Saint Luke’s Hospital, a 257-bed acute-care facility in Duluth, MN, achieved dramatic workflow enhancements by adding Epiphany’s PFT module. The hospital first installed Epiphany with four cardiac modules in 2011. Epiphany worked so well solving workflow problems in the Cardiology Department that the Cardiology Manager shared Epiphany with the Respiratory Care Manager in 2014.
Prior to implementing Epiphany’s PFT module, Barbara Boettcher, RN, Manager for Critical Care, Respiratory Care, and the Sleep Disorders Center, recalled a “cumbersome process.” The process included:
- Printing PFT reports;
- Walking to the physicians’ offices;
- Placing the reports in a basket;
- Waiting for interpretations;
- Distributing the interpreted reports to the primary physicians;
- Scanning alpha-numeric results into the EHR;
- Filing the flow loops in folders in the department; and
- Billing the studies.
“On top of this, physician offices called our department on a regular basis asking for their results; responding to these calls took time away from patient procedures. We also experienced ‘lost’ studies. Our physicians were also very dissatisfied with locating confirmed alpha-numeric results in our EHR and locating the loops in our department. They demanded a more efficient process.”
Epiphany’s PFT module streamlined the once “cumbersome process.” All those manual steps disappeared. “The Pulmonologists access Epiphany at their convenience. They see the interpretive study and can compare previous studies, all very quickly. There is no more paper in boxes, nothing gets lost, billing is done on time, and we no longer get calls from physician offices for results.
“With monthly volumes at 100 procedures, Epiphany’s PFT module is an efficient way to manage studies in our Pulmonary Department. The physicians are very happy with it since nothing gets lost; it is a great time-saver.”
