Artificial intelligence (AI) offers enormous opportunities to shape the future of medicine. In fact, given how health and wellness so directly affect every consumer, healthcare could well be where AI’s impacts are most deeply felt—especially if the technology is incorporated and put into action thoughtfully and effectively.
And as they so often do in healthcare, nurses can lead the way. Not only will they be on the front line of communicating AI’s insights to patients, but nurses will also be the ones most likely to bring those insights to life. Therefore, nurses should have a mastery of AI for the sake of their patients and careers, but AI should also reflect what nurses need. This parallels how leaders in every industry can understand how their core workforce can adapt and guide AI in order to achieve its benefits.
What AI Offers Nurses
Nurses already know the value of technology in their field, from the tools they use to provide care to the management solutions used to keep their unit running. For them, AI is another exciting development that can provide opportunities to improve patient outcomes, as well as their own workload. In fact, the University of Phoenix Career Institute® Career Optimism Index® study shows that 80% of those in healthcare surveyed see knowledge of AI as valuable for their career—including nearly half (48%) who rank it very or extremely valuable. Yet only 15% of surveyed employees in healthcare are currently offered employer-provided training on how to use AI in their career. [1]
AI’s possibilities in healthcare vary widely, from the automation of processes to the introduction of new tools with the potential to save lives. Consider, for example, monitoring technology: AI-powered devices could potentially identify patterns or signs in a patient’s status quickly and accurately, saving time and providing opportunity for earlier intervention.
AI isn’t just for patients: Nurses’ workload could be significantly improved with AI managing tasks like paperwork and scheduling, providing them more time to care for patients and engage in the meaningful work that brought them into healthcare to begin with. Moreover, reducing the administrative burden can help bring down burnout—a deeply felt and perennial problem in healthcare, where the Career Optimism Index shows fully 50% of workers agree they are experiencing burnout. Beyond mental health, the results of nurses using AI could have tremendous impact on their daily lives. The 2025 Generative AI Report shows that 61% of workers surveyed across many occupations who use generative AI save 1-2 hours of labor a day.[2]
Furthermore, nurses seeking to enhance their careers may find that adopting AI ahead of the curve could provide them with new opportunities within their organization or beyond. As AI transforms the workplace, nurses can lead the charge for its effective implementation—and enhance their careers as well.
Roadblocks and Challenges
AI’s impact will not happen overnight: nurses will need to spend a significant amount of time familiarizing themselves with it, especially as it pertains to patient outcomes, where careful and considerate implementation will be key. But even beyond familiarity—which all professionals will overcome with time—there are a number of challenges to using AI in healthcare that nurses in particular will face.
For example, AI use will likely vary from organization to organization, which means that nurses may encounter the need to share or receive information from providers using AI under different parameters or perhaps not even at all. Cost and access to AI and the necessary infrastructure will play a role here, especially at healthcare institutions with smaller budgets and less access to emerging technology. AI offers some solutions for this, especially if its effective use provides efficiencies and cost reductions to invest elsewhere, but just as familiarity will only come with time, so too will these savings.
Not only will AI use vary, but so too will policy: Privacy and ethical use will likely be a major concern among healthcare professionals and patients alike, and nurses will need to comply with their own institutions policies while understanding other organizations with whom they collaborate may have different needs.
Nurses will need to adapt as patients become familiarized with AI. This includes those who may be skeptical of its use, as well as those who may prioritize this technology over human-powered insights. Nurses will need to strike a balance to ensure AI insights can make a positive impact on patient care.
AI in Nursing
As the Generative AI Report shows, workers in surveyed occupations are keen on developing AI skills, especially how to use AI to be more productive and do their jobs faster (42%), how to work in partnership with AI (39%), and how to do their job with greater accuracy. For nurses, training should reflect AI’s potential to enhance their careers as well as the opportunities AI fluency can offer. [2] With these two principles in place, certain AI-centric skills emerge as important for nurses—both in the here and now, as well as the long term:
- Technical ability: Nurses need to be comfortable using AI tools, both as users and with how tools can support patient care.
- Problem-solving: Nurses should be able to troubleshoot AI issues when technology malfunctions.
- Data interpretation: Carefully reviewing and analyzing AI results
- Critical thinking: Nurses must be able to recognize AI’s limitations, with a particular eye on accuracy and applicability.
- Decision-making: Practicing nurses must balance professional expertise with AI-generated data.
- Adaptability: As AI continues to evolve, nurses and their training will need to evolve alongside it—as well as shape its future.
While these skills might resemble those needed by any professional using or relying on AI, nursing once again bears special responsibility and opportunity: These practitioners may put AI into use in ways that could impact the efficiency and accuracy of patient care.
What Nurses Need
AI education may be a challenge, but nurses can obtain the knowledge and skills to put it into action. Just as nurses have adapted and contributed to changes in how healthcare is delivered and practiced, so too can they help AI find its footing in healthcare. With nurses behind it, AI can be involved in the evolution and reshaping of health care.
Most importantly, responsibility for AI education cannot rest solely on nurses’ shoulders. Healthcare leaders—both medical providers as well as business leaders—should recognize that their investment in AI can be important to their investment in nurses’ skills and up-to-date patient care improvements. The industry should come together to help these key practitioners realize AI’s true potential.[3]
Reference
[1] University of Phoenix Career Optimism Index® 2025Study Survey of U.S. Workers and Employers April 2025 [Report]
[2] Meister J and Krishnaiah R. 2025 Generative AI Report: Learning Fuels Human + AI Collaboration. University of Phoenix.
[3] Why AI Demands a New Breed of Leaders,” MIT Sloan Management Review, April 2025
Featured image: Nurses. Photo courtesy: © 2016 – 2025 Fotolia/Adome. used with permission.
DOI:10.14229/onco.2025.09.10.001
