Epic Skills Assessment Algorithmic Problem Solving Questions and Answers Flashcards
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In the context of Epic systems, which algorithmic approach is most efficient for searching a sorted list of patient records by MRN?
Answer: Binary search
Binary search operates in O(log n) time on sorted data, making it the optimal choice for searching sorted patient records by MRN.
When designing an algorithm to detect duplicate medication orders in Epic, what is the primary advantage of using a hash set over a sorted array?
Answer: O(1) average lookup time
A hash set provides O(1) average-case lookup time for detecting duplicates, compared to O(log n) for a sorted array.
An Epic report must process a hierarchical department structure to calculate aggregate patient volumes. Which traversal strategy processes all child departments before moving to sibling departments?
Answer: Depth-first traversal
Depth-first traversal fully explores each branch of the hierarchy before backtracking to process sibling nodes.
When implementing a scheduling algorithm in Epic that must assign appointments to minimize total patient wait time, which algorithmic paradigm is most appropriate?
Answer: Greedy algorithm with shortest job first
A greedy approach using shortest job first minimizes average wait time by prioritizing shorter appointments.
An algorithm needs to find the shortest referral path between two providers in Epic's provider network. Which algorithm is best suited if all referral connections have equal weight?
Answer: Breadth-first search
BFS finds the shortest path in an unweighted graph and is more efficient than Dijkstra's when all edges have equal weight.
When an Epic algorithm must repeatedly find the highest-priority patient in an emergency department queue, which data structure provides the best performance for both insertion and extraction?
Answer: Binary heap
A binary heap supports both insertion and extract-max operations in O(log n) time, ideal for a priority queue.