Hi John,
I think you’ve already had most of your questions answered but I got my Epic Bridges certification fairly recent (about a year ago) and thought I’d add some additional input.
You will have to be certified for bridges. For me it was only a 3 day course but you have to travel to Epic headquarters up in Madison, WI. Once you return you will be assigned a project and you will have to take an exam. The exam was open book but there is a time limit.
There is a pre-test that pretty much is just a basic knowledge/aptitude test that will show your “likeliness” to pass any Epic exam. I don’t know if this is required by Epic now (I didn’t have to take this when I got certified) or if it is more company preference.
Time wise it is hard to say, are you putting 3 interface familiar people through the Bridges training or will they be new to the interface world?
How much background do they have with HL7 and such will matter too.
I would think someone with previous knowledge should be able to go take the course, return home, complete the project, and take the Exam in a matter of a couple of weeks. I came into the roll with very little interface knowledge and was able to complete my certification in a bout 3 weeks total and that was partly due to time restraints on scheduling the exam.
