Join this special International Nurses Day episode as we honor the extraordinary dedication and global impact of nurses—those at the heart of healthcare. In this inspiring edition, nursing professionals share their personal stories, valuable insights, and pioneering innovations that are helping redefine patient care and shape the future of the industry. Discover how nurses are leading transformative change, leveraging technology, and driving meaningful enhancements in care delivery. Celebrate the compassion, resilience, and ingenuity of nurses around the world with Oracle Health.
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Episode Transcript:
00;00;00;04 - 00;00;23;08
Michael Draheim
Well, thank you for tuning in. My name is Michael Draheim, and I'm the Chief Clinical Information Officer for the JAPAC region, based in Australia. I work for Oracle Health, and I'll be your host and moderator for today's session.
In honor of International Nurses Day, we're dedicating this special episode to nurses around the globe—celebrating their unwavering dedication and measurable impact on patient care.
00;00;23;10 - 00;00;45;16
Michael Draheim
We invite you to join us as we share stories, insights, and groundbreaking advances from nursing professionals who are shaping the future of healthcare. Whether you're a nurse, a healthcare leader, or simply inspired by the spirit of caregiving, this episode is for you.
I'm delighted to welcome our panel. Angela.
00;00;45;19 - 00;00;51;11
Angela Ryan
I'm Angela Ryan and the lead healthcare executive of JAPAC, based in Sydney.
00;00;51;13 - 00;00;52;25
Michael Draheim
Patience.
00;00;52;27 - 00;01;00;26
Patience Chinwadzimba
Hi everyone. Patience Chinwadzimba. I'm a healthcare executive based in the UK.
00;01;00;28 - 00;01;07;27
Tiago Dias
Hi everyone. My name is Tiago. I am senior clinical consultant. I'm based in the Middle East in Dubai.
00;01;08;27 - 00;01;45;19
Michael Draheim
Welcome panel, and let's get into the questions. So, if we look at workforce—workforce is a big issue. Nurses face intense pressures today, including long shifts, high patient acuity, rising clinical demand, and workforce shortages. These pressures don't just affect their quality of care, but also nurse retention, safety, and long-term health. So how do you see technology advances being optimized to help alleviate documentation load and cognitive burden, rather than add to it?.
00;01;41;01 - 00;01;46;16
Michael Draheim
For these nurses that are under a lot of pressure? And Patience, I'll start off with you.
00;01;46;19 - 00;02;15;11
Patience Chinwadzimba
There is pressure, and nurses are burnt out. I think what we need to think about, and one of the pitfalls people fall into, is when they are designing new documentation on new technology. I think we need to be smarter and not just replicate what we have. We need to reimagine how we want to document and how we want to work.
00;02;15;11 - 00;02;42;26
Patience Chinwadzimba
Because currently, you hear complaints of, "Oh, I have to go to the computer," and the computer seems to be in the way of nurses wanting to do their work. So if we're smarter in reimagining how we do documentation—not transferring paper to computer, but thinking about streamlining it and forgetting about "we've always done it that way."
00;02;42;27 - 00;03;08;28
Patience Chinwadzimba
We want this for one thing because we have always documented it. I think we need to start thinking about what this information is useful for, who it is useful for, and ensure we are not simply collecting information that is of no use to anyone. Because that is the cognitive burden—you're now trying to find what you really need from the bulk of the information you've put in there.
00;03;09;01 - 00;03;23;25
Patience Chinwadzimba
So I think it's about being smarter in how we move from paper to technology to make it easier for nurses to do their job and to know, "I just need to go and document what I've done for my patient—how my patient is."
00;03;23;28 - 00;03;49;02
Angela Ryan
Yeah. And you bring up a couple of really good points there and age, you know, get you to comment around, you know, the documentation burden versus the compliance burden and, and how that's impacting, you know, nurses in Australia, you know, and we see comprehensive care coming, which is really important. But it's added this, you know, significant burden in regard to documentation for compliance reason.
00;03;49;05 - 00;04;11;13
Angela Ryan
Yeah, look, thanks Michael, and it's great to be here with you all. I think the issue around compliance is a big one. Patience has already made that comment around the sort of mimic of paper to digital. We've all been living with that, I think, for some decades. Systems were not designed intentionally to sit inside workflows, but rather to mimic what we did on paper.
00;04;11;13 - 00;04;41;01
Angela Ryan
We're still left with that legacy, and that's where a lot of cognitive burden has been introduced by systems designed that way. Certainly, in Australia, we have a very important organization called the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. There are similar organizations in each country, but this one sets the standards for how health services deliver care.
00;04;41;04 - 00;05;12;12
Angela Ryan
Some of those, components that sit within those standards, I guess, have been challenging for workforces not just to work alongside, but also to implement. So, what's happened is that one of the very large standards which Michael has referred, which is comprehensive care, that talks about basically how we care for our patients, how we ensure that they are safe in our environments, how we ensure that they don't fall over, that they don't get pressure areas and all of that kind of fundamental stuff.
