CIS 2012 Upgrade and The Depart Process

While I write this, the IS team is at work upgrading CIS to the 2012 code. It has been 3 1/2 years since we've had a major upgrade, (March 2009 Enhanced View led to integration of ambulatory and inpatient EMR) and this morning's is unlikely to rock anyone's world. There is a color scheme change that might take some adjustment, particularly for those of us who enter orders while wearing progressives or "cheaters". The user interface displays individual orders in gray, suggesting that the order is inactive. It's not and it should only take a moment to get over. But the text is gray on gray background. This didn't make me too happy, particularly since we weren't given a choice. I've spoken with CMIOs and medical directors at other Cerner sites who have had this installed for a while and they were reassuring. We will soon have the opportunity to judge. The 2012 upgrade is necessary because it is required for our transition to ICD-10 next October. In the near term, we will roll out a new tool, Chart Search, that will allow a Google-type search through an individual patient's chart. So, for example, you can search for documents that refer to a particular condition in Clinical Notes, easing chart navigation. This won't be ready this coming week; we are aiming for December if all else goes smoothly. I've heard that docs love it, especially for those complicated patients with hundreds of notes and results documents stacked in the database. Stay tuned for a tool so many of us have been waiting for - the ability to upload and integrate photos into the patient record and documents... What is coming our way, and hopefully without too much disruption to workflow, is the new inpatient Depart Process/Patient Education modules. The key to success is to perform Med Rec at admission which facilitates discharge Med Rec which, in turn, allows the Depart Process to be set in motion. Here is a brief video I created that covers the basics of this process: