Epic offers tools that make it easy to copy forward a previous note to save you time and include previous information. However, there are guidelines you should follow to use this feature.

Epic provides the ability to see what parts of a note were typed, templated, or copied/forwarded — and who added them and when. This helps improve documentation transparency, reduces unnecessary duplication, and supports more efficient note review. This guide goes through how to identify copied text within a note.

Helpful Do’s and Don’ts of using the Copy Forward function:

Don't

• Copy forward the entire previous notes with detailed patient history.
  
• Copy forward entire sets of lab or radiology results.
• Copy forward the Chief Complaint, History of Present Illness (HPI), Physical Exam, or Assessment & Plan.
• Copy forward information from one patient's chart to another, or from another clincian's notes.

Do

• Summarize or cross-reference the detailed patient history.
• Summarize or cross-reference lab/radiology results.
• Newly document the Chief Complaint, History of Present Illness (HPI), Physical Exam, and Assessment & Plan for each encounter.
• Always write your own information.

Reminder: Always review for accuracy!

• Check the encounter date and verify the patient's demographics (e.g., update age).
• Always check the tense of the copy-forwarded text. Events/results that are part of history should be changed to the past tense to avoid confusion.

Seeking additional guidelines on Copy Forward?

• Please refer to the YM Copy Function Policy for more comprehensive information!

For department tips and resources, visit the Internal Medicine Epic Efficiencies page.
For department-based assistance with Epic, please reach out to IntMedHelp@yale.edu.
Stay tuned for more clinical tips in upcoming issues of Dimensions from the department’s Epic Education Team: Sinead McKernan, Jessica Beaudoin, and Torrie Atwater.