Health care safety improvement focuses on redesign of high-risk health care processes such as the medication administration process (MAP) to enhance safety and reduce errors. A key limitation of MAP redesign efforts is the lack of validated tools by which to accurately record process observations. This paper discusses a pilot study conducted to develop and evaluate a handheld device application for recording observations of oral MAP functions and tasks. The aim of the study was to leverage existing technology to develop an observation recording device comparable to handwritten recordings commonly used to document workflow observations in health care settings. Device recordings were statistically compared to handwritten recordings of the same MAP functions and tasks. Findings provided preliminary evidence that handheld device recordings were consistent with handwritten recordings for documenting task duration but not task sequence. Interruptions were not examined due to insufficient data and additional research is needed.