We are about to install Epic as our new HIS. They don't have Blood Bank, so we're going with SoftBank, but the rest of the Lab will be on Epic Lab. Is there anyone out there that is live on Epic Lab?

Oh blow it Terri; when I read your heading for the thread, I thought you were talking about my Laboratory, not a computer programme!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:devilish:

The little devil icons are quite appropriate!

I have EPIC at my hospital and it's pretty terrible for Blood Banking. From what I've gathered if your lab is contracted out then the hospital has very little interest in making the lab interface work smoothly. At our hospital they put a basic framework in place and expects the lab to fix all of the incorrect orders that are put in.

What LIS and HIS systems are you currently on? Can you tell me about the transition from the current system to EPIC? Any problems or suggestions? What are your thoughts on SoftBank?

Thank you.

We are currently Cerner Millenium (HIS and LIS), and are going live with both Epic and SoftBank in March. The transition is going pretty well, we are on time for go-live. You get a lot of support from Epic and they keep you on track. It was underestimated how much time the Lab builders/trainers would spend on the system; expect that those people will do nothing else in the Lab until you go live. We are in the validation stage of SoftBank, love it so far. It's an excellent system and the SCC staff is amazing. The only "glitch" we have seen so far is how to handle blood administration; Epic has a blood admin module, but it is not FDA approved, so we decided to keep that system on paper until we implement SoftID Tx, which is FDA approved.

Thanks for the info, Terri. I hate to ask so many questions, but our hospital is currently looking at a new HIS, with a possibility of a new LIS. Are you switching to Epic HIS and LIS? Why the switch from Cerner? What are some positives from Epic that Cerner did not meet? What are some positives from Cerner that Epic does not meet? Are you using Epic's AP module? What size is your facility? Thank you again for your assistance.

Yes, we are going live with Epic for both HIS and LIS. As we are only the 4th site to go live with "Beaker" (Epic's name for their lab module), it needed a little work, but Epic has been very open to suggestions for changes to it. Although they have the lab module, they do not have a Blood Bank module, so we had to find a stand alone Blood Bank system, so we chose SoftBank. The whole hospital switched from Cerner, we weren't really that happy with it, for Lab and Blood Bank it is really not that good. The whole "push" for getting Epic was to go with an electronic medical record; the hospital wants to go as paperless as possible, and Epic is a very highly rated system. We were able to secure some IT grants to help pay for it. I can't think of any positives that Cerner has over Epic. No, we are not using Epic's AP module, our Histology dept recently was outsourced.

We are currently two hospitals that are moving into a new hospital next summer (will be about 380 beds).

Terri,

We will be going to Epic Beaker soon, and we are starting to evaluate blood bank systems.

Was there a reason you chose SoftBank instead of another system like HCLL?

There aren't too many standalone Blood Bank systems, so we looked at SCC (SoftBank), Wyndgate (SafeTrace Tx) and Mediware (HCLL). All three have very strong systems, and we were actually leaning towards Wyndgate at one point, because they also have a tissue module that my hospital was interested in. My IT dept was not too interested in Mediware because they didn't have a great rating with KLAS, but the Mediware rep was able to explain that the evaluation was on their old system, not the newer (better) one. We did a comparison using many criteria and ended up finding that SoftBank was the right fit for us and what we wanted out of a BB LIS. We also took into account that we are going to automate next year, and when I spoke to the reps for Ortho and BioRad, they both said that SCC was the easiest company to work with for interfacing. I have been very pleased with the SoftBank implementation so far; their support staff is top notch.

I would recommend that you do the same: schedule demos and make a long list of items that are important for YOUR Blood Bank. If cost becomes an issue, you may have to involve your Medical Director to back you up if you really feel that one system is better.

We will be going to change over to Epic also. We have SoftBank (have had it for years) so I am interested in hearing how it works for you, Terri.

Hi Frances. We are still in the implementation phase for both systems. So far so good, but a little too early in the process for me to give really good feedback. Loving SoftBank so far; much better than Cerner Millenium for Blood Bank.

We are about to install Epic as our new HIS. They don't have Blood Bank, so we're going with SoftBank, but the rest of the Lab will be on Epic Lab. Is there anyone out there that is live on Epic Lab?

Mercy Health located in St Louis installed Epic in all of their hospitals over the last 2 years. The new Epic lab system has not yet been implimented. Mercy is rolling Epic's lab system (Beaker) in 2011. We are starting training in Jan 2011. The Epic HIS is a nightmare for most labs. A whole different mentality is needed. Good luck.