CNIOs share top barriers to nursing adoption of new technology

Chief nursing informatics officers say introducing new technology to nursing staff is less about resistance to innovation and more about the realities of practice. Twelve-hour shifts, varying levels of digital literacy and the constant pressure to prioritize patient care make it difficult to carve out time for training. Even when education is delivered, adoption often comes down to whether the tool feels intuitive and demonstrably saves time.

Without those conditions, CNIOs told Becker’s, even the most promising solutions struggle to take hold.

“Nurses don’t resist technology, they resist inefficiency,” said Jared Houck, RN, CNIO at Roper St. Francis Healthcare in Charleston, S.C. “Show them a tool that truly eases their workflow and they’ll adopt it. Conversely, if there’s any technical friction or the tool slows them down, it will die on the vine.”

Others agreed that adoption often falters when nurses don’t feel the technology is theirs to own. Marc Perkins-Carrillo, MSN, RN, CNIO at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., said one of the biggest barriers is the absence of advocates who can model its use.

“Too often, implementations appear to be IT-driven rather than strategically led by nursing,” he said. “Without visible nursing ownership, staff may perceive the technology as disconnected from their clinical realities.”

Training and communication were recurring themes for several CNIOs. At Phoenix-based Banner Health, Cathy Patterson, MSN, RN, executive director and CNIO, said nurses’ schedules make it difficult to carve out time for comprehensive education, and wide variation in digital literacy requires training to be adaptable.

“Traditional communication methods like email are often ineffective,” she said, making it challenging to deliver consistent, engaging education at scale.

Benjamin Laughton, DNP, RN, CNIO at Cook County Health in Chicago, echoed the difficulty of engaging staff after long shifts.

“When you’re working a demanding 12-hour shift, there’s very little emotional or physical energy left to engage in the ‘next great thing,’” he said. He added that training materials need to be short and accessible, but producing them requires specialized skills that are hard to find. EHR platforms, he noted, should provide more “out-of-the-box” tools so nurses can access training content directly in the system.

Ease of use also came up repeatedly.

“Nursing is very interested in new technology,” Leanne Fredrich, MSN, RN, CNIO at ThedaCare in Appleton, Wis., said. “As leaders, we need to effectively communicate the value of new technology and integrate it into the nurse’s workflow in a quick and simple way.”

And for some leaders, adoption can stall simply because the payoff isn’t immediate.

“The biggest barrier is asking nurses to dedicate time to learning and adopting new technology while continuing to deliver care,” said Becky Kohler, RN, CNIO at UW Health in Madison, Wis. “The benefits often take time to be realized, which can make the transition feel disruptive without a clear benefit. Yet once fully integrated and embraced, nurses often report that these solutions drive real improvements in efficiency and patient care.”

Taken together, their perspectives highlight a common thread: adoption depends less on enthusiasm for innovation and more on whether new tools are easy to learn, visibly improve workflow and are supported by the right training and leaders.

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