00;05;12;12 - 00;05;37;01
Angela Ryan
But I guess in trying to ensure that that environment is safer, we've put in place all of these additional checkboxes and ticks and other things that need to be completed. And so it sort of gets in the way of actually determining whether or not those things are, in fact, having an outcome. Are you actually starting to see patients safer in that environment, or are we just saying, yes, we actually did complete that checklist?
00;05;37;07 - 00;05;46;25
Angela Ryan
So I think that's been a really big topic of conversation for us. So it's not to say that the standards are not important, but it's the way in which we're trying to implement them.
00;05;46;26 - 00;06;04;02
Michael Draheim
And I think you bring up some really good points there around that balance. Can I go to you, Tiago? In the region you work in, one of your biggest challenges from a nursing perspective is that you have a very diverse workforce. And I do want to talk a little bit about that.
00;06;04;02 - 00;06;28;00
Michael Draheim
So, you know, how do you manage those things from a workforce perspective, linking back into where technology helps? Because you've got a lot of people coming in from different countries. So I think there's a more unique challenge around language and culture, etc. But we still deal with those things in the UK and Australia—it's probably just a little less impactful on our day-to-day basis.
00;06;28;05 - 00;06;33;11
Michael Draheim
It's probably a little bit of a less, impact on some day to day basis.
00;06;33;13 - 00;07;04;18
Tiago Dias
Yeah, Michael, I do agree with you. My starting point is really acknowledging the specific challenges of the region. We have a lot of diversity in terms of manpower. Technology has changed significantly over the years, especially in the region.
00;07;04;20 - 00;07;31;07
Tiago Dias
When it comes to nursing care, we have seen that systems were more focused on billing and compliance rather than clinical workflows. And sometimes nurses from different backgrounds struggle to understand how care is being delivered because technology was not well developed for nursing workflows. The time spent with patients was affected.
00;07;31;07 - 00;08;06;28
Tiago Dias
That's why now we are starting to see a shift in how new EMRs are being designed, especially around capturing information at the bedside. In the near future, with advancements like voice recognition, I think it will help standardize verbal handovers, assessments, and documentation.
00;08;07;01 - 00;08;35;27
Tiago Dias
This is especially important in regions with diverse cultures and workforces. We aim to standardize how documentation is done and how care is provided in a consistent way. The system landscape in the region is growing, and as we improve, we can reach better outcomes.
00;08;35;29 - 00;08;57;03
Michael Draheim
Yeah, and Tiago, you've touched on something important—the reason nurses are there is for the patient. We're here to care and support people.
00;08;57;03 - 00;09;33;03
Michael Draheim
But we can't ignore the fact that we're here for the patients. We're here to care. We're here to support those people. So, you know, based on that, you know, I what I've got you. I'll keep you going. What we what we're talking about is saying the how does how do then, you know, we further explore that thing around how do we make sure the documentation and technology and, you know, we seeing eye and other things coming in, how does that actually then flow over and actually support the staff, but also can help us to support better patient outcomes and better, you know, better integration in the, you know, in a
00;09;33;03 - 00;09;40;17
Michael Draheim
very complex system, but also the, the involvement of other family members and things in people's care.
00;09;40;20 - 00;10;20;22
Tiago Dias
This is a key point. AI is progressing very fast, and we need to leverage it to achieve better outcomes. In nursing, there are critical areas where it can help, especially in documentation and clinical recommendations.
00;10;20;22 - 00;10;43;14
Tiago Dias
One of the biggest issues today is the number of clicks and the amount of manual documentation required, which takes time away from patient care. Technology can reduce this and allow nurses to spend more time with patients.
00;10;43;17 - 00;11;04;00
Tiago Dias
We are also seeing progress in early detection—analyzing vital signs, lab trends, and scoring tools. This helps prevent critical events like cardiac arrest and reduces admissions, especially in critical care.
00;11;04;03 - 00;11;31;08
Tiago Dias
And in this case even decrease the number of admissions, especially in the critical care area on the other side, as you touch bases, really, terms of the workforce planning, right, as we progress in the technology, will support part, as I think, in terms of analytics and themes of prediction. Yeah, I think it will help us how we restructure the workforce and especially impact certain points in terms of the burnout, what some of us can be facing.
00;11;31;08 - 00;11;40;11
Tiago Dias
Right. So, technology is a strong ally—we just need to use it effectively to achieve better outcomes.
00;11;40;11 - 00;12;03;14
Michael Draheim
And that makes sense. I think that makes perfect sense. I'll come to you, Patience is you've seen a lot of uptakes about sort of, the NHS and changes around AI etc. You know, what's been, the feedback around that technology from patients?
00;12;03;14 - 00;12;30;02
Patience Chinwadzimba
That. Thank you, thank you. Thank you, Michael. So, you know, we talk about how we use technology. So, from a nursing standpoint, we're seeing a lot more need for mobile technology that, document the ability to document using my mobile phone. We're seeing advancements, certainly in our own field, in our own company, where we are developing AI.
