Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already transforming many aspects of healthcare, including nursing. New technologies facilitate tasks such as patient monitoring, data analysis, and automating routine work. Nurses increasingly employ AI tools in their daily work.
This technological shift brings both promise and risk. The extent to which AI in healthcare will impact nursing in Michigan and around the country depends not only on the technology but also on ethics, education, regulation, and the preservation of core elements of care.
Some changes are likely to happen sooner rather than later. AI can reduce paperwork, help with diagnostics, support remote patient monitoring, and free up nurses to spend more time with patients. Healthcare systems, educators, and policymakers are asking: How can we harness these tools without losing the human side of nursing? Balancing innovation with compassion is becoming a central concern.
The Impact of AI in Healthcare on Nursing
AI is easing many of the administrative burdens that have historically consumed nurses’ time. Studies show that tools like machine learning and automated alert systems help reduce documentation workload and can streamline scheduling and care coordination.
For example, a recent study in Jordan found that nurses felt AI helped improve patient monitoring and reduce time-consuming clerical work. In a larger integrative review, researchers have found that AI-powered monitoring systems, wearable sensors, and real-time alerts are enabling earlier detection of patient deterioration, shortening hospital stays, and lowering readmission rates.
AI is also influencing decision support and diagnostics. With large datasets, AI tools can help identify patterns, such as early warning signs of sepsis or other complications, which could be harder to detect by human observation alone.
In addition, remote patient monitoring and telehealth, enhanced by AI, are providing ways to care for patients outside the hospital setting, which is essential for managing chronic conditions and serving rural areas.
Ethical, Educational, and Practical Challenges
With the promise comes concern. When it comes to AI in healthcare, ethical issues are paramount, including data privacy, bias, fairness, and patient autonomy. The American Nurses Association (ANA) published a position statement stressing that AI must support, not replace, nursing judgment, assessment, and critical thinking.
AI systems must preserve patient dignity, equity, and trust. Bias in training data, lack of transparency in algorithms, and unequal access to AI tools can worsen health disparities if not properly addressed.
Another challenge is training. Nurses require education and ongoing professional development to understand how AI works, its limitations, and how to integrate it safely into clinical workflows. Studies point out that many nurses feel underprepared. There’s also a need for regulatory frameworks, guidelines, and oversight to ensure AI is used responsibly. The ANA recommends nurses be involved in developing policies and evaluating AI tools.
What AI Means for the Future of Nursing Roles
Over time, AI is likely to reshape what nurses do and how they do it. With AI, nurses may spend more time on care coordination, communication, education, and complex clinical judgment, rather than on routine tasks. Depending on their role, nurses may also require skills in data literacy and understanding the most effective use of AI tools.
AI can also lead to further growth of remote and telehealth nursing. Integrated care models may utilize AI to link different providers and continuously monitor patients, blurring traditional boundaries of care settings.
However, AI does not eliminate the need for human contact, empathy, intuition, and face-to-face assessments. Nurses notice emotional cues and things about the environment or patient behavior that machines cannot. The human relationship remains central.
NMU’s Online RN to BSN Degree
NMU Global University offers an online RN to BSN program designed for registered nurses ready to advance their education. The program is built to fit the schedules of working nurses. Students can complete it in as few as four semesters. While courses are delivered online, nurses also have clinical/project-based experiences in their current place of employment.
In this RN to BSN program, students develop advanced nursing skills in areas such as leadership, evidence-based practice, management, public health, and global/policy considerations. The curriculum includes core nursing courses and optional leadership coursework or certificates.
Graduates from NMU Global Campus will be better prepared for leadership, taking on greater responsibility, and engaging with evolving technologies, including AI, as part of their nursing practice.
