An influential technology and nursing leader has told Nursing Times that staff should be \u201csceptical\u201d about artificial intelligence (AI), but warned that the workforce will lose control over how it\u2019s used if they do not embrace it.<\/p>\n
Dr Kathleen McGrow, chief nursing information officer for Microsoft, said that nurses must accept that AI is here to stay in order to decide how it is used in practice, otherwise forces outside of the profession \u201cwill make us use it\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t just discount AI and say we\u2019re not going to use it, because other people will make us use it\u201d<\/p>\n
Kathleen McGrow<\/p>\n
Dr McGrow added that nurses themselves should \u201cfind answers\u201d to the complex questions raised by AI and \u201cleverage\u201d the nurse-specific skills that are irreplaceable.<\/p>\n
The nursing leader, who is from Baltimore, US, was the keynote speaker at a Florence Nightingale Foundation (FNF) technology conference, held in London today.<\/p>\n
Ms McGrow is an ex-trauma care nurse who became a nursing leader at Microsoft in 2018 after a 20-year career in nursing innovation and informatics.<\/p>\n
The conference\u2019s overall discussion theme was Leadership, Innovation, and Digital Transformation, and Ms McGrow explained what her role had taught her about the future impact of AI.<\/p>\n
The nursing leader told attendees in her speech that AI was here to stay, and as it would likely become part of everyday practice, the workforce must let it assist them.<\/p>\n
She also said that the nursing workforce would only be assisted and amplified by the technology, not replaced.<\/p>\n
Nursing Times caught up with her in the moments after she spoke to ask about her claims, and to find out whether nurses should still feel weary about the future of their profession.<\/p>\n
Dr McGrow said: \u201cAI is a whole new concept that we\u2019re all grappling with. There\u2019s still much to learn on how it\u2019s going to impact us, so I think being sceptical is a positive thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing sceptical means we ask questions, and these questions are taken up to nursing leaders. But I think we need to try to find answers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t just discount AI and say we\u2019re not going to use it, because other people will make us use it, and we don\u2019t want others influencing our work,\u201d she said, referring to health care providers and health organisation leaders without a nursing background.<\/p>\n
Dr McGrow then said the priority should be ensuring nurses themselves had a say, and that the technology assisted rather than replaced them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to the nurse at the bedside, [nurses] should feel comfortable with the tools that they\u2019re using,\u201d she told Nurisng Times.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important that AI should be there to assist them, to help them, not to take over what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe nurse will always hold more wisdom because they have that ability of judgment\u201d<\/p>\n
Kathleen McGrow<\/p>\n
She then said: \u201cThis is a whole new concept that we\u2019re all grappling with: our patients are using AI, the providers are using AI, and there\u2019s still much to learn on how it\u2019s going to impact us.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s also a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt, and I think that\u2019s why education is so key,\u201d she said, adding that nursing leaders were an important part of the profession because they could educate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we need more nurses in leadership roles who are helping to define a future roadmap for the profession.\u201d<\/p>\n
On whether nurses will ever stop being assisted and start being overtaken by technology, Dr McGrow said nurses had an irreplaceable \u201cwisdom\u201d about patients and in clinical decision-making.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe nurse will always hold more wisdom because they have that ability of judgment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAI will never have that gut feeling, so [nurses] have to leverage their assessment skills, and their judgment.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re the one obtaining wisdom on the patient,\u201d she said, addressing nurses directly.<\/p>\n
The nursing leader finally shared why technological development made it important that more nurses took on leadership roles like hers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we need more nurse informaticists,\u201d she said. \u201cI bridge the gap. I have a lot of deep clinical knowledge, hands-on patient care, and I know enough about technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we need more people in these roles so that we\u2019re building this workforce with nurses, not for nurses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s conference doubled as a graduation ceremony for members of FNF\u2019s nursing leadership scholarship programme.<\/p>\n
In her keynote speech, Dr McGrow urged scholars to make the opportunity AI presented count by addressing its potential risks and rewards in their upcoming leadership careers.<\/p>\n
As well as Dr McGrow\u2019s speech, attendees were privy to a discussion about UK midwifery with England\u2019s chief midwifery officer (CMO) for England Kate Brintworth, and CMO for Wales Karen Jewell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An influential technology and nursing leader has told Nursing Times that staff should be \u201csceptical\u201d about artificial intelligence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":789757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-789756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}