Zwischenevaluierung des Projekts "NUDOCU“ mit qualitativen Interviews und Inhaltsanalyse

Abstract

(i) Motivation and Problem Statement The motivation behind this project is to support nursing staff through the targeted use of innovative technologies. A key issue in hospitals is the high effort required for nursing documentation, which often reduces the time available for direct patient care. Inadequate documentation can also lead to legal and traceability problems. To address these challenges, the Nursing Documentation (NUDOCU) app was developed. The goal is to simplify documentation using artificial intelligence. The app automatically recognizes performed nursing activities and suggests structured entries to reduce documentation time and improve entry quality. (ii) Structure and Methodology As part of the study, the app was tested by 23 nurses over several shifts. Subsequently, qualitative interviews were conducted with the test participants. These interviews were led by students from the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Campus Steyr, within the field Process Management and Business Intelligence. The interview guide was based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to assess user acceptance and satisfaction. The collected data was systematically analyzed to gain insights into the app’s acceptance and identify potential areas for improvement. (iii) Results of the Study Two-thirds of the nursing staff indicated their willingness to use an improved version of the app on a tablet—about half of them expect it to result in noticeable time savings. At the same time, it became clear that the current development stage of NUDOCU still presents usability issues. Overall, the findings suggest that the perceived usefulness of the smartphone app is highly dependent on its technical and ergonomic design. The current version still shows weaknesses that limit its utility in everyday nursing practice. Particular attention should be drawn to the lack of support from the external IT department. Once the app is integrated into the hospital systems, many of the users' main concerns are already resolved. According to the developers, the remaining issues are currently being addressed.1

Date of Award	2025
Original language	German (Austria)
Supervisor	Gerhard Halmerbauer (Supervisor)