RCN members discuss nurses’ role in developing AI in healthcare

At the RCN’s annual conference, which is being held in Newport this week, delegates discussed the current and future development of AI tools in hospitals and other settings involving nursing.

“We must navigate the ethical landscape of AI deployment carefully”

Ellen Edwards

Ellen Edwards, a member of the RCN digital nursing forum, opened a debate on the topic. AI, she said, has the potential to “release” time spent on some tasks to allow nurses to rest or support colleagues.

“Consider a scenario where AI allows us to spend more time honing our skills, taking necessary breaks to prevent burnout, and fostering a supportive work environment,” she said.

She added that AI could help ease the burden on clinicians imposed by an “increasingly complex patient population”.

But she also said: “We must navigate the ethical landscape of AI deployment carefully. Issues such as data privacy, algorithmic bias, and the potential for dehumanizing aspects of care need our attention.

Ms Edwards asked: “How do we ensure AI is an ally, not a hindrance, in our mission to provide compassionate and effective care?”

She told delegates that she believed the “human touch” of healthcare must be maintained and warned that AI should be used to “augment”, not replace, clinicians.

In addition, Ms Edwards called for nurses to be given a prominent voice in the discussion and development of any tools.

Nurses also told congress about ways that they had already begun using AI technology in their practice.

For example, AI has been used to help diagnose and monitor stroke patients in the East Midlands, said nurse Isaac Dickson.

He explained that the technology, in conjunction with clinical judgement, has been trialled to identify patients at risk of an ischemic stroke.

Mr Dickson said nurses use a diagnostic app, which is powered by AI and machine learning, that has helped flag at-risk patients who would otherwise have had their diagnosis missed or treatment delayed.

He added: “AI is an innovative tool, which when used ethically and judiciously, will improve patient care quality and reduce unnecessary patient wait time and delays.”

Former RCN president Maura Buchanan said she, too, was optimistic about the potential of AI in diagnostics.

She told the conference that she had contributed to a project, called the Mammogram Intelligence Assessment (MIA), which tested its use in reading the results of mammograms.

At one trial, in Grampian, Ms Buchanan said this AI tool did not miss a single positive result– and in fact spotted positives that had been missed by radiographers.

“People were called back in, minimal invasive treatment, less costly and less traumatic – think about the impact on their life,” she said. “It’s a great prospect for better outcomes for patients.”

Ms Buchanan said nurses have a “responsibility” to be knowledgeable about such technology, and called on members to embrace AI and not be “frightened” of it.

Amanda Epps, a member of the RCN diabetes forum, spoke about the recent roll-out of hybrid closed loop insulin pump systems – which she was using to treat her own diabetes.

These pumps are, in part, driven by machine learning that can adjust doses based on the current glucose level of a patient. “As I stand here today, AI is currently keeping me alive,” she said.

Ms Epps added that she “welcomes” innovations, like the insulin pump, which use AI and other similar tools to give patients a better quality of life.

Meanwhile, RCN Essex chair Matthew Osborne told congress about improvements to nursing education he has been working on which utilise AI.

Mr Osborne spoke about the potential of AI to improve simulation training for pre-registration nurse courses, and said that, based on his experience, funding and resources are needed to improve digital literacy to make the most of these emerging tools.

“AI can be a potential game changer for our practice,” he said. “But the roles and function of nurses and our support workers is going to have to evolve over the next couple of decades to fully realise the benefit of technological developments.”

Other RCN members spoke about its uses in fields including dementia care – both for treatment and diagnosis – and the potential of AI to save on administrative tasks.

However, some speakers aired caution about the new technology and said it should only be used once it had been fully tested, and known to not put patients or staff at risk.

Dr Helen Smith, a former intensive care nurse now researching AI in clinical decision making as an academic, said: “A lot has been said about AI in the last few years, but the clinical uses are vastly unsupported in using AI at the bedside.

“To promote a safe AI use, clinical users must know the regulatory and liability implications of this novel technology’s use in advance of AI adoption,” she said.

Dr Smith said that, before the technology was widely adopted in healthcare settings, regulators must issue new guidance and rules to make sure it was used safely.

Similarly, Bristol nurse Emma Hallam called on the nursing profession to ensure nurses were consulted when AI health tools were developed.

“Nurses at every stage of their career, of all disciplines and diverse characteristics, should be at the forefront of the thoughtful development, monitoring and regulation of AI in healthcare.

“We cannot leave those to the tech companies with troubling agendas, or employers keen on keeping workforce costs down to dictate or develop services, which pay scant attention to the fundamental nursing care or our professional or ethical codes. “

Ms Hallam said nursing needed a “prominent place at the table” for the advancement of AI in health.