Epic Skills Assessment System & Workflow Analysis 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A clinical analyst is mapping an Epic emergency department triage workflow and discovers that a mandatory BestPractice Advisory fires for every patient regardless of chief complaint. This is MOST likely an example of:
- Effective clinical decision support implementation
- Alert fatigue caused by a poorly targeted BPA, which may lead staff to dismiss all alerts including critical ones (Correct answer)
- An Epic software defect requiring vendor escalation
- Appropriate use of system-wide safety rules
Correct answer: Alert fatigue caused by a poorly targeted BPA, which may lead staff to dismiss all alerts including critical ones
BPAs that fire indiscriminately contribute to alert fatigue, reducing their clinical value and increasing the risk that important alerts will be ignored.
Question 2: When performing a workflow analysis for an Epic Ambulatory implementation, an analyst finds that the current paper-based referral process involves 14 manual steps. After mapping the future-state Epic workflow, the count drops to 6 steps. This reduction is BEST measured using which metric?
- User satisfaction score
- Process cycle efficiency, comparing steps eliminated as a proportion of the original workflow (Correct answer)
- Number of Epic training hours required
- Server response time improvement
Correct answer: Process cycle efficiency, comparing steps eliminated as a proportion of the original workflow
Process cycle efficiency quantifies the reduction in steps or waste, providing a concrete measure of workflow simplification achieved through Epic.
Question 3: An analyst needs to determine which Epic users are accessing a specific workflow feature but have not completed required training. Which data sources should be combined to answer this question?
- Patient satisfaction surveys and billing records
- Epic audit logs showing feature usage and the LMS training completion records for those users (Correct answer)
- Network performance logs and Epic downtime records
- MyChart activation rates and payroll data
Correct answer: Epic audit logs showing feature usage and the LMS training completion records for those users
Combining Epic audit logs (who used the feature) with LMS training records (who completed training) identifies the at-risk user population.
Question 4: A patient safety officer asks an analyst to identify Epic workflows where critical lab result notifications could be missed. The MOST systematic approach is to:
- Interview one physician to understand their notification preferences
- Map all result notification touchpoints in Epic (In Basket, paging, BPAs) and trace each pathway to identify failure modes (Correct answer)
- Review only malpractice claims related to missed labs
- Check whether the lab interface is active
Correct answer: Map all result notification touchpoints in Epic (In Basket, paging, BPAs) and trace each pathway to identify failure modes
Systematically mapping every notification pathway and tracing failure modes provides comprehensive coverage of gaps rather than relying on anecdotes or partial data.
Question 5: An organization is evaluating whether to redesign its Epic surgical scheduling workflow. Which framework is MOST appropriate for structuring the analysis?
- SWOT analysis focused on competitor hospitals
- A Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) or DMAIC cycle to define the problem, measure current performance, analyze root causes, improve, and control changes (Correct answer)
- A financial ROI model based solely on revenue projections
- A vendor comparison matrix for alternative scheduling software
Correct answer: A Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) or DMAIC cycle to define the problem, measure current performance, analyze root causes, improve, and control changes
PDSA and DMAIC are structured quality improvement frameworks that ensure data-driven decision-making throughout the workflow redesign process.
Question 6: After an Epic upgrade, users report that a previously efficient charge capture workflow now requires additional steps. The analyst's FIRST action should be:
- Immediately roll back the upgrade
- Reproduce the issue in a test environment and compare the pre- and post-upgrade build configurations to identify what changed (Correct answer)
- Retrain all users on the new workflow without investigating further
- Submit a complaint to Epic and wait for a patch
Correct answer: Reproduce the issue in a test environment and compare the pre- and post-upgrade build configurations to identify what changed
Reproducing the issue in a test environment and doing a configuration comparison isolates whether the change is a build regression, a new default, or an intentional design change.
Question 7: A workflow analyst is asked to prioritize three proposed Epic workflow improvements with limited implementation resources. Which prioritization criterion is MOST aligned with healthcare system goals?
- Which improvement was requested most recently
- Impact on patient safety and quality outcomes, weighed against implementation complexity and resource cost (Correct answer)
- Which improvement requires the fewest Epic configuration changes
- Which department head submitted the request first
Correct answer: Impact on patient safety and quality outcomes, weighed against implementation complexity and resource cost
Prioritizing by patient safety and quality impact while accounting for feasibility ensures resources are allocated to the highest-value, risk-adjusted improvements.
Epic Skills Assessment System & Workflow Analysis 5
A clinical analyst is mapping an Epic emergency department triage workflow and discovers that a mandatory BestPractice Advisory fires for every patient regardless of chief complaint.
This is MOST likely an example of: