Epic Skills Assessment Role-Based Scenario Problems 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A nurse using Epic notices that a patient's allergy to penicillin is not listed but the physician has ordered amoxicillin. What is the nurse's best first action?
- Administer the medication since the physician ordered it
- Document the allergy and contact the physician before administering (Correct answer)
- Refuse the medication without notifying anyone
- Ask another nurse to administer the medication instead
Correct answer: Document the allergy and contact the physician before administering
The nurse should document the newly identified allergy in Epic and contact the physician to review the order before administering any medication.
Question 2: A registration specialist receives a patient whose insurance card shows a different plan than what is on file in Epic. What should the specialist do?
- Use the old insurance on file to avoid delays
- Update the coverage in Epic using the current insurance card information (Correct answer)
- Send the patient to billing and skip registration
- Tell the patient to call their insurer and come back later
Correct answer: Update the coverage in Epic using the current insurance card information
Registration specialists must update insurance coverage in Epic with current information to ensure accurate billing and eligibility verification.
Question 3: A charge nurse using Epic's scheduling module needs to fill an open shift for tomorrow morning. Which tool in Epic is designed for this task?
- In Basket
- Staff Schedule (ShiftSelect or Clairvia) (Correct answer)
- Patient Tracking Board
- Chart Review
Correct answer: Staff Schedule (ShiftSelect or Clairvia)
Epic's staff scheduling module (such as ShiftSelect or Clairvia integration) is the appropriate tool for managing and filling open nursing shifts.
Question 4: A physician in Epic wants to view all of a patient's outstanding orders from any department before discharging. Which feature best supports this?
- In Basket messages
- Order Management / Results Review
- Discharge Navigator (Correct answer)
- Patient Education
Correct answer: Discharge Navigator
The Discharge Navigator in Epic consolidates pending orders, pending results, and outstanding tasks to help physicians safely discharge patients.
Question 5: A medical coder reviews an encounter and finds the physician documented 'HTN' but did not link it to any orders or problems list. What is the coder's appropriate action?
- Code HTN as a secondary diagnosis without querying the physician
- Leave it uncoded since it was not the reason for the visit
- Send a provider query through Epic to clarify clinical significance and linkage (Correct answer)
- Delete the notation from the chart
Correct answer: Send a provider query through Epic to clarify clinical significance and linkage
Coders must send a provider query when documentation is ambiguous or incomplete to ensure accurate and compliant coding.
Question 6: A pharmacy technician in Epic receives a medication order with a dose that exceeds the standard range. Epic displays a high-dose alert. What should the technician do?
- Override the alert and dispense the medication immediately
- Ignore the alert if the prescriber is a physician
- Escalate to the pharmacist to review the order before dispensing (Correct answer)
- Cancel the order without notifying the prescriber
Correct answer: Escalate to the pharmacist to review the order before dispensing
High-dose alerts require pharmacist review before dispensing to confirm clinical appropriateness or identify a potential error.
Question 7: An ED technician needs to document a patient's vital signs in Epic but the patient's encounter has not yet been opened by a nurse. What is the correct workflow?
- Create a new patient record for the vitals
- Document vitals in any available open encounter
- Wait for the nurse to open the encounter, then document within the assigned encounter (Correct answer)
- Enter vitals in a sticky note on the desktop
Correct answer: Wait for the nurse to open the encounter, then document within the assigned encounter
Vitals must be documented within the correct patient encounter to ensure accurate clinical records and proper linkage to the care episode.
Epic Skills Assessment Role-Based Scenario Problems 2
A nurse using Epic notices that a patient's allergy to penicillin is not listed but the physician has ordered amoxicillin.
What is the nurse's best first action?