AI Partnership to Reduce Hospital Nurses’ Documentation Burden

BayCare Health System and healthPrecision announced a strategic partnership to co-develop the company’s artificial intelligence (AI)-based Medical Brain platform, a clinical decision support solution aimed at reducing nurse documentation burden, improving patient care, and optimizing workflow efficiency.

According to the press release, the tool is designed to support value-based care by combining natural language processing (NLP) with nurses’ knowledge and expertise.

At BayCare, nurses will use a mobile device to dictate patient updates and other information to Medical Brain’s platform, instead of needing to enter that information manually into a computer. The tool will then transform nurses’ verbal inputs into written documentation within patient EHRs.

“We are excited to be at the forefront with healthPrecision to improve the safety and quality of patient care and improve the environment in which nurses practice,” said BayCare CEO Stephanie Conners, RN, in the press release. “Voice technology is the future and its potential to improve patient care, including in hospitals, is extraordinary. BayCare’s commitment to continue to be the best place to receive care, provide care and to work makes pioneering this innovation with healthPrecision a natural fit.” 

The press release further indicates that in addition to generating documentation notes, the tool can prompt nurses if they overlook opportunities for additional assessments or treatments in addition to reminding them of recommended or required patient follow-up.

The Medical Brain has previously been deployed in chronic care and acute care settings for the management of conditions such as diabetes, renal disease, and heart disease.

“We are proud to partner with BayCare to bring the Medical Brain technology to nurses,” said Sonia Ben Yehuda, co-founder and president of healthPrecision.  “By empowering nurses with AI-powered documentation and decision support, we aim to optimize workflow efficiency, patient care and nursing satisfaction.”

“By using the Medical Brain, nurses will be able to update records immediately, facilitating collaboration with colleagues, while relieving time burdens and stress,” Ben Yehuda continued.

Other AI-driven efforts to support the nursing workforce have also launched recently.

In December, Tennessee-based Ardent Health Services and software company care.ai partnered to implement the company’s Virtual Nursing solution.

The tool and the associated program were deployed at Lovelace Medical Center, Ardent’s Albuquerque, New Mexico-based affiliate, with the goal of streamlining clinical workflows, improving patient care, and help address nursing shortages.

The solution allows virtual nurses to manage aspects of patient care that do not require physical proximity to a patient, enabling on-site nurses to focus on hands-on care.