As 2017 begins, it’s important to look back at all we accomplished in 2016. For those who use Partners eCare (PeC) in your daily work with our patients and families, we thank you for your commitment to improving this system for the benefit of all. With your efforts, incremental improvements have been made and we have received feedback from you that PeC is working better to support our clinical documentation.

One very important addition to the nursing set of tools was the implementation of another Nurse Driven Protocol (NDP). The influenza NDP joined our Cauti and Heparin NDPs, all three of which are intended to improve care by supporting nursing practice within the full scope of licensure.

We upgraded to Epic 2015 and saw an improved Patient Education Activity with a more streamlined approach to education documentation; an enhanced MAR, providing easier access to medication administration details; and improved access to historical “lines, drains and airways” (LDAs) information, helping to ensure more accurate capture of LDAs present upon admission. We also reached a 91 percent compliance rate with the Sunquest Collection manager tool for a positive patient identification process and demonstrated a significant reduction in specimen labeling errors.

Many health professionals’ teams also saw improvements. Rehabilitation Services saw updates to improve their flowsheet documentation and charging. Respiratory Therapy developed a new lung mechanics flowsheet to help monitor patients. And improvements to the Advance Care Planning module allow users to more easily find information related to code status, patient values and goals, and health care proxy.

In the coming year, we will continue to work to optimize our system in all areas of patient care.