Greetings From Dr. Zafar Chaudry
As I reflect on 2021, I’m inspired by how our teams at Seattle Children’s have adapted to the challenge of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and found new and innovative ways to deliver on our mission.
Over the last year, we’ve focused on stabilization and adoption of Seattle Children’s first integrated electronic health record (EHR) with Epic. On Oct. 3, 2020, we replaced two highly customized systems with a standard set of pediatric tools across 46 sites in four states — this was Seattle Children’s largest undertaking in the last 15 years and a momentous step forward to helping us provide the best possible care to every patient and their family who comes to Seattle Children’s.
This last year has shown us that we’ve laid a strong foundation on which we can continue to improve the care experience. Read on to learn about our progress and what’s ahead.
With great respect and appreciation,
Zafar Chaudry, MD, MS, MIS, MBA
Senior Vice President and Chief Digital and Information Officer
From Paper Records to an Epic System
When Al Krider started working at Seattle Children's in 1974, the idea of an electronic health record (EHR) was almost inconceivable.
Over the next 40-plus years, he helped design a clinical system that would set Seattle Children’s apart. In October 2020, Seattle Children’s adopted an integrated EHR with Epic.
About Seattle Children’s Information Technology Department
Our Vision: Creating boundless possibilities for care and cures
Our Mission: We believe in delivering leading-edge technology to honor generations today and tomorrow.
Our Strategy:
- Digitally connected patients
- Digitally enabled workforce
- Advance innovation
- Secure, scalable infrastructure
- Operational excellence
- Investor in people
Learn more about Seattle Children’s IT Department.
Putting Ellie’s Heart in Her Mom’s Hands
For parents like Melissa, managing care for a medically complex child can be stressful and challenging.
For Melissa, this started when her daughter Ellie was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy when she was just 4 months old. Now Ellie is a happy 6-year-old, and her mom uses MyChart to help manage her care.
10 Epic Care Transformations
From streamlining information sharing and processes, to offering mobile access and the ability to exchange records with other healthcare organizations, Seattle Children’s integrated EHR with Epic is helping transform the care experience for patients and their families, clinicians and support teams.
“Our providers, nurses and clinicians don’t care about IT infrastructure. What they want to know is, ‘Can I quickly get the information I need, so I have more time to provide quality care for my patients and their families?’ So that is our focus: configuring our tools to match the patient journey and support our clinicians to provide the best care possible.’”
— Dr. Zafar Chaudry, Chief Digital and Information Officer
Training Goes the Distance to Provide Virtual Support
The COVID-19 pandemic forced Jessica Bell to rethink how her team could train nearly 10,000 Seattle Children’s workforce members when they couldn't physically be in the same space.
She and her team rose to the challenge in 2020 and offered an additional 841 training classes in 2021 for 2,486 Epic users.
An Epic Response to the Pandemic
The last three years have been busy for members of Seattle Children’s Clinical Applications teams like Emad Osman. Emad and his teammates were hard at work preparing for Seattle Children’s Epic implementation when the COVID-19 pandemic started.
Epic EHR by the Numbers
From enabling the exchange of health information with over 2,000 hospitals and 42,000 clinics across 364 organizations to increasing the number of patient families with active MyChart by 350%, see what Epic has helped Seattle Children’s accomplish.
View the full 2021 report (PDF)
Explore IT by the Numbers
Explore our Past Report: