The tool, launching in the U.S. in December 2025, offers medical content and health system protocols tailored to nurses’ workflows.
Microsoft has expanded its AI-powered clinical assistant, Dragon Copilot, to help nurses document patient interactions and care activities. Set to launch in the U.S. in December 2025, the tool provides access to medical content and health system protocols tailored to nursing workflows.
Mary Varghese Presti, Corporate Vice President and COO of Microsoft Health and Life Sciences, noted, “Physicians document very differently. What we built for nurses is not just a copy of that.”
The expansion addresses increasing concerns about the administrative load on clinicians. AI-driven documentation tools are being adopted to ease after-hours work and improve efficiency in patient care. Unlike physicians’ narrative-style notes, nurses often record information in structured fields while moving between patients.
Pilot Initiatives and Workflow Improvements
Dragon Copilot converts nurse-patient interactions into structured flowsheet documentation, giving nurses the ability to pause recordings, check for accuracy, and edit notes before sending them to the electronic health record (EHR). “The nurse decides if they want to edit or add something,” said Presti. “There’s an opportunity to review and then transfer to the EHR.”
Advocate Health in Charlotte, North Carolina, began piloting the tool in April with 20 nurses on one unit and plans to roll it out to additional hospitals next month. Betty Jo Rocchio, Chief Nurse Executive at Advocate Health, said, “It gives nurses more time at the bedside, building relationships. No one becomes a nurse hoping to spend more time with a computer.”
The AI assistant streamlines documentation, reduces mental fatigue, and frees nurses to focus more on patient care.
Third-Party Partnerships and Clinical Resources
Microsoft announced that third-party developers can now build apps and AI agents integrated with Dragon Copilot, supporting areas such as revenue cycle management, patient experience, and virtual care. Clinical resources from platforms like OpenEvidence and Wolters Kluwer’s UpToDate will also be embedded, giving nurses quick access to trusted references within their workflow.
This expansion builds on Microsoft’s nearly $20 billion acquisition of Nuance Communications, enhancing its portfolio of AI-powered clinical documentation tools.
