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The clinical workflows CNIOs say are overdue for tech change

Clinical workflows continue to be a major source of inefficiency and frustration for nurses. Documentation, admissions, and medication reconciliation often remain manual, time-consuming and prone to error, even as technology advances in other parts of care delivery. Chief nursing informatics officers told Becker’s that rethinking these processes with tools such as AI, automation and ambient listening could reduce administrative burden, improve accuracy and give time back to the bedside.

Becker’s asked chief nursing informatics officers: What’s one clinical workflow you believe is overdue for a tech-enabled overhaul?

Aruna Jagdeo, BSN, RN. Chief Nursing Informatics Officer, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital (St. Petersburg, Fla.): Patient education documentation needs a complete overhaul. Having staff go to a separate area to chart outside of their normal workflow is challenging when they must prioritize what needs to get done. In the ideal world, AI could assist with educational documentation, taking a lot of burden and regulatory risks off the RN. Education happens throughout the shift, and I’m hoping ambient listening technology can eventually capture and document this on behalf of the nurse.

Amanda Klopp, DNP,, RN. Associate CIO and CNIO, TMC Health (Tucson, Ariz.): Medication reconciliation in most organizations is still a clunky, error-prone, semi-manual process. Even with integrated pharmacy refill history, med rec is far from solved — fill data doesn’t equal patient usage, there are data gaps and delays, and inaccuracies like duplicates and outdated doses. A tech-enabled version that pulls all possible sources of medication data, automatically flags discrepancies, uses AI-powered prompts to detect omissions, and generates a clean list for verification could turn a 20- to 30-minute, high-error-rate process into a five-minute, high-accuracy one. Other workflows overdue for development include discharge education, follow-up, and nursing supply and equipment requests.

Cathy Patterson, MSN, RN. Executive Director and CNIO, Banner Health (Phoenix): The shift report is long overdue for a tech-enabled overhaul. Imagine if AI could generate automated summaries that detail the care delivered, highlight care still needed, and identify barriers to discharge. It could also flag missed care that is crucial for harm prevention — like overlooked fall risk assessments or delayed pain checks. Predictive insights could support discharge readiness and resource planning, streamlining handoffs and improving care coordination.

R. Jared Houck, RN. CNIO, Roper St. Francis Healthcare(Charleston, S.C.): Many hospitals still rely on manual sampling for audits like hand hygiene or central line care, which provides only a partial view of compliance. Video- and sensor-based AI can move us to continuous, 100% observation while shifting compliance from a punitive process to a real-time performance-support tool. Immediate prompts, transparent trend data, and workflow integration can help staff self-correct in the moment, improving safety and sustaining compliance without eroding trust. Nursing care plans are also long overdue for a tech-enabled overhaul. In most organizations, they’ve become disconnected end-of-shift documentation with limited clinical value. Integrated, dynamic, AI-enabled tools could transform them into living resources that guide actions, support collaboration, and improve patient outcomes.

Anita Harris-Brown, DNP,, RN. Vice President, IS Clinical Applications & CNIO, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital (Ohio): Medication reconciliation is a critical process in ensuring patient safety, but it can be tedious and time-consuming. Current manual methods are prone to errors, and the lack of a streamlined, tech-enabled solution often leads to discrepancies and inefficiencies. Imagine a system where medication information is automatically updated and reconciled across all platforms — from the pharmacy to the hospital to the patient’s electronic health record. This would reduce the burden on healthcare professionals and significantly improve outcomes.

Karen Hunter, DNP, RN. CNIO, Adventist Health (Roseville, Calif.): One workflow overdue for a tech-enabled overhaul is capturing and integrating vital signs in acute care. Even today, readings are often delayed or manually entered, creating risk for error. Emerging technologies can now capture vitals without touching the patient — using computer vision, radar, or thermal imaging — and send them straight to the EHR in real time. This would reduce cognitive burden, speed decisions, and help clinicians act sooner on signs of deterioration.

Marc Perkins-Carrillo, MSN, RN. CNIO, Moffitt Cancer Center (Tampa, Fla.): Nursing documentation remains one of the most significant contributors to clinician burnout. The current EHR-driven process forces nurses into a rigid, click-heavy environment that detracts from patient care. Ambient listening technology could capture real-time conversations and care activities, then structure that data into compliant documentation. This would reduce the burden and enhance accuracy and timeliness, allowing nurses to focus on patient care.

Michelle Charles, DNP, RN-BC. SVP, CNIO and Virtual Care, Parkview Health (Fort Wayne, Ind.): Revolutionizing patient admissions and clinical documentation is long overdue. Digitizing admissions with integrated EHRs and an AI-driven chatbot could normalize data collection and reduce errors. Augmenting documentation with voice recognition AI tools could also eliminate administrative burden and enable providers to focus more on patient care.

Erin Langmead, MSN, RN-BC. CNIO, Eisenhower Health (Rancho Mirage, Calif.):

Nursing documentation represents a critical workflow overdue for transformation, as it consumes disproportionate time and detracts from direct patient care. AI-powered ambient documentation systems with voice recognition technology could reduce manual entry and enable real-time capture, even across third-party technologies. This would decrease burden while allowing nurses to focus on patients.

Lisa Stephenson, MSN, RN. CNIO, Cedars-Sinai (Los Angeles): I am motivated by the current, rapid infusion of technology into nursing workflows that decrease documentation burden. One area I’d love to see focus on is nursing care plans, which can drive interventions across the continuum of care. Incorporating patient-centered goals and social drivers of health would bring this information together in a meaningful way, telling the patient’s story and impacting outcomes.
Nancy J. Beale, PhD, RN. Vice President, Clinical Informatics and CNIO, Catholic Health (Buffalo, N.Y.): If I had to identify a single workflow with room for improvement, it’s IV smart pump interoperability with the EHR. There is great complexity and variation in pump operation and how it integrates with records. When a nurse is caring for highly complex patients with multiple IV lines, this interoperability must be as streamlined and bulletproof as possible.

The post The clinical workflows CNIOs say are overdue for tech change appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

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