JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The increasing shortage of skilled nursing staff, growing documentation demands, and rising complexity of care processes in long-term residential care highlight the need for digital solutions that support nursing workflows while remaining adaptable to real-world care environments. Augmented reality (AR) technologies have the potential to improve access to context-sensitive information and support documentation processes directly at the point of care. In particular, AR-supported clinical dashboards may enable the real-time visualization of relevant patient information during nursing activities without interrupting ongoing care activities or requiring additional device interactions. Although previous studies have explored AR applications in nursing education and documentation, little is known about the usability, practical applicability, and implementation requirements of AR-supported dashboard systems in long-term residential care settings. Furthermore, the participatory development of such technologies together with nursing professionals remains underexplored.

Objective:

This study aims to explore nursing professionals’ expectations, perceived potentials, barriers, and practical requirements regarding the participatory development and potential use of an AR-supported clinical dashboard in long-term residential care. The project seeks to identify user-centered design principles and implementation requirements for the iterative development of an AR-supported information and documentation system tailored to nursing practice.

Methods:

The study follows an exploratory qualitative design embedded within a participatory and agile development process. The theoretical framework is informed by the updated Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Data collection will take place in a long-term residential care facility in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, which serves as a real-world laboratory for the iterative development and evaluation of the AR-supported clinical dashboard. Data collection and iterative development processes are conducted between 2025 and 2027. Initial focus groups will explore general expectations, barriers, and potential use scenarios without a technical prototype. In subsequent development cycles, progressively refined prototypes will be integrated into the discussions to obtain structured user feedback for iterative system adaptation. Focus groups will be audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using the Gioia methodology to identify first-order concepts, second-order themes, and aggregate dimensions. MAXQDA software will support qualitative data analysis.

Results:

The project started in April 2025 with an initial setup and development phase. The study is currently in the early development stage, with data collection and iterative prototype development ongoing and scheduled to continue until March 2027.

Conclusions:

The study is expected to generate practice-oriented insights into the participatory development and implementation of AR-supported clinical dashboards in long-term residential care. The findings may contribute to the development of context-sensitive and workflow-oriented digital solutions that support workflow integration and facilitate context-sensitive information access within routine nursing care. Clinical Trial: The study will be registered in the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS).