Seoul St. Mary's Hospital Accelerates Smart Nursing Services with AI and Mobile Integration

Accelerating Digital Transformation in Nursing

Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, affiliated with the Catholic University of Korea, has declared this year as "the inaugural year of AI-driven nursing innovation," announcing on April 8, 2026, that it will be a year of applying various smart nursing services in the field.

The core of this project is to accelerate digital transformation across various aspects of nursing, thereby improving not only work efficiency and record accuracy but also the overall patient experience. As part of this initiative, the Nursing Department began expanding the AI-based Voice Electronic Nursing Record (Voice ENR) system to all wards starting in February of this year.

A nurse at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital is using a tablet to check patient and mobile nursing information. Seoul St. Mary's Hospital

Since embarking on the smart nursing system development project in March of last year, the Nursing Department has spent approximately 11 months establishing infrastructure in phases and conducting field tests in parallel. With the conclusion of field tests this year, a comprehensive system package—including dedicated devices equipped with the Voice ENR system and voice recognition pin microphones that block out ambient noise—was distributed for full-scale implementation. Each nurse working in the wards is provided with one device, enabling an environment where records can be created and reviewed immediately on-site.

In addition, a flexible operating system has been established to utilize devices and tablet PCs depending on the specific requirements of field work. For tasks that involve frequent movement, such as administering medication, transfusions, or conducting tests, the highly portable Voice ENR device is used. For tasks that require visual confirmation and detailed input, like admission counseling or patient rounding, tablet PCs are utilized.

Up to now, Voice ENR has been mainly focused on nursing records. However, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital is committed to continuously integrating and connecting various systems so that the platform will serve not just to reduce the workload of recordkeeping but also to become central to field nursing work.

Based on this philosophy, on-site medication records—which were previously managed using PDA-based systems—have also been migrated to the Voice ENR platform. In the migration process, the focus was not only on recreating existing functions but also on leveraging new advantages and features. According to hospital officials, in order to achieve the goal of preventing medication errors and enhancing patient safety, a triple verification system has been implemented throughout the entire process of medication preparation, administration, and documentation by linking real-time voice recognition. As digital verification systems such as barcode-based medication confirmation have been reported as effective measures for reducing medication errors, the hospital expects that strengthening in-hospital medication verification will directly lead to improved patient safety.

There have also been notable achievements in digital transformation aimed at enhancing patient experience. Since December 29, 2025, the hospital has been operating a "Mobile Nursing Information Survey" system for admitted patients. Before admission, patients directly enter their health information via a link sent to their mobile phones at home, and the submitted information is finalized as official medical records after final review by a nurse.

This self-administered survey, which can be completed in advance with ample time, is expected to reduce distortions or omissions in information delivery and also increase response rates to sensitive health questions. In fact, in January 2026, the first full month of implementation, 72.7% of admitted patients participated in the system. The hospital reports that simplifying the medical interview process, which previously involved repeated questioning after arrival, has led to shorter patient wait times and increased satisfaction.

The full-scale adoption of such smart nursing systems is closely linked to the career of Hospital Director Lee Jiyeol. As the inaugural director of the hospital's smart division, he participated as a researcher in the government-funded "Dr. Answer 1.0" project in 2018, working to apply medical AI technology in clinical settings. In his inaugural address, Director Lee expressed a vision to transform the hospital into a world-class institution representing K-healthcare through the adoption of advanced medical technologies such as AI and precision medicine, and declared his commitment to accelerating digital transformation and ecosystem development within the hospital.

Kim Hyekyung, Director of the Nursing Department and leader of this project, stated, "The convergence of Voice ENR and AI/mobile technology is not just about introducing the latest technology, but about minimizing nurses' administrative workload and creating an environment where they can focus more on patient care itself." She added, "We will continue to listen to the voices from the field to maximize work efficiency and lead the way in future-oriented smart nursing models that always put patient safety first."

Seoul St. Mary's Hospital plans to leverage the introduction of this system to simultaneously enhance patient safety, improve the quality of nursing, and increase work efficiency, while continuing to lead the development of digital-based, next-generation nursing models.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.