Nurses are the backbone of the healthcare industry. But with the rise of digital technology, there is now a growing demand for digital nurses who can bridge the gap between traditional nursing and modern digital healthcare. Digital nurses are essentially nurses who have developed an expertise in the use of digital technologies to improve patient care.

As we continue to celebrate International Nurses Day and Nurses Month, it’s important to recognise the vital role digital nurses play in delivering patient care. Digital nurses have a unique skillset that enables them to leverage their clinical knowledge by using digital technology, which can lead to improved patient outcomes and greater efficiencies.

Digital transformation, including the widespread use of EPRs across the NHS, improves patient safety and experience. I’ve witnessed this firsthand at places such as Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, which has been recognised for its improvements to patient safety by working collaboratively across clinical and digital to configure its EPR. However, having worked at many hospitals, such collaboration isn’t always commonplace, which often causes a disconnect between these groups.

This can then cause a reluctance among some clinical teams to embrace technology, and the lack of the clinical context they need to develop helpful solutions that will hinder the efficiency and safety of frontline care.

To bridge this gap, we need to invest in the digital nursing profession. When nurses hold roles at every point of care, it is only sensible to look to them to unlock a more collaborative approach to digital transformation.

The digital nurse should exist on all patient-facing digital projects and be involved in planning, delivery and optimisation—across the board. Since they spend most of their time delivering care to patients, nurses are ideally placed to identify gaps in service provision and patient safety issues while recognising which changes will have the greatest impact at the point of care.

As we look toward the summit of what healthcare can be, digital nurses have a vital role to play in all patient-facing digital projects in the NHS.

NHS England’s chief nurse wants a Chief Nursing Information Officer (CNIO) in every organisation to help drive that digital agenda[1], highlighting the importance of the nursing voice in digital healthcare transformation.

As we look toward the summit of what healthcare can be, digital nurses have a vital role to play in all patient-facing digital projects in the NHS. They can help design and implement EPRs, develop mobile health apps and work on telehealth projects, among other initiatives.