What are Cerner PowerChart Ambulatory EHR users saying about the software?

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.

Makes things easy

It is a great place to compile all records and look up patient information when needed. It has helped me stay on track with clinic notes.

Pros

I like that Cerner is transparent enough so that nothing is too hard to figure out. I am able to find patients easily, write clinic notes easily, and view past records easily.

Cons

You can only see up to 500 records before things start to disappear. I do not like this. Additionally, it can be hard to find certain records, perhaps a search bar within the records would make things easier.

Not as user-friendly as EPIC

I prefer EPIC over Cerner.

Pros

Cerner is a good EMR program with the basic features of patient appointments, documentation, outside records, lab results, etc.

Cons

Cerner is not as user-friendly as EPIC's EMR. It takes about a month of daily use to get the hang of where different files and information are located in the patient chart. I wish its search feature could search more in-depth within the patient chart like EPIC does.

Tough to use for physical therapists

The software is an electronic medical record software that leaves a little bit to be desired especially compared to some of the other EMR choices out there. It is clunky, and a bit disconnected especially between departments which leaves communication gaps which can be dangerous in the hospital situation.

Pros

I understand where everything is located, and the multi-patient task list makes things easy to find in the course of my day.

Cons

I find that this software is not oriented towards the physical therapist, and it is very tough to integrate information between departments in the hospital. I do not like that my patients will "fall off" My list if they are off the unit or floor, which makes it very easy to miss people. I do not like that you can't see the orders for the patient right away and you need to click on each chart to get more detail which makes it cumbersome to schedule. I wish that you were able to use smart phrases similarly to Epic In order to make documenting more efficient. I also dislike the amount of clicks and grids that a physical therapy note requires. It takes a lot of time to document.

Organized, but repetitive.

Overall it wasn't a hassle and made each day better with it's ease of use. Some days you feel like there's just so much to be done through it and you wish it didn't exist but that's part of what you sign up for in nursing!

Pros

I liked the ease of use and how it allowed for enough tabs for all my patient's charts during any shift. IT allows for most of the required charting to be done just with clicks via the mouse and not too much typing which saves time. It would help generate scores for certain diagnostics which also aids time management.

Cons

A lot of it was repetitive and sometimes the options for a certain part of an assessment didn't quite exactly meet what was assessed. It also times out after a while, which was unfortunate for those days when charting seems to take forever and you leave your desk by a patient or coworker and if not promptly resumed you lose what you were working on, had it not been saved. Makes you really want to get friendly with the save button.

Not a fan

Pros

This software is functional but time consuming to get the hang of.

Cons

This software takes forever to learn and even after having used it for a year and a half I still think, where did I chart that one tiny detail that one time? It's just not as intuitive as other software I've used. In others I felt like it prompted me to fill out and chart on a patient using a checklist. This one you just have to hope you remembered you charted everything and am commonly triple checking before leaving for the day.

Sometimes difficult to navigate

Pros

PowerChart is a comprehensive electronic medical record powered through Cerner. Results and notes can be seen immediately after being posted and is available to all caregivers that have legitimate access.

Cons

It is sometimes difficult to navigate the software. I think the tabs and notes can be better organized for ease of use.

Cerner powerchart review

Pros

Cerner powerchart is an easy to use system. It is very easy to use and has multiple ways to chart on the same topic- making it very user friendly

Cons

There are many areas of powerchart that are very repetitive and make you chart the same thing multiple times. Med Recs can also be confusing for beginners using this system.

I would always prefer epic

Pros

Legacy tool. Useful in small practices.

Cons

Compatibility with 3rd party tool. All round utilization for every clinical functionality

EMR Review

AWESOME, love the customer service.

Pros

Ease of use, easy to navigate a patients chart, easy to make customizations. Very user friendly and makes documenting and placing orders on patients very easy

Cons

Integration with some third parties is hard but it is doable.

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.

Cerner PowerChart Review

Overal Cerner PowerChart satisfies electronic medical record needs well with a few areas of improvement. I am not involved with EMR purchasing decisions but from what I understand, Cerner PowerChart is a good product for the money.

Pros

Cerner PowerChart provides a comprehensive location for all medical information. Information display can be customized to fit user needs and provides quick access to pertinent info with continued use. Home screens are customized for each particular practitioners credentials and needs making many commonly used tasks always right at hand. Accessing information from other visits is also easily performed regardless of which encounter the patient was initially pulled up. One of my favorites is the results callback functionality that allows easy review of discharged patients culture results.

Cons

While Cerner is not difficulty to use, not all features are entirely intuitive. Many functions require repeated use and lots of clicking to access and perform relatively simple tasks. While there is a quick link for Meds Manager access for pharmacists, the link does not pull up the current patient profile opened, necessitating re-entering of the patient encounter number which is a bit tedious. Additionally, the disjunction between FirstNet and PowerChart is inconvenient and would be nice if charts opened through FirstNet opened PowerChart rather than a separate entity of FirstNet given the difference in functionality between the two programs.

