As U.S. nurses increasingly employ AI in their day-to-day tasks, the American Nurses Association is advocating for more nurse-led guardrails amid concerns of bias, unclear accountability and a decline in professional judgement.
On April 22, the ANA hosted an invitation-only “AI in Nursing Practice Think Tank” for nursing leaders to discuss how AI is affecting the profession and what safety protocols should be implemented.
According to a consensus summary, nursing leaders identified five areas of concern:
- Erosion of professional judgement and critical thinking: “Poorly designed or rapidly deployed tools may diminish nurses’ ability to see the whole patient, question outputs and exercise professional reasoning.” They also voiced worries about overreliance and automation bias.
- Unclear accountability and liability: Nursing leaders are concerned about responsibility when AI tools influence care decisions. A common concern was fear of licensure exposure.
- Bias that worsens equity and trust: Patient safety could be at risk if AI tools have algorithmic bias or incorrect data, leaders said.
- Cognitive burden and workflow harm: Even if an AI is designed to alleviate workload, a poor rollout can negatively affect cognitive burden.
- Lack of nursing-specific governance and standards: Most AI frameworks do not specify nursing and are not applicable to practices at the bedside, in education or decision-making.
In its May 5 report, the ANA — which represents more than 5 million U.S. nurses — recommended five action items to address these concerns:
- Issuing clear, nurse-led guardrails
- Curating a nursing AI playbook
- Advancing AI literacy and competence
- Strengthening policy and regulatory advocacy
- Sustaining robust cross-sector collaboration
Access the report here.
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