How would you improve Epic Hyperspace for emergency department nurses during shift handoff?

Introduction

Hyperspace is Epic's main clinical application, the desktop workspace where nurses, physicians and staff document care, review results and place orders. In an emergency department (ED), nurses hand off patients at every shift change, often during crowding and while new patients keep arriving. Handoffs are a well-known source of communication errors in hospitals. The prompt asks how we would improve Hyperspace for ED nurses during shift handoff. This is a product improvement question with high stakes for patient safety, and it lets candidates show they understand clinical workflows rather than just screens.

Step 1

Clarifying Questions (5 mins)

• What is the current handoff process?

• Hypothetical answer: Most EDs use a structured verbal handoff (often SBAR: Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) at the bedside or station, supported by Epic's handoff report and the ED Track Board.
• Impact: We improve the support tools, not replace verbal communication.

• What is the main problem we are solving?

• Hypothetical answer: Handoffs take too long, and important items (pending results, due medications, fall risk) are sometimes missed.
• Impact: Speed and completeness both matter.

• Are there constraints?

• Hypothetical answer: Features must be configurable by each health system; nurses use shared workstations and sometimes Rover, Epic's mobile app for nurses.
• Impact: Solutions should work on both desktop and mobile.

• How will success be measured?

• Hypothetical answer: Handoff time, missed items, and nurse satisfaction.

Goal: Make ED nurse handoffs faster and safer by giving the outgoing and incoming nurse a shared, accurate, up-to-date picture of each patient in Hyperspace.