ESCANABA -- OSF St. Francis Hospital is switching over to a new electronic medical records system that's more integrated and can be accessed by all hospital departments.

It's called EPIC, and it replaces IDX, which has been used since 2003.  EPIC accumulates patient information and makes it immediately available to staff in departments like surgery, pharmacy and the emergency room.

The patient will now have just one medical record.  Hospital staff have undergone seven weeks of training on EPIC.

"They'll be reviewing the reports of the data," said OSF St. Francis M.D. Ronald Bissett.  "We're going to be looking at quality measures, trying to understand how well we actually do provide the care.  Are we providing the essential elements of care?"

Friday is the last day of using the old system.  St. Francis will make the transition to EPIC on Friday night.