Can Artificial Intelligence Replace the Unique Nursing Role?

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming healthcare, offering potential benefits and challenges. In healthcare, AI enhances efficiency, streamlines processes, and supports decision-making. However, challenges include potential errors and biases in algorithms, data privacy concerns, legal and ethical issues, and resistance to change. In nursing, a delicate balance emerges between AI and human touch. While AI aids in data-driven decision-making and administrative tasks, it lacks the emotional intelligence, empathy, and nuanced understanding crucial to nursing care. Nurses excel in critical thinking, adaptability to dynamic situations, patient advocacy, collaboration, and establishing human connections. AI supports these functions by automating routine tasks and offering decision support tools, yet its rigidity in dynamic situations and lack of human touch pose limitations. This review underscores the necessity of careful AI integration in healthcare, acknowledging its advantages while mitigating drawbacks. In nursing, the symbiosis between AI and human qualities is vital. The role of AI should be to complement, not replace, the unique skills and empathetic aspects of nursing care. Addressing concerns related to bias, transparency, data privacy, and professional training is essential for maximizing the benefits of AI in healthcare while preserving the human touch in patient care. This article explores whether AI can replace unique nursing roles.

Keywords: adaptability to dynamic situations; artificial intelligence; collaboration; critical thinking; human connections; patient advocacy.