Cerner Powerchart Review

Overall experience was good. I was initially trained on Cerner Powerchart. There are better EMR systems out there as far as flow, successful add-ons, and auto saving features. However, I must say that the ease of charting on systems and pages within the original body of Powerchart software flows very well. I love the short cuts that I am able to use so that my charting time is much faster than veterans using the system. The customization of pages for each department makes it very friendly for the user. And best of all that customized organization you are used to having follows you in case you float to another unit.

Pros

The Pro's about this software include that it can be customized to make changes throughout every department within the hospital system that uses it. This makes the software versatile. I have seldom had a tired day without running through the routine of charting on patients but Cerner allows for the quick access lists of options in my charting that can be expanded when I need it to jog my memory for the descriptor needed in my charting.

Unlike other charting systems I have used in the past, a default collapsed list of charting options in Cerner is very helpful. Additionally, Cerner has a lot of built in quick access options for charting that my fellow coworkers asked me to teach them. The ability to chart without the use of a mouse makes everything fly by. This is especially important when the mouse at a charting station doesn't work well.

The best part of the customized organization on any specific hospital unit is that this organization of information follows you when you float to other units. This means that if you need to help your buddy unit out the charting time will not slow down due to being in a foreign environment. Very Very Very helpful!

Cons

There is not a built in auto save feature in the charting. The ability to alter charting during my shift is important but there should be a time limit or window within which change to the charting can be counted as initial documentation. If you currently save every so often to ensure your work is not lost and realize information documented was inaccurate then there is a flag on whatever information you change showing that a mistake has been made. This is an unfortunate drawback which points to the lack of autosave features.

One other big con to the system is that when outside information is integrated, such as education material from a subscription database online, the patient chart only reflects information documented when added through specific links within Cerner. As an example if you add documentation that you printed off a handout for the patient you cannot link the handout to the patient chart after the fact. This means that prior to printing anything you HAVE to enter the database from a specific designated page in Cerner and attach it to the chart. Only one way in and one way out.
Poor organization in the add-ons in Cerner.

365 Medical EMR

Must customizable EMR solution I've had the pleasure of working with. Customer support is just a phone call away and they always answer in 5min or less. Powercharts allows providers to customize macros and auto text in order to streamline their daily workflows. Solutions also provides voice recognition and is compatible with Microsoft and Apple computer. Front desk Sheduling system allows offices to configure call protocols, auto verifies insurances and makes registration paperless. System does seem overwhelming at first, but like everything else if the user is willing to learn and puts their part in customizing their favorites the system simplifies their workday.

Pros

Very customizable to any practice specialty.

Cons

When there are parts of the software that can be improved an enhancement needs to be submitted. These enhancements take a long time to take effect.

harder to get used to after using EPIC for EHRs

I learned to use it and I think with more time I will get better as always, but the learning curve was a bit different from EPIC charting which seemed to be more color coded, and easier to navigate, but also full of facility wide things that had to be filled out but didn't apply to the patient, so that was cumbersome.

Pros

It is easy to use once you get to know where things are located, but it has more of a windows software feel than a mac software. It is more utilitarian in that it is not colored and the font is small, which is good for efficiency in documenting once you know where things go and are located. Does not have hangups that EPIC has when company wide documenting is required for certain areas that sometimes do not apply to particular patient such as was the case on a pediatric floor where I was using this system and I appreciated not having EPIC.

Cons

Hard to get used to. I was coming from using EPIC mostly, which seems easier and more intuitive to learn. I found the smaller black boxes and hidden tabs harder to get used to when trying to document daily things. As a nurse the med administration tab wasn't as easy to use as it is in EPIC and wasn't as intuitive and I sometimes messed up at first in documenting med administration especially when trying to add something that wasn't scanning from the pharmacy and I had to do an override.

Rich function, poor user friendly interface

We could deal with physicians' need of a comprehensive computer system to support patient care. Usability issues still remain but it's quite common in modern EHR systems.

