Objective To design an electronic notepad for hospital ward and to determine its application effect in nursing practice. Methods The selfdesigned hospital ward electronic notepad was employed interactive touch screen for presentation and connected with the hospital information system and mobile nursing system, which achieved the goal of automatically obtaining such information as ward status, patient information, medical and nursing orders, and risk warning, etc. The newly designed notepad replaced traditional handwritten notepad and patient information cards. Results The incidence of adverse nursing events caused by incorrectly conducting medical orders was decreased from 18.07% to 10.13% after application of the new notepad, and the time that nurses spent on transcribing, searching and checking medical orders was significantly shortened (P<0.01 for all).The score of understanding the patient′s condition in nurses was increased from 80.71±5.35 to 87.92±2.65 (P<0.01). About 96.40% of the nurses satisfied with the new notepad. Conclusion Application of the newly designed hospital ward electronic notepad reduces manual transcription of patient information, enhances the accuracy of information and the efficiency of nursing work, and helps nursing managers and charge nurses provide comprehensive and focused management for patients.