00;12;30;02 - 00;12;51;24
Patience Chinwadzimba
That allows me to talk about the cam given to the patient, to the wound that I'm seeing, and my responses popped, pre-populated in the fields on a form that I would normally go in and click a dropdown to select a response. So, I can say, you know, the patient's output. Is this their blood pressure? Is this. And that is now helping me.
00;12;51;24 - 00;13;14;14
Patience Chinwadzimba
I don't have to go to the computer to go type it in. As I'm speaking, AI is picking out those discrete data and dropping it into the form. For me, from a patient perspective, we are discharging patients with, tracking devices. They are tracking the blood pressure at home. They are checking their, you know, their vitals at home, they become their PMS.
00;13;14;16 - 00;13;36;13
Patience Chinwadzimba
And so, with that, we have other companies that are bringing in technology that allows the patient to enter that data, that interface with the main patient record and, and populates that. So, we have hospital at home. Yeah. We have virtual wards with the patient is at home. But they're feeding that information in. And that is something that we're seeing now that was never there before.
00;13;36;20 - 00;13;58;22
Patience Chinwadzimba
You had to go walk around with this fig. If anyone remembers what a twig was, and if they can still take a blood pressure with this big and a proper thermometer. But that's all gone, and things are moving forward. We're, you know, looking at the patient's acuity, we're able now to kind of know we have ten acute patients on this ward.
00;13;58;24 - 00;14;18;15
Patience Chinwadzimba
We need to look at who's coming on shift. How qualified are they? Who do we have on our books. Yes. And all of that is all interlinked with all the new systems that are coming in that can look at patient acuity, what staff we have, who can we bring in to make sure we are delivering that, that care that the patients need.
00;14;18;18 - 00;14;24;11
Patience Chinwadzimba
So it's also helping with, workforce planning. And don't forget the patient portals right now.
00;14;24;24 - 00;14;43;20
Angela Ryan
Angela. One of the things so you know so and patients is you know, summed up I think very nicely some of the stuff that, you know, you're seeing in the UK and you know, in other parts of the world, I know sometimes Australia is a little bit slower. It's not deliberately, it's just, you know, the nature of what's happened.
00;14;43;20 - 00;14;48;15
Michael Draheim
I think sometimes you are little bit, you know, cautious around certain things. What are you saying today.
00;14;48;18 - 00;15;12;04
Angela Ryan
So, I think that clinicians are always looking ways, looking for ways to make processes more efficient. And, and the reason why ambient scribes have just exploded is because they solve a particular problem. So, we introduced the problem with our systems, not intentionally, but this is the reason why, you know, we've seen a lot of technology come and go, particularly around, you know, various hype cycles, but that's why this works.
00;15;12;04 - 00;15;36;17
Angela Ryan
And so, I think we're having the same, experiences here in Australia. And obviously there are several different scribes in use. Obviously, we have, our Oracle version and we're working closely with, some of our, local customers on how we will implement that. I think where it's exciting is that there is a genuine desire, for people to get, involved.
00;15;36;17 - 00;15;59;28
Angela Ryan
I think that the positions are adopting AI faster than we can sort of put our governance around it. And I think that consumers also expect that we would be using AI where it's appropriate because, you know, heaven knows we know that they are using it also. So, I think we are starting to see that with our, clinical notes, clinical note.
00;16;00;03 - 00;16;30;17
Angela Ryan
We're getting a lot of interest and excitement and enthusiasm to participate in the design of. So, you know, the new, in the design and, involvement and engagement with the nursing AI, tool where there is an enormous amount of interest for that because I think, as patient says, you know, we really want to shift that. We want those tools to support us so that we can continue to care and that that information or that documentation is just happening around us.
00;16;30;18 - 00;16;47;25
Angela Ryan
Obviously, decisions aren't being made for us, but where our workflows can be supported, is where we want those tools, to meet us. So I think we're, you know, we're equally excited here in Australia. We, I hope that we won't be too far down the down the road map there right now.
00;16;47;25 - 00;17;05;23
Michael Draheim
One word to sum up the international nurses decision. No pressure.
00;17;05;25 - 00;17;08;19
Angela Ryan
Empowerment.
00;17;08;22 - 00;17;13;29
Tiago
Resilience and patience.
00;17;14;02 - 00;17;16;10
Patience Chinwadzimba
Celebration.
00;17;16;13 - 00;17;41;14
Michael Draheim
Thank you, panel members. So, as we close out this special International Nurses Day episode, I want to extend our deepest gratitude to the nurses who make profound difference every single day in hospitals, clinics, communities and across the globe. Your dedication, resilience and compassion are the backbone of our health care system, and your willingness to embrace change and lead innovation is truly inspiring.
00;17;41;16 - 00;18;03;19
Michael Draheim
Thank you to our speakers. It was lots of fun for sharing your insights and stories. And thank you to all the nurses who exceptional service and commitment to care with your listening. As a fellow nurse, a health care professional, or someone whose life has been touched by nursing care. We hope you feel inspired by today's short conversation. Happy international Nurses Day from all of us and Oracle Health.
