Epic's "Biggest Bang" ends bleary-eyed week one On the scariest and first super-busy day after the long-anticipated, carefully planned and wholly nerve-wracking launch of Epic for inpatient services and some 5,000 people, the pace was "brisk" and "too busy" ED providers had to add "more busy" to their shifts. For sleepless support staff, though, the shifts were literally days long. But most issues were resolved quickly and, in all, the consensus is that the go-live is going well. >>More

Sidebar: More than 3,000 down, nearly 2,000 to go in Big Bang's aftermath The Epic command center fielded almost 5,000 calls - nearly one for every person whose units went live on September 3 - in the week after the biggest go-live of the whole project. Though many issues were easily resolved, none were minor to the people calling. The team (including Epic Project Director Soren Schoultz, left) is focusing on 36 remaining "critical" ones. >>More

After two and a half years, surgical weight loss team nears showdown
 The complex, expensive, multidisciplinary effort to become a "bariatric center of excellence" - and win even more than the 125 surgical weight loss inpatients who already come to UCH annually - is headed for an October 14 climax, and a large team is scrambling to prepare. >>More

A new inpatient specialty

UCH's two new neurohospitalists - they don't have outpatient practices - have joined its hospitalist corps for a still broader range of timely neurology care to inpatients who, in previous times, might have had to wait for specialists to shoot over to the AIP. It's a time-saver and, when it comes to strokes, can be a life-saver. Left: Jennifer Simpson, MD (center), took one of the new positions July 1. >>More

But what comes after cancer?
 The great news: the numbers of cancer survivors are growing. The unknown: how they can get on with their lives. A new program, facilitated by Cancer Center and UCH medical providers, aims to turn the "terror" of leaving the oncologist into a more comfortable primary care-oriented, self-managed life. Right: Internal Medicine's Linda Overholser, MD, is a "clinical champion" for the program. >>More

A flood of diabetes care It's a national scourge, and no fewer than 80 of the patients who happen to be at UCH on any given day are on insulin orders, regardless of what they're currently being treated for. A team of "diabetes champions" is fanning out to make managing their glucose levels even more of a hospital-wide project. Left: Transplant Unit Charge Nurse Kim Fischer, RN, co-chairs the new committee. >>More

Around UCH Our regular round-up of goings-on, big and small, in and around the hospital. This issue: a half century at UCH (right); EIP blowout; payroll potpourri; Epic pep rally; more. >>More