Pros

Cerner Ambulatory EHR is one the well known and popularly used EHR systems in the US. It has most of the functions that are needed for outpatient care, computerized order entry system, and data data entry for meaningful use. The consultants from Cerner are hard-working, knowledgable, and deal with issues in a prompt manner.

Cons

Although it is a production system, it used to be so slow and physicians complain about ordering time takes up to 10 seconds. Citrix based desktop is slow. User interface and layout of components in Physician workflow is not intuitive and hard to learn. Overall it results in longer data entry time and takes physicians' time to talk to patients.

Excellent

Less paperwork, less patient waiting time, efficient and accurate management of samples through the use of barcode system within the software.

Pros

I have been working with cerner powerchart since 2016 and it has been very helpful with managing patient orders specially with regards to clinical laboratory test orders. It is very organized and all clinical orders are separated by classification. It has decreased the patient waiting time and processing time for the lab where I am working. Overall its very helpful to medical professionals like me.

Cons

There is really no cons for this software. Occassional downtime, updates and server problems but those were just minor technical difficulties. And are always adressed by the support team efficiently.

Powerchart review

Once you learn Cerner Powerchart, it is a great software, very user friendly, organized, easy to navigate.

Pros

I use this software at work to access patients charts, send messages to other healthcare team members, and to document. Charting is very easy, software flows well. There are lots of shortcuts that make work faster. Pages can be customized to make everyone’s work more efficient and personalized. Search buttons within patients charts are also very useful when learning more about their medical and medication history. This software makes patients’ chart very well organized, easy to find all the necessary information, easy to look up and updated patients’ information such as pharmacy, medications, allergies.

Cons

Frequent software updates are often times less useful and more confusing than previous version, takes some time to learn and get used to it. In some cases support team needs to be contacted to reverse or modify new updates for software to be more user friendly. Occasionally there are problems with the serve, errors when logging in, which are addressed by support team in a timely matter.

Easiest way to find patient information and keep it organized

As someone who speaks with patients on the phone constantly, I find it useful to be able to open multiple Powerchart files at once. This keeps me focused on the task at hand and after a phone call I can return to the previous patient I was working on. All in all this program has been a life saver.

Pros

The amount of information that is able to be found on this software and organized is truly amazing. This program makes it simple to find patient information in seconds and utilizes the ability to open multiple patients at the same time when things get frantic. I really enjoy the layout of the tabs and subsections within them, as they make it easy to find certain aspects of a patients file without digging through everything and wasting time. As long as staff members upload the information and keep it current there are no problems keeping track of a patients medical record and information.

Cons

I dislike that the software is not always intuitive. Some times there is information that I would like to find, but until I am trained on where to find the information in Powerchart I cannot locate it quickly. With that said, I believe there is simply a large learning curve for so much information and it will just take time - not really a fault in the service itself.

Medical software at its finest

Pros

I have been using Cerner Powerchart for over four years and still consider it the best medical software. I find the layout to be easy to navigate and extremely user friendly. Unlike so many other software, you dont have to click through tons of boxes to complete a simple task

Cons

I really love this software and struggle to find cons. Occasionally when I click on the software icon the software doesn't load and occasionally when I'm using the software it freezes and I have to close it and reopen.

Cerner Extended care Road Notes

Then individual applications work great but you still end up having to chart things multiples times because the applications don't communicate with each other. I think you should be able to document in the the nurses note an update to physician order or careplan and the information automatically update the other applications.

Pros

The nurses note flows well and is quick to complete.

Cons

The nurses note does not communicate with any other applications like care plans or physician orders. You have to leave the nurses note to update care plan or enter a new order.

Antipsychotics and Interventions

We started on Powerchart in Feb 2015. At that time our antipsychotic rate for residents on dementia was at 15.8% With the use of the behavior tracking and the interventions in PowerChart we have successfully reduced our antipsychotics to 4% !

Pros

I really like the Behavior Eval/Intervention sections. With the use of Results Review you can see what was documented and what intervention was used in a report form to use in your Psychotropic Meetings.

Cons

The only thing I would say is a con is that there is no "Other" or free text box in the behaviors to choose or track something more specific.