EpicTogether Peer-to-Peer Trainers Attend Kick-off Session

Jessica Forman, Marcia Robinson, and Martha Danielak are shown talking at the Epic specialist trainer mixer on May 9, 2019.

(From left) Jessica Forman, Marcia Robinson, and Martha Danielak chat among themselves during the EpicTogether specialist trainer mixer at the Vagelos Education Center on Thursday, May 9, 2019. (Credit: Christian Balmer) 

More than 60 clinical providers who will be specialist peer-to-peer trainers for the upcoming EpicTogether implementation met each other at an event held at the Vagelos Education Center at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC). 

The program is referred to as Specialists Training Specialists. Several Epic analysts who will train those specialist trainers were also at the event, where attendees mingled and discussed the upcoming go-live. 

EpicTogether leaders from ColumbiaDoctors, NewYork-Presbyterian, and Weill Cornell Medicine gave briefs remarks during the program and took questions from attendees about who they will train and how much preparation they themselves will need to be able to offer that training. Timothy Crimmins, MD, RPVI, the Columbia Epic project co-lead and chief medical information officer of ColumbiaDoctors, thanked attendees for their commitment to EpicTogether.

“We’re dedicated to this project because we care about our patients’ experience, we care about their outcomes, and we care about supporting our colleagues so they’re able to do what they want to do in an efficient, fast way,” Crimmins said. “You are giving your commitment and your expertise to this program. Thank you for that.”

Crimmins added: "The Epic Specialists Training Specialists program is designed to teach providers how to use Epic to do their job in the practice and the hospital. Since it’s a common tool that we all share, the classes will be a mix of trainees, attendings, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and certified registered nurse anesthetists. It will be a mix of people who currently use CROWN and SCM or who currently work at Milstein and Allen Hospital."

Marcia Robinson, a nurse practitioner in the Division of Cardiology, said she volunteered to be a specialist trainer because she works overnight. “I find that at nighttime you may not have as many resources as in the daytime,” she said. “So, I figured I might as well help myself out as well as others.”

 

Steve Caddle, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at Columbia, has previously helped out with issues relating to updates of the Allscripts electronic health record system, “so it seemed like a natural fit for me to be a volunteer for this. There’s a lot of positive things I’ve heard about Epic. I’m looking forward to those things.”

 

Martha Danielak, the principal trainer for users of Cupid, the Epic cardiology module, was upbeat after chatting with Robinson and Jessica Forman, a physician assistant in the Division of Cardiology.
“Everyone’s coming with a lot of really wonderful questions,” Danielak said, adding that it was “really important to have these meet-and-greets” where people can interact directly with their trainers.

 

As a reminder, all providers and advanced practitioners are asked to register for training by the end of this month. Anyone needing help with Epic training enrollment may call the Epic training hotline at 646-697-EPIC (3742) Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. (and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. beginning June 3).