Functional Software that plays an important role in the healthcare field

Overall, i have had a pleasant experience with this software, it is definitely user friendly and provides healthcare workers a variety of tools that make charting much easier. Also, it is extremely easy to find information about a specific patient due to the fact that it has different sections with up to date information about the patient and that takes off a lot of times from reading the physician's documentation, at least on my current job position. I highly recommend this software!

Pros

I work in the healthcare industry and use this tool on a daily basis. The software contains a variety of tools that allow healthcare workers to document patient's visits very easily and it is very user friendly. Moreover, it is an extremely well developed software where you are able to navigate through patient's chart, test results, patient's scheduled visits and many other tools that healthcare providers use to get acquaintance with the personal history of the patient. In regards to my position, the Oncology flowchart provides me with information about the cancer staging, treatment name and dates, BMI and lab results. It is a highly functional tool with multi faceted use.

Cons

In order for the software to function correctly, massive amount of updates need to happen monthly from the IT team in my organization. It can be very glitchy sometimes or freeze when there are large amount of information, for example, the MAR section freezes a lot. But other than that, it is highly functional and well developed software.

Efficient EMR program; User friendly!

My specific department is a centralized scheduling group that oversees all surgery scheduling for the organization. In one day we typically talk with/schedule over 300 patients. This means that we have to be able to quickly access and review a patients chart prior to scheduling their procedure. This used to include many clicks and time - We are now able to do this very quickly and efficiently. (Hence why our group is able to handle all surgery scheduling for the organization)

Pros

Implementing Cerner has been nothing but a positive experience and we have continued to find ways to improve our program to benefit each department within our clinic. Patients have also experienced the increased efficiency since implementing Cerner - This has been our biggest win!

Cons

Currently our program does not interface with all pharmacy scripting programs and Dragon dictation software that many providers like to utilize. We are working with other programs & have workaround workflows in place to address this but will be working more closely with representatives from Cerner to ensure this is not an issue with necessary interfaces going forward.

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.

Overall a pretty good EHR

Overall this has been a fine database to use, and was easy to learn (for the most part). There are some things I really like about it, and some things that annoy me, but I feel that this might be true for most EHR databases. I haven't minded using this one and it has a number of handy features.

Pros

I feel like overall this EHR is fairly user friendly. I picked up on how to use it fairly quickly with no prior experience with it when I started my first PA job. I really like the feature of being able to have your pre-completed notes and pre-determined phrases that can be put into a note. It's also easy to search for medications and lab orders to place.

Cons

There are a few little things that drive me crazy with using this database. It's not always easy using the search feature to look up patients, for example. There are also a few simple things that should only take a click or two, but they take a lot longer to do than they should. Our database recently got updated, which made a few of the features better, and a few worse. For example, when looking up a patient's past bloodwork results, I now have to expand the dates of what I want to see further in the past in every single patient's chart, instead of just setting it once and having it remember it.

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.

Easiness compared to other products

Pros

Compared to other medical management systems, I believe this one is the most simple ones. Less tabs, information populates accurately, and little to no system errors.

Cons

Some functions like the time frame. When a specimen is drawn and collected, results will collect at the time frame the lab was sent out and not the time the lab results were actually populated. Also, it would be nice if certain document notes when created would populate as a New notification.

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.

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.

Overpriced but necessary

Pros

I’m a believer of you get what you pay for. However in a world of limited options this could be better for the cost

Cons

Very clunky and hard to use. Not many other options for EMR vendors. We are moving to Meditech next year

Cerner review

Well, my overall experience my be a little more significant than others. This program is ONLY used by those in healthcare settings so I get a little more experience and time with it than most.

Pros

I like that it’s now easier to chart. We’re able to chart vitals, admitting notes, doctors and nursing notes, ADL’s and vitals in one swoop. Things aren’t really hard to find either. Once you’re directed where to go and with some practice( which in a hospital of clinic setting you HAVE to use this everyday) it becomes just like texting. Easy and smooth

Cons

There IS a lot of clicking. You basically click maybe twice to get to different options but that is overlooked pretty easily.

Easy of use

Cerner millennium is easy to use again and faster as well.

Pros

I can save multiple precompleted templates and diagnosis, making it so is to use and it really save time. However this possibility is not available on all Cerner products. Cerner millennium is the best so far. Cerner medconnect allows to tag and paste from previous note

Cons

Cerner Medconnect is the worst product, not user friendly at all! One can not save a pre completed template! There is a possibility of entering smart text, however this is time consuming. “Tag” functioned can take a couple of minutes! It’s really a waste of time

Solid EHR, that is multi functional for clinic and hospital

I would recommend to a hospital with an ambulatory clinic as it helps keep information flowing between the two systems in an accurate manner

Pros

All areas are basically the same so using this product for ambulatory as well as hospital and emergency provides ease of use. Many other facilities use this product so that is helpful in sharing of information.

Cons

It is expensive. There were some issues with our build and the billing does not work as well as we had hoped.

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.