Cooper Norcross Health announced a pioneering step for regional health care, becoming the first hospital system in New Jersey—and part of an exclusive group nationwide—to implement Microsoft Dragon Copilot for its nursing workforce.
The health system is currently piloting the industry’s first commercially available AI clinical assistant designed specifically for nursing workflows. The initiative aims to tackle a major driver of health care burnout: administrative overhead. Nationally, nurses spend more than a quarter of every shift tied to documentation and computer entry, pulling them away from direct patient care.
Dragon Copilot integrates directly into existing nursing workflows via mobile devices. As a nurse performs routine care and engages in clinical conversations, the tool securely listens in the background—with patient consent—and translates spoken observations into structured electronic health record (EHR) flowsheet entries.
Crucially, the technology keeps clinical judgment firmly in human hands. Nurses retain full control by reviewing, editing, and approving every AI-generated entry before it is officially filed into the medical record.
- Less Manual Typing: Streamlines clinical conversation capture to minimize post-encounter data entry.
- Reduced Cognitive Burden: Eliminates the need for nurses to mentally carry complex assessment details from a patient’s room back to a stationary workstation.
- Enhanced Accuracy: Improves the timeliness, completeness, and precision of clinical documentation.
- More Bedside Time: Directly returns valuable hours back to human connection and patient-centered care.
A collaborative approach to innovation
“Nurses are at their best when they can focus fully on their patients,” Kathy Devine, senior vice president and chief nursing executive for Cooper Norcross Health, said. “This technology supports that goal by reducing time spent on documentation and helping nurses remain more present at the bedside.”
Dr. Snehal Gandhi, chief medical information officer at Cooper Norcross Health, echoed these sentiments, noting that while ambient AI has already successfully streamlined documentation for the health system’s physicians and advanced practice providers, expanding it to inpatient nursing is a game-changer.
The rollout builds upon Cooper’s broader enterprise AI strategy, which already features more than 1,300 Dragon Copilot licenses across its provider network. Following the current pilot phase, Cooper will evaluate time savings, charting accuracy, and nurse satisfaction metrics to guide a broader expansion across its hospital campuses.
