Development of a virtual assistant to support nurses in managing work tasks

Background: Increasing administrative burdens on nurses call for innovative digital solutions. Aim: This paper presents a virtual assistant designed to support nurses by streamlining routine tasks and improving workflow efficiency. Materials and Methods: A modular system was developed using natural language processing and dialogue management techniques implemented in Python. Synthetic data were used to simulate nursing workflows. The evaluation included both quantitative measures (task completion time, error rates, and usability via the System Usability Scale (SUS) and qualitative feedback from volunteer nurses in a controlled laboratory setting. Results: The virtual assistant significantly reduced task completion times and error rates compared with traditional methods. An average SUS score of 82 indicated excellent usability. Qualitative feedback highlighted improvements in task prioritization and reduced cognitive load. Conclusion: The study demonstrates that integrating a virtual assistant into nursing workflows can effectively reduce administrative burdens, enabling nurses to dedicate more time to patient care. This promising digital intervention paves the way for further research and real-world application in healthcare settings.