Exploring an issue important to nurses
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) remains a hot topic. What’s true? What’s not? How will AI impact clinical care and nursing practice? A tsunami of information confronts us every day, but how do you know what advice to follow or use?
To help you understand this important topic, its news and issues, American Nurse Journal is proud to announce a new column: AI at the Bedside. Written by Dr. Roy Simpson, a renowned nurse informaticist with 5 decades of experience at the intersection of nursing and technology, the column will explore topics such as what’s already here, AI and the future of your medication cart, and how do you know when AI makes things up?
Dr. Simpson notes that “the journal has always understood something other publications sometimes miss: Nurses at the bedside aren’t healthcare consumers. They’re its engine. They’re the reason patients go home. They’re the profession’s conscience, muscle, and future.” I couldn’t agree more.
Look for six different columns, beginning in October, on issues important to nurses. These easy-to-read columns will allow bedside nurses to engage with the topic and use the information on their next shift. Each column will be fact checked, ensuring every reference is confirmed to exist in CINAHL or PubMed/Medline.
As you read this new column, if you want to know more, let us know. Do you have a question about AI the journal needs to explore? Let us know. Here are some of the AI topics on my mind:
- AI as a decision support tool. How can AI help nurses identify patients at risk for clinical deterioration? Nurses remain accountable for patient assessments and their clinical decisions, so how do we know if an AI recommendation makes clinical sense for a patient? Current legal standards hold clinicians responsible for decisions, not AI.
- Patient safety. This topic is especially important to me because I teach it. I’m worried about incorrect recommendations (known in the AI world as hallucinations), delayed interventions, acceptance of AI advice without question, and alert fatigue.
- Privacy, data security, and cybersecurity. How is confidentiality maintained when protected health information is entered into public AI platforms?
- Ethics. Shouldn’t patients know when AI is contributing to their care?
Does it feel like AI is impacting healthcare faster than we can keep up? American Nurse Journal wants to help as together we learn, examine issues, and keep our focus on excellence in patient care. AI won’t replace nurses, but it will reshape nursing practice. I look forward to the new AI at the Bedside column, and I hope you do, too!
American Nurse Journal. 2026; 21(9). Doi: 10.51256/ANJ092604
