Getting Started with Epic: Document a Telephone Call

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• From the Epic toolbar:

1. Click Telephone Call.

2. Search for and select the correct patient in the Patient Lookup window.

3. If a previous Telephone Encounter has been started, the end user will see a list of those encounters. Check to see if the patient is calling about the same request.

a. Select the appropriate Telephone Encounter from the list and click Accept. This will help with keeping track of all communication that occurs for the same request.

b. If the patient is calling about a new request, click the New button.

4. Click on the Contacts section.

5. Click Incoming Call or Outgoing Call to document call information.

6. Enter the name of the person calling or being called, relationship, phone number and any necessary contact comments related to the contact information.

7. Click Accept.

• The Contact Comments is not the place to document the telephone call. It is used to add comments regarding patient preferences and restrictions when calling, such as “only call cell phone number on file”.
• Use the speed buttons in the contacts section to quickly pull in information from the patient's chart, such as the patient’s name and phone number.

8. Click on Reason for Call section.

9. Enter the first few letters of the reason in the Reason field and press Enter. A list of matching reasons appears.

a. Click Add to see a full list of options

10. Click on a reason to select it. Once selected, a comment box expands for further documentation.

11. In the Comment field, free text or use a SmartTool to add any additional information about the Reason.

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1. Click on the arrow to open the sidebar or use keyboard shortcut Shift + Alt + Left Arrow.

2. Use the Documentation section to document the details about this call and any advice given to the patient by typing or using SmartTools.

a. To add a new note to a Telephone Encounter that someone else has already documented in, click Create Note.

3. Click Accept.

4. Detailed Encounter Information is available from the This Call tab.

5. From Detailed Encounter Info click the chevron (double arrow icon) to display this section.

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• Routing a Telephone Encounter sends an In Basket message to the recipient(s) in their Telephone Call In Basket folder.

1. Click Routing section.

2. Enter the PCP, clinician, or group in the Recipient field. The responsible recipient has a green circle next to their name to indicate responsibility for the message. Any additional recipients for the message will have a blank circle next to their name(s).

3. Add any Routing comments.

4. Click Close Workspace. The In Basket message will route to the In Basket, and the Telephone Encounter status will remain open for recipient to follow up.

• Routing Comments do not save as a note in the patient’s chart. A report with all routing comments can be found in Chart Review, titled Detailed Report. From within this report, the routing comments can be found in the Detailed Encounter Info section.
• Service Areas have the option to submit a Jira to request a default SmartText auto-populate in the Routing Comments field, or to increase the size of the Routing Comments field.

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• If routing is not needed and telephone call does not need to remain open for any further reasons, click Sign Encounter.