CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Advocate Health is piloting Project Nursing, an artificial intelligence (AI) solution from Microsoft that aims to transform nursing documentation by automatically capturing spoken observations and then populating nursing flowsheets directly in the Epic electronic health record, all with the goal of helping nurses focus more on their patients and less on paperwork.
As the third-largest non-profit health system and a national leader in nursing innovation, Advocate Health employs more than 42,000 nurses, caring for more than 6 million patients across more than 1,000 sites of care. In addition to piloting Project Nursing, Advocate Health drives nursing innovation through its Virtual Nurse Observation Program, nursing excellence initiatives and well-being support programs, as evidenced by the many nursing Magnet designations achieved across its Midwest and Southeast regions.
“By automating the documentation related to routine nursing tasks, we are giving time back to nurses to do what they do best – care for patients,” said Katie Barr, senior vice president and chief nursing informatics officer for Advocate Health. “Nurses are the lifeblood of the health care system, so we’re deeply committed to focusing on how we can make their lives easier. This is an enormous opportunity to leverage technology to ease the administrative burden of nursing documentation. With ambient AI, we now have the tools to design a solution specifically for nurses and with input directly from nurses.”
Advocate Health was the first health system in the country to deploy Microsoft’s similar technology for physicians called Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX) Copilot, beginning with primary care physicians in the Charlotte area and expanding to include providers in its Illinois and Wisconsin markets.
A recent study from Atrium Health, part of Advocate Health, published in JAMA Network Open compared an intervention group of 112 physicians who were trained and used DAX Copilot to a control group of 117 who did not use it. Researchers found 47.1% of the physicians using the AI solution reported a significant reduction in time spent on electronic health record tasks at home, compared to just 14.5% in the control group.
Advocate Health is hopeful Project Nursing can have a similar impact for nurses, who represent the largest portion of its workforce, at a time when almost two-thirds of nurses across the country are experiencing symptoms of burnout, according to the American Nurses Association.
Project Nursing currently is in private preview with select organizations. Microsoft will share more details on the tool’s availability in 2025.
“We are at an extraordinary moment in the technology landscape, where AI and ambient voice are reshaping industries and transforming how we work,” said Mary Varghese Presti, VP, Portfolio Evolution and Incubation, Microsoft. “The opportunities shared by Microsoft and Advocate Health have never been stronger than they are today.”
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About Advocate Health
Advocate Health is the third-largest nonprofit, integrated health system in the United States, created from the combination of Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health. Providing care under the names Advocate Health Care in Illinois; Atrium Health in the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama; and Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin, Advocate Health is a national leader in clinical innovation, health outcomes, consumer experience and value-based care. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Advocate Health services nearly 6 million patients and is engaged in hundreds of clinical trials and research studies, with Wake Forest University School of Medicine serving as the academic core of the enterprise. It is nationally recognized for its expertise in cardiology, neurosciences, oncology, pediatrics and rehabilitation, as well as organ transplants, burn treatments and specialized musculoskeletal programs. Advocate Health employs 155,000 teammates across 69 hospitals and over 1,000 care locations, and offers one of the nation’s largest graduate medical education programs with over 2,000 residents and fellows across more than 200 programs. Committed to providing equitable care for all, Advocate Health provides more than $6 billion in annual community benefits.