Technological innovation can provide valuable solutions for the challenges facing the Dutch healthcare sector. However, the development of such innovations poses transdisciplinary challenges in aligning academic research, practice, and technology. This graduation project addresses those challenges by conducting exploratory design research for the bedside nursing practice at the Children’s Thorax Center at Erasmus MC Sophia Children’s Hospital.

The initial phase of the project focused on gaining familiarity with the bedside nursing practice to establish preliminary insights for desired changes. Two nurses were shadowed during their shifts at the aforementioned pediatric ward, employing a contextual inquiry research method to gather observational insights and enhance the understanding of bedside nursing. A reflective analysis of practice understanding, established through nurse feedback and observations, resulted in a list of desired transformations within the practice. These transformations were validated and further elaborated upon through a group feedback session with nurses, which culminated in primary design opportunities involving improved local accessibility of medical data for both input and retrieval, interpersonal communication, and memory support.

The second phase focused on further defining strategic opportunities for innovation development and bridging insights from current practice to a design direction for the desired future. The analysis of four practice dimensions relating to tangibility and relativity resulted in ‘personal cognitive support for nurses at the bedside’ being identified as the most valuable strategic focus for novel technology research and design development. Subsequently, a future perspective of bedside nursing practice was explored through a generative session with nurses, further highlighting the need for cognitive support and technology accessibility at the bedside. This led to a design direction pursuing the development of a cognitive assistant within a future perspective involving pervasive computing.

The third and final phase of the project involved Research through Design development, using a bridging concept for a cognitive assistant named the Cognitive Companion (Coco). Coco is developed as an AI-enabled wearable device, worn in the chest pocket of the nursing uniform, to provide nurses with always-accessible cognitive assistance wherever they go. It features the operational ease of voice control using AI speech recognition, suited for interactions at the bedside. The purpose of Coco as a bridging concept is to facilitate further research and design development in nursing practice toward the realization of the pervasive computing future perspective. To achieve this, a pretotype was built and used in real nursing practice. This revealed that current interventions force nurses to adjust their practice to accommodate technology interactions, which adds extra mental strain by demanding their focus and mental energy during bedside care.

Ultimately, this project concludes that future technological developments for bedside nursing should focus on human interactions and care, which are fundamental aspects that must be safeguarded. Interactions with technology interventions should be simple, easily accessible, and seamlessly integrated into the practice surroundings so that they support rather than distract from patient care. The proposal building on these findings follows a future perspective of pervasive computing in practice, which can be supported through the development of the Coco AI-enabled wearable.