Nurses tend to feel optimistic if not exactly excited about AI’s advances into their profession. Those who hold back tend to share a common concern—sacrificing care quality for the sake of tech-enabled efficiency.
Market analysts at McKinsey name this among the top findings to shake out of a survey of more than 7,000 nurses conducted in partnership with the American Nurses Foundation.
The project report suggests some steps that nursing and hospital leaders can take toward melding nurses’ irreplaceable contributions with AI’s promising applications.
1. To encourage nurses’ buy-in, actively listen to nurses’ concerns.
Health system leaders and AI developers would to well to “consider nurses’ concerns about the quality of patient care,” the authors write, stressing that nurses are, after all, on healthcare’s frontline. Asking the surveyed field what it is about AI that makes them uneasy, McKinsey found:
The largest share of respondents, 61%, report trust in accuracy as a top three concern; 49% are most concerned about the lack of human interaction; and 36% point to a lack of knowledge on how to use AI-based technology and tools.
2. Involve nurses in AI development.
To create AI tools that are informed by and solve for varied clinical care concerns, AI developers and healthcare administrators can partner with nurses on development and testing, the analysts comment. Furthermore, they add, nursing experts can be involved in AI governance and oversight. When asked what was most needed to alleviate concerns:
Some 73% of respondents suggested having nursing input into the design and optimization of AI tools. Evidence of AI’s effectiveness on quality and patient safety, as well as clear guidelines and regulations on AI use, were also named top requirements among surveyed nurses (69% for each).
3. Position AI as the workload-relieving tool that it can surely be.
In 2023, McKinsey and the American Nurses Foundation evaluated how nurses were spending their time and estimated that roughly 20 percent of a nurse’s shift could be freed up through technology, the analysts report. “As AI advances at a breakneck pace,” they remark, “surveyed nurses acknowledge the support these tools could provide.” More:
The share of respondents to our latest survey who say they’d like to see more AI tools incorporated into their work is 64%. This enthusiasm is consistent across all age bands but is slightly higher, at 71%, among nurses aged 30 to 39.
4. Emphasize AI’s potential to improve care quality without sacrificing human interactions.
When asked how the idea of working with AI makes them feel, 42% report being hopeful that quality will improve, but 23% say they are uncomfortable about what AI could mean for patient care, the report authors report before adding:
Possible ways to address this concern could be better demonstration of the quality of AI-supported interventions, thoughtful consideration about how AI tools can work in conjunction with human interaction, and strengthened education on AI for nurses and care team members.
Many stakeholders seem eager to hasten the day when AI is much more widely used in care settings than it is today, the authors note. However, they add, “it is critical to have leadership, insight and feedback from healthcare’s largest workforce—nurses—to ensure that high-quality patient care remains the priority across all care settings.”
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