Without access to Epic we can't place med orders, look up patient records, discharge patients from the hospital, enter them into our system, really much of anything. Every provider in the emergency department is on their computer placing orders and doing work when not interacting with a patient. Like most hospitals in this country, our entire workflow depends on Epic. We couldn't even run blood tests because the lab was down too.
The STEMI was stabilized, it's more that it was scary to lose every machine in the department at once while intubating a crashing patient. You're flying blind in a lot of ways.
If the computer system was down, and medicine was needed to save a life, would either some protocol dictate grabbing the medicine and dealing with the paperwork or consequence later? If protocol didn’t allow for discussion, would staff start breaking protocol to save life?
You can skip paperwork but what if the patient is allergic to a medicine and you need to check medical records? Or you need to call for a surgeon but VoIP is down? Etc…
My father's coworker died from being in hospital for observation after few scratches in car accident because they were accidentally given medication they were allergic to.
So, yeah. The paperwork can save lives too and not sadly red tape is bad.
Otherwise you may go o hospital to pickup your friend and be told to wait for coroner
The STEMI was stabilized, it's more that it was scary to lose every machine in the department at once while intubating a crashing patient. You're flying blind in a lot of ways.