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P080
Quantifying Outpatient Nursing Care: Impact of Epic After-Visit Care Dashboard
Learning outcome: Participants will understand the development and implementation of an Epic dashboard to quantify outpatient nursing care, recognize challenges and solutions in measuring workload, and apply these concepts to improve data collection and resource allocation in their outpatient settings.
Outpatient nursing practice faces challenges in measuring nurse workload efficiently. Traditional approaches—focused on patient volume, non-visit care work, and nurse visits—do not account for the complexity of nursing tasks. Previous systems rely on subjective inputs and manual processes, lacking the accuracy needed for nurse leader decision-making. The ongoing nursing shortage has made it difficult for clinics to maintain previous staffing levels, thereby increasing pressure on existing resources. Current methods for gathering data about after-visit care tasks are difficult and unreliable. Streamlined data collection methods are needed to support nursing leadership in staffing and resource allocation and demonstrate the value of nursing work.
To tackle these issues, an Epic dashboard was developed to improve the collection and analysis of outpatient nursing data. The dashboard utilizes multiple discrete data points within Epic, including SmartPhrase and SmartText utilization, test results, documentation, and other relevant data. By automating and standardizing the collection of nursing-related data, the dashboard offers a more objective and comprehensive measure of nursing workload.
The implementation of the dashboard included staff training to ensure consistent adherence to documentation protocols, minimizing errors and subjectivity in workload measurement. Additionally, time studies were conducted to calculate the full-time equivalent (FTE) nursing hours required for after-visit care, using manual timing to capture the duration of each nursing task.
The Epic dashboard has demonstrated promising results by streamlining data collection and equipping nursing leaders with actionable insights to effectively manage workload, optimize resource allocation, and support data-driven decision-making. Early results from time studies have helped define FTE needs for specific nursing tasks and demonstrate the changes in needs throughout the year.
The dashboard will continue to be refined and expanded, utilizing one year of historical data to analyze trends in after-visit care and identify areas for growth. It will also guide future staffing decisions, resource reallocation, and FTE requests. This project offers a scalable model for other outpatient clinics to adopt similar methods for measuring nursing workload, ultimately helping to demonstrate the impact and value of nursing work across various settings.
Outpatient nursing practice faces challenges in measuring nurse workload efficiently. Traditional approaches—focused on patient volume, non-visit care work, and nurse visits—do not account for the complexity of nursing tasks. Previous systems rely on subjective inputs and manual processes, lacking the accuracy needed for nurse leader decision-making. The ongoing nursing shortage has made it difficult for clinics to maintain previous staffing levels, thereby increasing pressure on existing resources. Current methods for gathering data about after-visit care tasks are difficult and unreliable. Streamlined data collection methods are needed to support nursing leadership in staffing and resource allocation and demonstrate the value of nursing work.
To tackle these issues, an Epic dashboard was developed to improve the collection and analysis of outpatient nursing data. The dashboard utilizes multiple discrete data points within Epic, including SmartPhrase and SmartText utilization, test results, documentation, and other relevant data. By automating and standardizing the collection of nursing-related data, the dashboard offers a more objective and comprehensive measure of nursing workload.
The implementation of the dashboard included staff training to ensure consistent adherence to documentation protocols, minimizing errors and subjectivity in workload measurement. Additionally, time studies were conducted to calculate the full-time equivalent (FTE) nursing hours required for after-visit care, using manual timing to capture the duration of each nursing task.
The Epic dashboard has demonstrated promising results by streamlining data collection and equipping nursing leaders with actionable insights to effectively manage workload, optimize resource allocation, and support data-driven decision-making. Early results from time studies have helped define FTE needs for specific nursing tasks and demonstrate the changes in needs throughout the year.
The dashboard will continue to be refined and expanded, utilizing one year of historical data to analyze trends in after-visit care and identify areas for growth. It will also guide future staffing decisions, resource reallocation, and FTE requests. This project offers a scalable model for other outpatient clinics to adopt similar methods for measuring nursing workload, ultimately helping to demonstrate the impact and value of nursing work across various settings.
Learning Objective
- After completing this learning activity, the participant will be able to assess innovations being used by other professionals in the specialty and evaluate the potential of implementing the improvements into practice.
Speakers
Carlie Lovejoy, MSN, RN
Marne Perrin, MS, CCLS
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