Education, empowerment, and elevating nursing voices: Nursing informatics leaders’ perspectives on the path forward with artificial intelligence in nursing

Background: As artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming healthcare, there is a critical need to understand how AI can be thoughtfully integrated into nursing practice to support clinicians, reduce burden, and enhance patient care. Purpose: We aimed to understand nursing informatics leaders’ perspectives on AI's current and future state in nursing. Methods: We conducted a qualitative study with 20 national experts in nursing informatics. The Non-Adoption, Abandonment, Scale-up, Spread, Sustainability (NASSS) framework guided data collection and analysis using directed content analysis. Findings: Participants highlighted the unclear value of AI to nurses and of nurses to technology vendors and AI developers. They identified nursing-specific (burnout, education, and attitudes) and organization-specific (leadership and culture) factors that influence AI's integration in nursing. They highlighted how education, establishing ideal nurse–AI partnerships, and leveraging AI, may alleviate burnout. Discussion: Education, empowerment, and elevating nursing voices (“three e's”) can guide the nursing profession to thrive in the era of AI.