Blog Contribution by NIHD Board Member Stacy Mockridge, RN, MSN, Healthcare Planner and Clinical Operations Specialist @ Progressive ae.
As nurses involved in healthcare planning and design, we are often balancing three dimensions at once: the patient experience, the clinician workflow, and the physical environment. Increasingly, we are also designing for a digital layer of care, and that digital layer is not experienced equally across generations.
From virtual nursing stations to smart patient rooms and digital front door apps, healthcare spaces are being transformed by technology. But what happens when the patient on the other side of the screen is 85 years old, has hearing loss, or has never used a touchscreen device? Or when a millennial patient expects self scheduling, mobile check in, and instant lab results?
As healthcare shifts toward tech enabled care in both inpatient and outpatient settings, nurses in design have a critical role to play in ensuring that digital health tools support, rather than frustrate, the people who use them.
Who Are We Designing For?
In 2025, the U.S. healthcare system is caring for five distinct generations, each with different comfort levels and expectations around technology:
Gen Z (13 to 28): ~20.7%
Millennials (29 to 44): ~21.7%
Gen X (45 to 60): ~19.5%
Baby Boomers (61 to 79): ~20 to 25%
Silent Gen. (80 to 97): <8%
While Millennials and Gen Z now make up over 40% of the U.S. population and are primary users of outpatient, tech enabled services, Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation are still the heaviest users of inpatient care, including emergency visits, surgeries, and chronic disease management.
And that matters because these two older cohorts account for the highest hospitalization rates and consume a disproportionately high share of healthcare services. Even in outpatient care, they frequently interact with specialists, imaging centers, therapy clinics, and labs, often navigating portals, kiosks, and scheduling tools that were not designed with their needs in mind.
The Disconnect: When Tech Misses the Mark
In both inpatient and outpatient care environments, technology is often introduced with the best of intentions: reduce friction, improve efficiency, empower patients. But if not thoughtfully implemented, it can actually create more stress for both patients and clinical staff.
In the inpatient setting, bedside tablets and digital whiteboards are increasingly used to deliver education, track care plans, and facilitate video visits. But for older patients, these tools can cause confusion or go unused entirely, placing additional pressure on nurses to explain, translate, or bypass them.
In outpatient clinics, digital front door tools like self check in kiosks, appointment schedulers, and text based follow ups work well for younger patients. But for many older adults, these systems are intimidating or inaccessible, especially for those with vision, dexterity, or cognitive challenges.
A 2024 Journal of Nursing Administration study found that 58% of nurses said patient facing technology sometimes increased their workload, especially when patients required support just to access or interpret digital tools.
The Staff Experience: Burnout in a Digitized World
As care settings become more complex and fast paced, nurses are not only caregivers, they are also the interpreters of technology. In both inpatient and outpatient clinics, this often means redirecting their attention away from direct care in order to troubleshoot tablets, kiosks, or alerts.
Meanwhile, physicians report increasing alert fatigue and documentation burden due to EHR prompts and AI generated recommendations that do not align with clinical judgment. Medical assistants and front desk staff in ambulatory sites are also expected to support patients through multiple digital systems with minimal training or capacity.
The result is technology that was meant to help ends up contributing to the burnout cycle.
So, What Can Nurse Designers Do?
Design for Multigenerational Tech Use – Include both digital and analog solutions in patient rooms, lobbies, and exam areas. Ensure systems work for people with visual, auditory, cognitive, or physical limitations.
Test Technology with Real Patients – Do not rely only on staff or IT teams for usability testing. Get feedback from patients across all age groups.
Reduce Tech Stress for Staff – Design documentation spaces, kiosk support stations, and low interruption zones that give staff control over how and when they interact with digital systems.
Offer Human Backup – Even in the most digital friendly setting, patients benefit from a warm handoff. Design for staff or volunteers who can assist patients unfamiliar with self check in, mobile portals, or telehealth tools.
Use Signage, Color, and Layout to Support Digital Navigation – Wayfinding is not just for hallways. Use environmental cues to help patients understand where and how to engage with digital tools.
Inpatient vs. Outpatient: Do Not Design in Silos
In the past, acute care design focused on critical care and safety, while outpatient environments focused on flow and speed. But today, the boundaries are blurring:
Outpatient surgeries are replacing inpatient admissions
Hospital at home programs are pushing digital monitoring into living rooms
Virtual nursing is being used both at bedside and across ambulatory networks
This means we must think holistically: how do we create a consistent and adaptable tech experience across all care settings, for all generations?
Final Thoughts: Human Centered Technology is Multigenerational by Design
As nurse designers, our role is to translate clinical realities into design decisions. That includes recognizing that the same touchscreen, alert, or interface can feel empowering to one patient and overwhelming to another.
We cannot assume digital literacy. We must build for variability, especially as Baby Boomers and Silent Generation patients continue to drive utilization and younger generations begin to expect a seamless, app enabled care journey.
When we align technology with thoughtful design and when we advocate for the voices of both patients and staff, we create healthcare environments that are not just functional but healing. Not just modern, but humane.
Let us lead the way.
Sources
Cleveland Clinic Program on Patient Experience, 2025.
Harris & DeLeon. “Tech at the Bedside: Generational Differences in Patient Engagement.” Healthcare Management Review, 2024.
Journal of Nursing Administration, 2024. Study on Nurse Workload and Patient-Facing Technology.
Statista, 2019. U.S. Population with a Hospitalization by Age.
AHRQ HCUP Statistical Brief #235. Inpatient Stays by Age and Payer Trends.
AMN Healthcare. Baby Boomers’ Impact on Health Care, 2025.
Therapist.com. Overview of Silent Generation Demographics, 2025.