This is the October 2026 issue of the OpTime/Anesthesia Newsletter for Wellstar Health System, an internal publication for perioperative and anesthesia staff. It covers system updates, workflow changes, and educational resources related to Epic electronic health record modules.
This is the October 2026 issue of the OpTime/Anesthesia Newsletter for Wellstar Health System, an internal publication for perioperative and anesthesia staff. It covers system updates, workflow changes, and educational resources related to Epic electronic health record modules.
The newsletter announces that the e-Consent expiration date field has been temporarily removed due to a calculation error in the 30-day expiration feature. Epic is investigating the issue, and the field will remain blank until a fix is implemented and tested.
It details a temporary rollback of medication reconciliation functionality for outpatient ambulatory staff, reverting to the pre-upgrade version starting October 6, 2026. The upgrade will be restored after the issue is corrected and validated, with further guidance to follow.
A section explains the difference between PACU acuity levels, which track physiological recovery from anesthesia using the Modified Aldrete Score, and nerve block acuity levels, which monitor regional anesthesia complexity and risks such as dermatome levels and local anesthetic toxicity. An example shows how a patient can have low PACU acuity but high pain block acuity.
The newsletter lists October tip sheets covering wound classification for intra-op procedures, blood order management for intra-op nurses, postprocedure handoff on mobile for anesthesia, preprocedure details on mobile, and procedure notes on mobile. It also announces a new Epic Education SharePoint site with a Tip Sheet Finder and reminds staff that Epic access requests require manager approval.