LOS ANGELES (Feb. 12, 2025) — To lessen the administrative burden on hospital nurses and give them more time for meaningful patient care, Cedars-Sinai is testing an artificial intelligence (AI) mobile app called Aiva Nurse Assistant.
The app allows nurses to use a mobile phone to document patient information in real time through voice dictation. It transcribes the data and then—once validated by a clinician—the app files that information directly into the patient’s electronic medical record.
“This AI-driven technology furthers our commitment to our incredible and dedicated nursing staff by reducing administrative burdens, allowing for increased efficiencies and innovation,” said Craig Kwiatkowski, PharmD, senior vice president and chief information officer at Cedars-Sinai. “As we consider advancing this pilot program, we hope to make the day-to-day role of our nurses easier and more efficient, building on the progress we have made with our physicians.”
Currently being tested by nurses and clinical partners on a 48-bed surgical unit, the pilot expands upon similar technologies already in use by Cedars-Sinai physicians.
“Cedars-Sinai was the first health system to launch Aiva Nurse Assistant,” said Sumeet Bhatia, Aiva founder and CEO. “We’re fortunate to work with an organization so relentlessly focused on the wellbeing of their front line care team.”
Rachel Coren, MPH, MS, vice president and associate chief information officer at Cedars-Sinai, worked alongside Peachy Hain, MSN, RN, Cedars-Sinai’s executive director of Nursing, Surgical Services and Clinical Support Programs, and their teams to roll out the Aiva pilot program. They sat down with the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom to share more about the potential of this AI advance.
How does Aiva Assistant help nurses in their daily workflow?
Hain: Nurses juggle multiple responsibilities, from patient care to complex documentation and care coordination. Studies show they spend up to 40% of their shift on documentation alone, contributing to burnout and staffing challenges.
We asked ourselves: What if AI could support nurses just as it has supported physicians? With that vision in mind, we partnered with our Enterprise Information Services team and Aiva Health—part of the Cedars-Sinai Accelerator Program since 2017—to bring this idea to life. The result was the Aiva Nurse Assistant, a tool designed by nurses, for nurses, to ease documentation and give them more time for patient care.
The goal with Aiva Nurse Assistant is simple—reduce administrative tasks so nurses can focus on patient care. By streamlining documentation, we’re giving nurses back valuable time, improving efficiency and ultimately enhancing the patient experience.
How does the Aiva Nurse Assistant app work?
Coren: Nurses use hospital-issued iPhones with the HIPAA-compliant mobile app powered by conversational AI, allowing them to enter data real-time into 50 of the most commonly used fields in Epic—a widely used electronic health record (EHR) system—using voice or text.
The first step is to press and hold the talk button at the bottom of the app and dictate their observation. For example, “The patient in Room 8915 has a pain level of 3 in her back and also finished eating 50% of her lunch.”
The app then transcribes the input and maps the data to the appropriate rows in the EHR. Before submission, clinicians confirm the patient information and nurse observations presented are accurate. If accurate, they then click ‘accept’ and all data is directly input into the EHR.
A single command can document across fields and flow sheets from anywhere in the hospital, streamlining the process further and saving valuable time.
How is the app different from other AI tools Cedars-Sinai has implemented?
Coren: What’s novel is that we are using AI in nursing documentation workflows and we are one of the first hospitals to move this into a real-world setting.
Nursing is an ever-evolving profession with increasing documentation requirements, and this platform is built to grow alongside it. Many AI and voice-enabled technologies in healthcare have focused on reducing physician burnout and streamlining their workflows. With the Aiva Nurse Assistant pilot, we wanted to bring that same level of support to nurses and care teams—giving them a tool designed specifically for their unique needs.
Can you share any early feedback from nurses about their experience using Aiva Nurse Assistant?
Hain: The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive—it’s not just helpful, it’s impactful. Even our most experienced nurses, some with over 40 years at Cedars-Sinai, have embraced this technology. Many who were initially hesitant about AI now say it has significantly reduced their documentation time, and the instant output has lifted a major burden.
As the pilot unit integrates Aiva into daily workflows, we’re not just analyzing the numbers—we’re listening to our nurses and clinical partners.
Cedars-Sinai nurses have always been at the forefront of innovation, continuously adapting to new tools that enhance their workflows—nurses like Ryan Trias, MSN, RN, who played a key role in integrating Aiva into daily practice, helping to refine its functionality to meet real-world nursing needs. His collaboration with the team ensured that the technology aligns with how nurses work, making adoption smoother.
One nurse laughed about how his teammates kept asking how he was finishing his documentation so quickly—they were amazed at how efficient he had become. Another nurse called Aiva Assistant “a lifesaver,” which perfectly sums up its impact on their workflow.
Their insights and experiences are at the core of our evaluation because they’re the ones delivering care on the front lines. Their feedback determines whether this technology is truly making a difference.
What are the next steps for the Aiva Assistant pilot?
Coren: At Cedars-Sinai we have a long history of introducing new technologies in close partnership with our clinical users. Our goal is to gather feedback around usability and adoption and to continue to measure the impact it has on reducing the administrative burden on our clinical staff.
We’re then going to be working very hard to rapidly expand its utilization to as many inpatient units as possible here at Cedars-Sinai and at our affiliate hospitals. We’re also beginning to work closely with other disciplines, like pharmacy, to define use cases for their teams and begin to develop implementation plans around those.
How do you see AI evolving in nursing care, and what role will Cedars-Sinai play in shaping that future?
Hain: We’re exploring how Aiva Assistant may help streamline other nursing tasks to enhance patient care through voice-activated task reminders, lab results retrieval, remote control of in-room devices like TVs, and breaking down language barriers.
The current pilot has revealed the exciting potential of how technology can redefine the way care is delivered. Throughout this trial, the emphasis is on fostering more meaningful patient interactions, enhancing charting efficiency and—most importantly—creating a more fulfilling experience for both staff and patients.
Coren: Nurses at Cedars-Sinai are innovative and tend to be early adopters. We are currently working on designing our hospital room of the future, which we know will include lots of new technologies, some of which will be voice enabled, allowing our patients to fully immerse in their experience and have more control over both their room-request health education and entertainment on demand, while they continue to heal with us.
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