Nurse leaders discuss how to reduce documentation burden

AONL member and Chief Nursing Information Officer Meg Atkins, MSN, RN, says hospitals can reduce nursing documentation burden by considering what they can automate. A nurse, for example, may not need to click a box documenting a patient turn every two hours if a bed sensor or an artificial intelligence agent in the room can detect the turn and note it in the record automatically. Atkins, who serves at Newport News, Va.-based Riverside Health System, was part of a CNIO panel discussing how to ease nursing documentation burden by revisiting what is entered into nursing flow sheets and how. Panelists agreed hospitals first should determine crucial data elements and next identify what they record for revenue cycle and quality before deciding how to collect information. (Becker’s Hospital review article, 9/23/26)