Epic Skills Assessment System & Workflow Analysis Questions and Answers

Question 1

An oncology pharmacist requests a custom report from the EHR listing all patients who received a specific high-cost chemotherapy drug in the last month. When gathering requirements, which of the following questions should the analyst ask FIRST to understand the core need?

Accepted Answer

What business problem are you trying to solve, or what decision will this report help you make?

Answer

It is crucial to first understand the 'why' behind a request. The answer to this question determines the report's necessary content, format, and urgency. Jumping to implementation details like format or fields without knowing the purpose can lead to building a report that doesn't actually meet the user's underlying needs.

Question 2

During a workflow observation session, an analyst notes that nurses on a busy surgical floor are documenting patient vitals on paper and then entering them into the EHR at the end of their shift. This double entry is causing delays and occasional data entry errors. Which of the following solutions would most directly address the ROOT CAUSE of this inefficiency?

Accepted Answer

Implementing workstations on wheels (WOWs) or bedside terminals for direct EHR entry.

Answer

The root cause of the inefficiency is a lack of accessible tools at the point of care. Providing computers at the bedside or on wheels eliminates the need for paper documentation by allowing nurses to enter data directly into the EHR in real-time. This removes the inefficient and error-prone double-entry step entirely.

Question 3

A hospital's central EHR needs to receive immunization data from a state-run registry. The analyst is told the systems will exchange data using the HL7 (Health Level Seven) standard. During the analysis phase, what is the analyst's PRIMARY responsibility regarding the HL7 interface?

Accepted Answer

To map the data fields from the state registry's HL7 message to the corresponding fields in the EHR.

Answer

An interface analyst's key role is to define the 'translation' rules. They must analyze the data fields in the source system's message and map them to the correct fields in the target system to ensure data flows accurately. The other tasks belong to developers, network engineers, or trainers.

Question 4

A workflow analyst is creating a process map for a patient's journey from check-in to discharge. To clearly delineate which tasks are performed by the registration staff, nurses, and physicians, which type of diagram would be MOST effective?

Accepted Answer

Swimlane (Cross-functional) Diagram

Answer

A swimlane diagram is specifically designed to illustrate how a process moves across different departments, roles, or functional areas. Each 'lane' represents a different group, making it easy to see who is responsible for each step in the workflow.

Question 5

A clinic manager reports that patient satisfaction scores for 'ease of scheduling an appointment' have dropped significantly. Which of the following is the most appropriate INITIAL step for a systems analyst to take?

Accepted Answer

Interview the scheduling staff and observe their current process and challenges.

Answer

Before proposing solutions or performing deep data analysis, the analyst must first understand the current state. Interviewing the frontline staff who perform the scheduling workflow is the most direct way to gather qualitative data about the process, identify pain points, and form hypotheses about why satisfaction has declined.

Epic Skills Assessment Practice Test

Epic Skills Assessment Practice Test

Epic Skills Assessment System & Workflow Analysis Questions and Answers