From clicks to connection: designing nursing content within an electronic health record that reflects person-centred relationships and choices.

Abstract

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are central to healthcare transformation, promising improved access to information, decision support, and safer care delivery. It acts as a central repository of all information pertinent to a person receiving treatment and is easily accessible. This paper presents a an experiential perspective and follow up from a nursing team who led the design, development, and evaluation of a person-centred electronic nursing record within an acute hospital setting. Guided by the Person-centred Practice Framework and participatory approaches to workplace culture development, the team collaborated with informatics specialists to redesign more than 120 assessments, diagnoses, interventions and outcomes that better reflect nursing values, patient choice, and local workflows. Through continuous attention to organisational structures, facilitative processes, and emerging cultural patterns, nurses achieved greater alignment between digital documentation and the realities of bedside practice. Evaluation data demonstrated improved nurse engagement with the EHR, enhanced therapeutic relationships, reduced documentation burden, and strengthened person-centred cultures across the organisation. These findings highlight the critical role of nurses in digital transformation and the need for meaningful input into EHR content design and governance. We argue that digital nursing documentation must reflect the complexity and relational nature of nursing practice, rather than prioritising technical tasks or disease-focused content. As national and international EHR initiatives advance, nursing leadership must influence system procurement, content customisation, and ongoing evaluation to ensure that digital records uphold professional values and support compassionate, holistic, person-centred care.