AI’s Growing Role in Healthcare Fuels Debate Between Technology and Human Nursing
Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the landscape of healthcare, with AI-powered tools increasingly taking over tasks traditionally handled by nurses and medical assistants. This shift, while promising to improve efficiency and address staffing shortages, is met with growing concerns from nurses about patient safety and the devaluing of their expertise.
Nurses rally in San Francisco to highlight safety concerns regarding AI in healthcare.
Hospitals are deploying sophisticated computer programs to monitor patient vital signs, identify emergency situations, and guide care plans. Companies like Hippocratic AI offer AI assistants that can conduct video calls, answer patient questions, and handle other time-consuming tasks. These AI tools are being marketed as a way to alleviate nurse burnout and solve understaffing issues. For instance, an AI platform could answer patient questions 24/7 in multiple languages like Hindi and Haitian Creole.
However, nursing unions are pushing back, arguing that this technology could undermine patient care and the core skills of nurses. Michelle Mahon of National Nurses United, the largest nursing union in the U.S., stated, “Hospitals have been waiting for the moment when they have something that appears to have enough legitimacy to replace nurses.” The union has organized numerous demonstrations to advocate for nurse input in AI implementation and protection from discipline for disregarding automated advice.
Concerns about the technology’s potential impact on patient care are not just theoretical. Adam Hart, a nurse, experienced a situation where an AI system flagged a dialysis patient for sepsis, leading to a protocol that could have harmed the patient. Hart, speaking to the AP, stated, “You need to keep your thinking cap on— that’s why you’re being paid as a nurse. Turning over our thought processes to these devices is reckless and dangerous.”
Nurses also point out that AI systems can generate false alerts, which can be distracting and potentially lead to errors. Melissa Beebe, a cancer nurse at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, explained, “You’re trying to focus on your work but then you’re getting all these distracting alerts that may or may not mean something.”
While experts like Michelle Collins, dean of Loyola University’s College of Nursing, acknowledge the potential for AI to assist in care, she cautions against replacing the human element. “We should embrace what it can do to augment our care, but we should also be careful it doesn’t replace the human element.”
Proponents of AI in healthcare suggest technology can address the current nursing shortage. Recent figures suggest that nurses are leaving the field, resulting in over 190,000 new openings for nurses every year through 2032. Hospital administrators see AI as a solution to the increased demand. These AI applications serve not to replace nurses but to help doctors and nurses gather information and communicate with patients.
For example, at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences, staff are using an AI assistant from Qventus to contact patients before surgery. This AI tool helps with essential work, such as confirming medications and health conditions. The system identifies itself as an AI assistant, with Dr. Joseph Sanford stating, “We always want to be fully transparent with our patients that sometimes they are talking to a human and sometimes they’re not.”
Looking ahead, companies like Xoltar are developing AI avatars that can conduct video calls with patients. The company is working with the Mayo Clinic on AI assistants that teach patients cognitive techniques.
