights from other departments in the latest issue of BWH Heart & Science, on newsstands now and available at bwhheartandscience.org.