No matter where one turns these days, engaging with some form of AI is likely. From the algorithms that power social media to virtual assistants that answer questions and control smart devices, AI is actively shaping how the world works. Opinions about AI’s impact on the workforce range from positive expectations that it will reduce employees’ workloads to negative sentiments that AI will replace human interactions.
In healthcare—with patient lives at stake—the debate seems particularly momentous. In an industry battling staffing shortages, burnout, and increasing costs, health system leaders need to consider all possible solutions, including AI. To truly understand the extent to which AI can help in healthcare and how to implement it effectively, it is important to hear directly from those entrusted with caring for patients: nurses.
McKinsey and the American Nurses Foundation jointly deployed a national survey to evaluate nurses’ perceptions of AI, as well as their familiarity and experience with it. The survey also sought to understand perceived risks and opportunities from various AI applications. It garnered responses from 7,200 nurses (see sidebar, “About the research collaboration between the American Nurses Foundation and McKinsey”).
The survey findings suggest optimism and excitement about AI-powered tools that are tempered by a desire to ensure that quality of care is not sacrificed. To safeguard this balance, nurse respondents also expressed a keenness to better understand how AI works and the need for more opportunities to provide input on how best to use the technology in the clinical environment.
Cautious optimism for AI use
Overall, nurses are cautiously optimistic about AI’s potential to alleviate their workloads and to help the patients they care for. We presented surveyed nurses with nine possible applications for AI in the clinical setting, and for each, we asked them to rate how familiar they were with the technology, how helpful they felt AI would be, where there was opportunity to improve patient care and their work, and the level of risk (Exhibit 5).
AI has already begun to change the ways that many industries approach work and task management. It seems plausible that the technology could reshape healthcare as well, and our survey findings suggest cautious optimism in this area. However, this healthcare evolution won’t be possible without nurses’ engagement. Fortunately, in our survey of 7,200 nurses, respondents share that they are keen to use AI more at work and to be involved in building and defining how these tools can be used in their workplace. As AI evolves and its uses become more familiar, frontline insights about what doesn’t work will be as important as the success stories. While many stakeholders may be eager to leap into the future with AI, it is critical to have leadership, insight, and feedback from healthcare’s largest workforce—nurses—to ensure that high-quality patient care remains the priority across all care settings.
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