By Bill Siwicki

A nurse leader from the Mayo Clinic previews her HIMSS26 session, where she'll show how nurses must be co-creators of systems, not just end users.

Cheristi Cognetta-Rieke, DNP, RN, vice chair for nursing at the Mayo Clinic, says nursing documentation is undergoing a "fundamental shift."

At the 2026 HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exposition in March, she'll co-present an education session, titled "Ambient Nursing Documentation Tool Built for Nurses, By Nurses." She will speak with Kathleen Helms, senior administrator of clinical informatics and practice support at the Mayo Clinic.

The session is focused on the Ambient Nursing Documentation initiative, a nationwide nurse-designed project to use voice-based AI to innovate inpatient documentation – capturing nurse-patient conversations and relaying that data to the electronic health record – in med-surg and progressive care unit settings.

For such tools to succeed, nurses themselves must be in the driver's seat.

"Nurses are no longer just end users of technology; they are designing the future of care. By showcasing what it looks like when nurses help define healthcare transformation, not just implement it, this session shifts the phrase, 'For nurses, by nurses,' from theory to action.

"This distinction is critical right now as healthcare organizations continue to grapple with burnout, documentation burden and several digital tools often disconnected from the realities of nursing practice," she continued.

Nursing work is fundamentally different from physician work, yet many digital tools have been designed around physician documentation models and retrofitted later for nurses. This approach has created friction rather than relief, she added.

Nurses must be co-creators

"The session highlights why nurses must be engaged as co-creators from the start – shaping workflows, success metrics and design decisions – so technology supports patient- and family-centered, conversational-based care rather than task-heavy documentation systems and processes," she noted. "This shift does not add more work to nurses' plates – it enables different kinds of work by repositioning nurses as system thinkers and innovators.

"For HIMSS26 attendees, this conversation is timely because it challenges inherited systems and asks leaders to rethink how decisions are made, how workflows are designed and how technology is embedded at the point of care," she continued. "The session emphasizes that solutions must avoid creating new silos and instead support an interoperable, seamless continuum of care where the patient experience remains consistent regardless of which care team member they interact with."

This is not about implementing another tool; it is about modeling the future of healthcare delivery, led by nurses, at a moment when the healthcare industry urgently needs it, she added.

A central example is an ambient nursing documentation technology intentionally designed and built for nurses, by nurses.

Natural nurse-patient conversations

"Unlike traditional ambient tools developed for physicians, this system captures natural nurse-patient conversations and leverages AI to file data from the conversation into discrete, structured documentation for nurse review and authentication," Cognetta-Rieke explained. "The guiding question from ideation through impact was not 'What can artificial intelligence do,' but rather, 'What do nurses need to deliver high-quality, patient-centered care?'

"This ensured the technology aligned with real nursing workflows rather than forcing nurses to adapt to the tool," she continued. "Nurses were embedded throughout ideation, development, testing and implementation – not as testers at the end, but as co-designers and validators from the beginning. This approach reflects a broader reimagining of the nurse's role: moving from task-based execution to strategic involvement in how technology is chosen, built and integrated into care delivery."

The session also will highlight the Mayo Clinic model of embedding transformation into nursing practice, rather than isolating it in a separate innovation function.

"This tri-model balances credibility, infrastructure and strategy – ensuring trust with frontline teams, scalable platforms for change and a unified vision across multidisciplinary partners," she said. "The ambient nursing documentation tool is one example of how this model allows organizations to remain agile in uncertainty while still moving quickly with intention and direction."

Sustainable digital transformation

One key takeaway for HIMSS26 attendees will be that sustainable digital transformation requires treating nurses as inventors and co-creators, not just operators of systems, she emphasized.

"When nurses are positioned to shape decisions, challenge outdated workflows and help define success, technology adoption becomes more credible, more effective and more aligned with patient needs," she said. "Innovation stops being a department or silo and becomes a nursing mindset embedded in daily practice.

"Attendees will leave with a clear, actionable insight: Rather than adding technology to inefficient processes, organizations must be willing to redesign, or let go of, what no longer serves patients or care teams," she continued. "Creating space, infrastructure and leadership support for nurse-led innovation allows nurses to act as the connective tissue of care teams, influencing outcomes across the continuum."

This is not a checklist or a one-time initiative; it is a redefinition of healthcare leadership and partnership, she concluded.