Environmental services and transport times significantly improved with Epic

Less than a year into being an Epic hospital is already paying off for patients, staff and physicians.

The Customer Support Services (CSS) team is being recognized with substantial wins across several Epic categories. Winning seven gold trophies for transaction times in Environmental Services (EVS) and Portering, EVS now stands in the top five percent of all Epic organizations.

“In terms of overall patient flow, the discharge and terminal cleaning and transport functions of our team play a critical role,” says Anita Lamond, director of corporate services. “With increasing patient activity, timely bed turnover and patient transport transactions are paramount to sustained and efficient patient flow.”

CSS staff provide patient and patient-related item services like transport, environmental cleaning, linen distribution and waste management. “Our EAs ensure that our clinical spaces are clean, performing regular cleaning as well as terminal cleaning between patients,” says Lamond.

Likewise, porters safely move patients between departments for necessary diagnostic testing or procedures. They also transport patient-related items and equipment between departments.

“The biggest change for our staff since moving to Epic has been that all Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) sites now have bed cleaning and transport requests managed in a standard automated way,” says Lamond.

Fewer clicks, faster responses

Similar to the domino effect, the EAs’ response times are among the many factors contributing to patient turnaround times. The patient discharge or transfer status automatically creates a bed clean request within Epic and for the EA staff. The terminal clean is automatically prioritized when a waiting patient is assigned to that bed.

Victoria Marini attests to the vastly improved EVS and transport turnaround times since go-live.

“Epic’s ability to create auto transports means reduced wait times for patients needing to be transported,” says Marini, an application specialist who joined the HITS team post-live in September. “Staff also save a few clicks by not having to request a porter in some workflows.”

Rovers are moving things along

Before?Epic, sites across HHS made most of their transport and EVS requests by phone or pager. Even the sites with a dedicated software system had to engage in multiple steps using older technology to complete their job requests.

“Having the new?Rover?handheld device changed how staff receive requests and has made these transactions much more efficient,” says Lamond. “Epic provides all pertinent information needed by the EA and porter staff to complete the upcoming requests safely.”

Scanning the patient’s armband barcode prior to initiating transport is one such feature to enhance patient safety. Furthermore, the availability of real-time dashboards and expanded reporting capabilities allow CSS leadership to monitor operations and address issues more efficiently.

The future with Epic

Continuous improvement is something CSS remains focused on. With the upcoming Epic new version upgrade this spring, they’re excited about other major EVS and transport system improvements.

Marini, a former CSS leader herself, explains their command centres will soon become integrated with improved functionality and visual appeal. This includes improved bundling functionality for item transport, increased flexibility to customize requests for bed cleans and transports and new tools.

“Having a good understanding of the daily operations of CSS, I’m ecstatic we can further improve our people’s work experience.”