According to Jarrard’s 2024 Nurse Survey Report, nurses remain skeptical about the influence that AI will have in healthcare. In September 2024, approximately 837 US nurses were surveyed. Let's delve deeper into these findings.

Trust as the Top Concern

A significant portion of nurses express a lack of trust in AI. 56% of nurses report either low levels of trust (31%) or no trust (25%). When it comes to clinical decision support, such as assisting physicians in diagnosing patients or reading radiology films, 59% trust AI only a little (30%) or not at all (29%). This shows the hesitation among nurses regarding the reliability of AI in crucial healthcare tasks.

Positive and Negative Perspectives

While 46% of nurses think that AI is generally a positive thing and will enhance their job effectiveness, 34% are uncertain about how AI will generally affect nurses in the future. Surprisingly, 20% believe that AI is generally bad and will take away nurse jobs by handling certain tasks that nurses should be performing. This diversity of opinions highlights the complexity of nurses' attitudes towards AI.

Comparison with Physicians

In contrast to nurses, 65% of US physicians think that AI gives them some level of advantage when caring for patients, as per a November 2023 American Medical Association survey. Only 11% consider AI to be a disadvantage. This disparity in perception between nurses and physicians emphasizes the need for better communication and understanding in the integration of AI into healthcare.

Hospital Industry's Rush

Many nurses are discontent with the hospital industry's hasty implementation of untested and unregulated technology. This was a major concern during a recent nurse protest at Kaiser Permanente regarding the use of AI. Additionally, nurses are likely to be annoyed by buzzy startup Hippocratic AI, which is backed by heavy-hitter investors like NVIDIA's venture capital arm. The startup claims that its genAI bots outperform human nurses and are available at a fraction of the cost.

The Need for Balance

AI developers and health system customers must find the right equilibrium between leveraging AI to assist nurses and not undermining their roles. For instance, Mayo Clinic and Abridge are actively involving nurses in the development and deployment of a genAI clinical documentation tool specifically tailored for their roles. This approach shows the importance of including nurses in the decision-making process to ensure the successful integration of AI.