Will you be the first AI-certified nurse in your organization?

I don’t have a crystal ball, but I do see several evolving trends related to artificial intelligence (AI) and the future of nursing. It holds significant promise in many areas of practice: clinical care, administration, education, and research.

Clinical Care

Decision support: AI can assist in real-time to provide decision support for accurate patient assessment and treatment plans, thereby improving the precision and speed of care, especially in critical care settings.

Documentation: The role of the medical scribe is already becoming outdated, replaced by the AI-powered medical scribe software in use today. Software systems now available record the verbal interaction with the patient, transcribe it while filtering out small talk, and then generate an entry compatible with an electronic health record. The clinician simply approves the text and presses Enter to document the patient encounter. In the outpatient setting, this practice is getting rave reviews from clinicians who can decrease documentation time, increase the number of patients seen, and improve quality of the patient interaction.

Automated monitoring: AI algorithms continuously monitor patient vital signs and alert nursing staff about anomalies, potentially preventing adverse events.

Medication management: Machine learning models can predict which medications will be most effective, minimizing trial and error and avoiding possible drug interactions.

Administration

Workforce management: Nursing leaders welcome how AI optimizes scheduling, predicts staffing needs, and even identifies signs of staff burnout, thereby improving workforce safety and morale. Watch for my upcoming editorial on how AI can identify behavioral patterns that lead to burnout.

Quality improvement: AI algorithms can analyze large sets of clinical data to identify opportunities for performance improvement and focused intervention.

Education

Simulation training: AI-powered simulations provide real-world scenarios for nurses to practice interventions and improve cognitive thinking. My organization has the first immersive virtual reality simulation center in Texas. I’ve seen first-hand the benefits of AI built into simulation and virtual reality care scenarios.

Research

Data analysis: Machine learning techniques can help nurses and researchers analyze large datasets, making it easier to identify trends and make predictions.

Evidence-based practice: AI can assist in rapidly reviewing literature and studies, aiding in the adoption of evidence-based practices.

With all of the benefits of AI, I don’t worry that it will replace nurses. Although AI can handle data-driven tasks, nursing skills—empathy, ethical judgment, and complex decision-making—remain irreplaceable.

AI has the potential to significantly enhance the nursing profession by improving efficiency, effectiveness, and even work-life balance. Nurses must stay actively informed about the growing use of AI in their organizations; don’t delegate that involvement to others, especially nonclinicians. Consider becoming the indispensable nursing AI expert. Will you be the first AI-certified nurse in your organization?

Lillee Gelinas, DNP, RN, CPPS, FAAN

Editor-in-Chief

American Nurse Journal. 2023; 18(10). Doi: 10.51256/ANJ102304