Will AI Replace Nurses?

The senior vice president and chief nurse executive at Duke University Health System weighs in.

People all over the country are holding their breath to see how AI will impact the workforce, and in healthcare it's no different.

AI comes with many promises of care efficiency and cost savings, with the side effect of anxiety about job security and potential displacement. In nursing, the stakes are even higher, with concerns about patient safety and privacy at the forefront.

In 2025 alone, there have been several nursing strikes that have centered concerns about AI, including a National Nurses United march involving 100,000 members who were calling for safe staffing and protections against AI and other untested technologies.

However, from one leader's perspective, AI will be additive in nursing, not a replacement.  

"The hope is that it's going to be a plus one, and I think that we as nursing leaders really need to ensure that we are at the front of all of this," said Terry McDonnell, senior vice president and chief nurse executive at Duke University Health System. "We need to be vetting, developing, engaging with industry partners, engaging with operational partners, and we also have to make sure that we bring our staff along with us and have them as part of the conversation."

The reality of AI in nursing

According to McDonnell, the biggest misconception about AI is that it's going to replace nursing jobs.

"The reality is that AI has been in healthcare for a very long time, but now it's to a point where it's accelerating at a pace that we need to keep up with," McDonnell said, "and I think we're always going to need human interaction and high-level human processing."

One of the primary ways that nurses will use AI is for decision support.

"Gone will be the days of searching long for policies and literature," McDonnell said. "AI actually helps us sift through a lot of information very quickly."

AI also allows nurses to be proactive with things like computer vision and algorithms that help notify nurses if a patient is at risk of falling while getting out of bed. With AI in use, nurses won't have to be physically in the room to know what's going on with their patients.

"Imagine a world where there's cameras in a room. It's part of the normal care setting, and based on algorithms, the nurse will get a notification that a patient might be trying to get out of bed, and they might be at risk for a fall," McDonnell said. "The nurse can then intervene long before the patient's on the floor."

Redefined, not replaced

For CNOs who want to help quell fears among nurses that AI might replace their jobs, McDonnell recommends education and including nurses in the process.

"We're doing a lot of development here at Duke and we're letting our frontline nurses be part of the vetting, the development, and the creation of those solutions," McDonnell said. "It's really about making sure that people understand what we're talking about when we talk about AI solutions and tools, and having them be a part of the conversation and not having it be something that gets imposed upon them."

As AI progresses in the industry, there is plenty of potential for developing nurse-led models of care, McDonnell explained. AI will change care delivery, improve outcomes, and decrease falls and infections.

"It's going to be interesting to see how we adapt these tools," McDonnell said, "and how these tools can then help care providers, nurses, physicians, nurse practitioners, and PAs actually be able to focus more and give more of that human interaction that everybody's been missing as we've been trying to do more with the same amount of resources."

AI also has a bright future in the preventative care space, according to McDonnell, especially when paired with remote patient monitoring and hospital at home technology.

"We know that people do better from infection risk and from recovery when they're in their home setting," McDonnell said. "I think with these tools, we're going to be able to keep people safe in their homes and get them through with remote monitoring."

For CNOs who are feeling intimidated by implementing AI in their health systems, McDonnell recommends avoiding the narrative that AI is going to take away nursing jobs.

"Embrace [AI], be curious, and learn what the capability is," McDonnell said, "and most importantly, ensure that your staff and your patients are part of the discussion."