Electronic health records, policies and procedures, and evidence-based practice guidelines are essential for high-quality care. Yet navigating multiple systems to find the right information can be time-consuming for nurses.

To address this challenge, a multidisciplinary team led by Mayo Clinic's Department of Nursing developed Nurse Virtual Assistant — a first-of-its-kind tool created by Mayo Clinic nurses for nurses. Built entirely in-house, this generative artificial intelligence (AI) solution displays information in a single tab within Mayo Clinic's electronic health record system.

Nurses can access a curated, nurse-specific patient summary with direct links to evidence-based practice resources, such as Lippincott, IV administration guidelines and a clinical policy library — all in one place.

This streamlined view helps nurses spend less time searching for information and more time focusing on what matters most: the patient in front of them.

Watch: Mayo Clinic's Nurse Virtual Assistant

Journalists: A video pkg (2:08) is in the downloads at the end of the post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic."

Supporting nurses and human connection

Nurse Virtual Assistant is designed to augment, not replace, the expertise and human connection nurses bring to care. 

"It's an amazing tool," says Nick Flynn, a registered nurse in the Emergency Department at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Arizona. Flynn finds it valuable that patient data from inpatient stays, outpatient visits and phone calls are summarized. "You have easy access to a history of their illness, and that's available just moments after they arrive," he says.

Nurse-driven innovation

The development of Nurse Virtual Assistant began in 2024 as a strategic effort by Mayo Clinic to ease administrative work in an increasingly complex digital environment. Importantly, nurses have been central to every step of its creation.

Early-access users have helped shape the design and functionality, offering feedback that has guided refinements.

"To see a concept I was passionate about, AI-enhanced communication, actually get built — and to be invited to help shape it — reinforces that frontline nurses' voices matter and that we have the power to influence the future of care," says Brendon Bloomfield, a registered nurse in Psychiatric Acute Care at Mayo Clinic Hospital — Rochester.

The tool was tested and validated by Mayo Clinic in a research study, which was approved by an Institutional Review Board, before scaling to over 9,600 nurses across inpatient and emergency department units.  

Designed to evolve with nursing practice

The current version is a Minimum Lovable Product — an early solution that goes beyond solving a problem by making the end-user experience central to creating something impactful and engaging. Nurses can submit feedback directly within the tool, ensuring it continues to evolve based on their expertise and day-to-day experience. Examples of feedback that has been received and implemented include functionality requests, search result refinement and content layout.

Built to the highest standards of privacy and information security, Nurse Virtual Assistant is a patent-pending solution developed in strict compliance with HIPAA and all regulatory requirements.

"Nurse virtual assistant is an example of how Mayo Clinic nurses are driving innovation and shaping the future of care," says Ryannon Frederick, Mayo Clinic's chief nursing officer. "By reducing administrative burden, we allow nurses to focus on the most important part of their work: caring for patients with skill, compassion and presence." 

Learn more about nursing at Mayo Clinic.

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