With many schools going back to the “online” classroom, you may be struggling to keep your kids connected and engaged. Click here to learn more about these 10 tech tips:

HM will subsidize 50% of the cost of children of employees (including PRN employees) attending YMCA Learning Centers when school begins. Starting dates vary by location. Click here to register and for more information.

On Friday, Aug. 21, find out how the Sept.13 Epic Update impacts your role by reviewing and acknowledging your Update Companion in the Epic Learning Home. Click for instructions on accessing your Learning Home.

The Epic Update includes new features and enhancements, including:

For more information, visit the Epic Update page.

Earlier this week, Epic recognized HM for achieving Gold Stars Level 9, placing us among the top 9% of Epic customers worldwide. Previously, we were at Gold Stars Level 8, out of 10.

“Kudos to the team on this great achievement. It’s fantastic to see your hard work has resulted in the prestigious Epic Gold Stars Level 9 recognition. Let’s go onward to Level 10,” said Dr. Marc Boom, Houston Methodist CEO and president.

The achievement is based on our implementation and adoption of more than 700 Epic tools and functionality, including physician and nursing productivity, patient access, mobility and patient experience.

This accomplishment is the result of hard work and a collaborative partnership with clinical, operational and IT peers systemwide. But ultimately, it’s the thousands of Epic users who shape the technology and our success.

Among the recent Epic milestones:

Scholars, a global network of faculty profiles, allows healthcare professionals to search online for HM physicians, researchers, clinical trials and academic publications. From our faculty profiles you can click the View Research Network button to access a faculty member’s background, see their academic publications, view funded research projects and their collaborator network. This is particularly beneficial to researchers wanting to learn who is working on specific diseases/areas of expertise, around the world.

By making it easy for others to find us, we expand our global reach and reputation, and build strong collaborative networks making us able to provide better patient care by discovering novel treatment protocols. Another great example of how HM is leading medicine.

To help keep our patients’ and HM data safe, the IT security team will begin sending phishing email drills in September. A phishing email is disguised to look like an email from a familiar sender or someone you trust, but with the intent of disrupting computer systems and/or stealing sensitive data. Phishing drills will be held at random times, so be alert, be vigilant and help protect HM. 

These emails are designed to trick you. If you click on a link/attachment in the phishing drill, you will see a Teachable Moments page with tips on how to identify a future phish.

HMW and HMTW join HMH as the most recent hospitals to get virtual ICUs (vICU). The vICU supplements patient bedside care with state-of-the-art audio and visual technology that helps monitor patient status. Remote monitoring takes place from the HM Operations Center, staffed with highly experienced ICU nurses and board-certified intensivists. This helps us create an additional safety net for our patients. The vICU also tracks real-time patient data and can analyze the data to predict patient outcomes. The vICU will be rolling out at HMSL next.

On Monday, Aug. 17, the new Caregility telehealth platform launched – improving the Epic outpatient virtual visit experience for patients and providers. Since the launch, over 800 providers and staff transitioned to Caregility and over 2,600 video visits have taken place.

On Tuesday, Sept. 1, OneSign, the new system for hospital-based, shared workstations, will launch at HMB and HMW. Note: Workstations will be updated depending on their availability and not all at the same time. OneSign is slated to launch at HMCL, HMH, HMSL, HMTW and HMWB on Tuesday, Sept. 15.

The Rover Zebra smartphone quarterly upgrade is Tuesday, Sept. 1 and is a critical preparation for the Sept. 13 Epic Update. Before the Sept. 1 downtime that begins at 10 a.m., ensure your Zebra smartphone is turned on with the battery charged. If you don’t, your phone won’t receive the Epic Update and won’t function properly afterward.

The downtime is taking place from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m., but your individual downtime will last just five to 10 minutes during this timeframe. During the downtime, you can still use it for phone calls, but use Epic on workstations for documentation.

Click here for important details on what to do during your device’s downtime.

For questions, contact the IT Help Desk.

Specimen Scanning is launching at HMSL on Tuesday, Aug. 25 and will roll out systemwide into 2021. This initiative reduces the risk of specimen labeling errors, improving patient safety and helps reduce lab processing turnaround times.

If you are an HMSL nurse, EMT or ED Tech, required online training has been assigned to you in LMS, or you can search for Epic Lab Specimen Collection & Barcode Scanning for Inpatient Nursing Staff, course #1582031.

For more information, visit it.houstonmethodist.org/specimenscanning.

Leaders, we need your support to ensure everyone is prepared for the Epic Update. Your active and engaged sponsorship is essential for a smooth transition. To help you sponsor this change, some materials are available to share at your next staff meeting. Also, please be sure to review and acknowledge your Update Companion as early as possible, so you can be a resource for your staff.

Providers now have a list of common indications to choose from when ordering a US renal imaging exam. If this order is marked as a Favorite, you may get an alert to update it. 

Disinfect your device carefully.

For more information on Rover, click here.