‘Get Rid of the Stupid Stuff’ initiative will make Epic more efficient for all our users

IT & Epic

Get Rid of the Stupid Stuff (GRoSS) is an initiative we’re doing to improve the efficiency of our Epic electronic health records system and make life easier for all our Epic users. When a team member finds an issue in Epic, they can report it immediately through the GRoSS submission form.

The initiative is brought forward by the Nursing Productivity/Satisfaction End User Group and is aimed at identifying anything in Epic that is poorly designed, unnecessary or nonsensical – thereby streamlining workflows and getting rid of unnecessary hurdles.

This campaign is a direct response to feedback from our nurses and clinicians via surveys from our nursing and physician end-user groups, and it is a project that has been implemented with great success at other healthcare organizations across the country, such as Novant Health, Cleveland Clinic and Mount Sinai Health System.

The process

When a team member finds an issue, they can report it immediately through the “Get Rid of the Stupid Stuff” (GRoSS) submission form. After submitting an item, the team member will get a confirmation email that it’s been received. From there, the item will receive a categorization:

  • Just do it: The team plans to implement the suggestion.
  • Needs further discovery: The change is related to a more complex issue and the team is looking into the suggestion to determine if it can be implemented.
  • Not possible at this time: The change can’t be made due to a regulatory requirement or high-level issue, though it will be logged and tracked to be revisited in the future.

Whatever the decision, the team member will receive an email letting them know how their submission has been categorized, as well as when it has been resolved (if assigned to “Just Do It”).

Where and how to report ‘stupid stuff’

Reporting issues is fast and easy. Team members can access the link to the submission form in the following locations:

  • Epic Learning Home Dashboard, accessed from the LHD Menu
  • Quick Links on the Ballad Health intranet main page, under “Get Rid of the Stupid Stuff”
  • Quick Links under “ServiceNow – IT Requests”
  • Epic Education site main menu, accessed from along the top of the intranet home page

The link will also be available on the Ballad Teams app in the near future.

We look forward to hearing your suggestions!