Nurses embrace new technology, if it’s designed with them in mind | ViVE 2025

Nashville – The discussion on nurses embracing new technology had only just begun when a key question was answered.

Nursing leaders talk about the importance of considering nurses in deploying new technology, including AI, during a session at the ViVE digital health conference.

In a session that asked if nurses are fearful of technology, Dr. Lori Wightman, senior director of professional practice at the American Organization for Nursing Leadership, wasted no time with an answer in her introductory remarks, saying, “No, absolutely not.”

“We all agreed when we met that nurses are not afraid of technology,” Wightman said. “However, there are historical practices and concerns within healthcare work environments that increase resistance.”

A panel of nursing leaders discussed nurses and new tech at the ViVE digital health conference Sunday. They said nurses are adept and eager to incorporate new technology into their workplace, and yes, that includes artificial intelligence.

But they also said that organizations run into problems when new AI tools or technologies are implemented without the input of nurses.

Hospitals and providers that don’t get nurses involved in the development or deployment of new tools can encounter issues, including failing to understand the workflow when the technology is used on a day-to-day basis.

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Jing Wang, dean and professor of the Florida State University College of Nursing, said that organizations need to realize that nurses will embrace newer technology, but they don’t want it to lead to less time with the patients.

“There are a lot of nurses who are very pro-AI,” Wang said.

Health systems should be asking nurses to weigh in on AI tools, including questions such as, “Does it truly work? Does it truly save nurses time?”

Wang said some nurses are worried about using new digital tools that end up providing a host of additional steps that make it harder for them to care for patients.

“Nurses are trained to deliver holistic care, and that's why, in this new era of AI and all the emerging technologies that we are going to augment and enhance this care, we need to go back to where exactly the care that we can deliver, providing that high human touch and human care,” Wang said.

Lisa Gulker, vice president of product and strategy at Oracle, said that implementing any new tools without feedback from nurses is a mistake.

“We want to make sure that nurses, or any clinician who is being asked to implement technology as a tool in their practice, they're the ones who need to decide or define what is good,” she said.

Lavonia Thomas, nursing informatics officer at MD Anderson Cancer Center, said the nurse should always be centered around the patient.

Healthcare providers also need to understand that nurses may not understand a potential solution for a problem, because nurses have already created their own solution to overcome the issue.

“They don't see it yet because they've created such brilliant workarounds. Nurses are brilliant at workarounds,” she said.

Nurses also may have an inherent apprehension of a new tool because of their focus on patient safety. In their eyes, Thomas said, “You have to convince me that what you're giving me is going to allow me to safely take care of my patient, and that is at the forefront.”

Thomas also said that health systems should take a different approach than asking nurses to weigh in on a tech solution to solve a problem.

“I think sometimes we have to back up and we have to let the nurses tell us what the burden is," Thomas said.

For nurses that may seem to be reluctant to embrace new technology or tools, Wang said healthcare leaders should talk with them to see why they’re worried.

“All of the fears, anxiety and trauma that live in nurses who may seem to be anti-technology today, I encourage you to work with them, to understand their fears, to understand their anxiety,” Wang said.

Nurses will need more knowledge of AI in the future, and in their training, Wang said. At Florida State University, Wang is leading the first master’s nursing program on AI in healthcare.

“We should better prepare our nurses for understanding the foundational knowledge about AI and emerging technologies,” Wang said.

As health systems incorporate more AI solutions into their clinical workflows, they need to tap the experience of nurses into how those solutions are used. And Thomas said they need to consider circumstances where an experienced nurses will opt to disregard an AI-generated suggestion.

“We have to have nursing policies that support nurses when they step outside of that recommended algorithm,” Thomas said.