As AI Nurses Reshape Hospital Care, Human Nurses Express Concerns
The next time you’re due for a medical exam, you might receive a call from someone like Ana: a friendly voice designed to help you prepare for your appointment and answer your questions. With her calm demeanor, Ana is trained to put patients at ease, much like human nurses across the United States. However, unlike traditional nurses, Ana is available 24/7, speaking multiple languages, from Hindi to Haitian Creole.
This is because Ana isn’t human; she’s an artificial intelligence program created by Hippocratic AI. They are one of many new companies aiming to automate time-consuming tasks usually performed by nurses and medical assistants. This marks the most visible sign of AI’s growing presence in healthcare, where numerous hospitals use sophisticated computer programs to monitor patient vitals, flag emergencies, and trigger care plans—tasks previously handled by nurses and other health professionals.
However, the integration of AI in healthcare is not without its critics. Nursing unions are pushing back, arguing that the technology is still poorly understood and could potentially override nurses’ expertise, leading to lower quality of care for patients.
“Hospitals have been waiting for the moment when they have something that appears to have enough legitimacy to replace nurses,” said Michelle Mahon of National Nurses United. “The entire ecosystem is designed to automate, de-skill and ultimately replace caregivers.”
An AI avatar from Xoltar, a company developing AI assistants for healthcare, is shown in a video call with a patient. (Xoltar via AP)
Mahon’s group, the largest nursing union in the United States, has organized over 20 demonstrations at hospitals across the nation. They are advocating for a voice in how AI is used and protection for nurses who disagree with automated advice. Furthermore, in January, concerns were raised when Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the incoming health secretary, suggested AI nurses could provide care in rural areas. Dr. Mehmet Oz, a nominee to oversee Medicare and Medicaid, believes AI can “liberate doctors and nurses from all the paperwork.”
Hippocratic AI initially proposed an hourly rate of $9 for its AI assistants compared to a registered nurse’s roughly $40 per hour. It has since dropped that language, instead focusing on service assurances and careful testing. The company declined interview requests.
AI in the Hospital: False Alarms and Potential Dangers
Hospitals have been experimenting for years with technology designed to improve patient care and cut costs, including the use of sensors, microphones, and motion-sensing cameras. This data is now being integrated with electronic medical records and analyzed to predict problems and direct nurses’ care, sometimes before the nurse has even evaluated the patient.
Adam Hart, who previously worked in the emergency room at Dignity Health in Henderson, Nevada, described a situation where the hospital’s system flagged a new patient for sepsis, a life-threatening reaction often caused by infection. The protocol demanded the immediate administration of large doses of IV fluids. However, after Hart’s examination, he determined the patient was undergoing dialysis, a procedure where patients with kidney failure need careful monitoring of fluid intake. While Hart raised concerns, he was instructed to follow standard protocol. Only after physician intervention did the patient receive a slower IV infusion.
“You need to keep your thinking cap on— that’s why you’re being paid as a nurse,” Hart said. “Turning over our thought processes to these devices is reckless and dangerous.”
Nurses acknowledge AI’s goal to help monitor multiple patients more efficiently. However, the reality often involves a barrage of false alarms, sometimes incorrectly flagging common bodily functions as emergencies.
Nurses hold a rally in San Francisco to highlight safety concerns regarding the use of artificial intelligence in health care. (National Nurses United via AP)
Melissa Beebe, a cancer nurse at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, noted, “It’s hard to even tell when it’s accurate and when it’s not because there are so many false alarms.”
The Dual Nature of AI in Healthcare
Michelle Collins, dean of Loyola University’s College of Nursing, highlights that even the most advanced technology struggles to identify non-verbal cues that nurses regularly pick up on, like facial expressions and smells. However, she points out that humans aren’t perfect either.
“It would be foolish to turn our back on this completely,” Collins said. “We should embrace what it can do to augment our care, but we should also be careful it doesn’t replace the human element.”
Given the aging population and nurse retirements, the U.S. government anticipates more than 190,000 new nursing positions each year through 2032. Hospital administrators see AI as a means to assist nurses and doctors in information gathering and communication with patients, not necessarily as a replacement for them.
At the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences in Little Rock, staff members make hundreds of calls weekly to prepare patients for surgery. They confirm details about prescriptions, heart conditions, and other issues. The challenge, according to Dr. Joseph Sanford, who oversees the center’s health IT, is reaching patients, many of whom only answer the phone during the evenings.
Since January, the hospital has utilized an AI assistant from Qventus, whose technology supports hospitals to boost earnings through quicker surgical turnarounds. Each call begins with the program identifying itself as an AI assistant. “We always want to be fully transparent with our patients that sometimes they are talking to a human and sometimes they’re not,” Sanford said.
A demonstration of an AI avatar for conducting video calls with patients. (Xoltar via AP)
While some companies like Qventus provide administrative services, other AI developers envision broader roles for their technology. Israeli startup Xoltar, for instance, specializes in humanlike avatars that conduct video calls with patients. The company is collaborating with the Mayo Clinic on an AI assistant designed to teach patients cognitive techniques for chronic pain management. Also, they are developing an avatar to help smokers quit. According to Xoltar, in early testing, patients spend roughly 14 minutes communicating with the program, which can recognize facial expressions, body language, and other cues. Nursing experts suggest such programs could be effective for people who are proactive about their own health care. However, they question the suitability for those with more serious illnesses.
Nurses hold a rally in San Francisco to highlight safety concerns regarding the use of artificial intelligence in health care. (National Nurses United via AP)
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