OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in NursingOverview and Summary: Artificial Intelligence in Nursing and Healthcare

AI integration in nursing practice requires AI literacy as an ethical responsibility. Nurses must understand how AI works, detect errors, and determine appropriate use contexts. Oregon passed legislation requiring nurses to be human after emergence of “AI nurses” for post-operative telehealth calls that bypass nuanced assessment of tone, affect, and environmental cues.

⚖️ CLINICAL CONSIDERATIONS

• The ANA Code of Ethics (2025) directs nurses to critically question whether AI innovations reflect professional values, principles, and goals before adoption
• AI tools can propagate biases present in training data, as demonstrated by study showing stereotypical portrayals in AI-generated nurse images
• “AI nurses” for telehealth miss holistic assessment skills: hearing patient say “I’m fine” while recognizing through tone and background sounds they’re not
• Cost and efficiency focus may drive AI adoption without addressing root systemic problems like lack of healthcare investment and structural vulnerabilities

🎯 PRACTICE APPLICATIONS

• Develop AI literacy to understand basics, limitations, and error detection: think of AI as new team member whose training confines safe tasks
• Advocate for consensual negotiation before AI integration into workflows rather than having tools imposed on nursing practice
• Participate actively in AI design and governance at your workplace to shape which applications augment nursing vs replace it
• Question each AI tool: Does it reflect nursing values? Does it depersonalize care? Whose perspective defines “benefit” vs “harm”?

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