Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming health care. From predictive analytics to real-time patient monitoring, AI offers tools that can enhance clinical decision-making, streamline workflows, and improve patient outcomes. However, for acute and critical care nurses, understanding the benefits and limitations of AI is crucial. The guest editorial in this issue of Critical Care Nurse (CCN) explores what acute and critical care nurses need to know about AI—how it can support their practice, ethical and legal considerations, and the ways AI is shaping the future of patient care.1 

Critical care nurses were surrounded by technology and AI for years before AI terminology became commonplace. The integration of patient monitoring systems with electronic health records has led to clinical decision support systems designed to mitigate risk and improve patient outcomes. By performing real-time data analysis, these systems can trigger safety alerts such as early identification of sepsis and potential medication errors. In addition to alerting the health care team to worsening conditions or potential risk for harm, many systems include evidence-based algorithms that suggest appropriate interventions. Artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used to assist with diagnosis, predict outcomes, allocate resources, stratify risk, and more.2 

Artificial intelligence is also used by consumers of health care for early identification of medical issues. I recently received a message from a friend who said they were having episodes of atrial fibrillation. This message seemed strange to me because my friend has no health care–related background. They said that their Apple watch told them that it was atrial fibrillation, which was later confirmed by an electrocardiogram in the emergency department. Our colleagues who work in the emergency department can probably tell us that alerts from portable wearable devices using AI technology are common.3  Portable wearable devices have a high sensitivity for diagnosing atrial fibrillation, although false-positive reports continue to be an issue.4 

Artificial intelligence is known to help people save time in different ways. One researcher estimated that various AI tools save them about 12 hours of work every week.5  The learning curve to figure out how to use AI technology may seem a bit daunting, but who does not dream about saving time and being more efficient? Many medical practices have started to embrace the use of AI scribes to reduce their documentation burden,6  but what about nurses? In an editorial, Yadav7  describes numerous software applications that are integrated with AI to help transform nursing documentation. As exciting as it sounds, there are many concerns that need to be addressed, including legal and ethical issues, patient privacy, and potentially biased AI algorithms.7 

Ethical issues related to AI are also a concern for publications and peer review. In 2023, the editors in chief for the 3 journals published by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) established AI guidelines for authors and peer reviewers. For CCN, these AI guidelines are available in the author guidelines and peer review guidelines on the CCN website. At the time we developed these guidelines, we were not sure how AI might be used by future authors and peer reviewers. We ask authors to disclose the use of AI in the development of submitted manuscripts. Several authors have reported using AI to improve their writing. In other words, they used AI for copyediting purposes, which is something that I also encourage my graduate students to do. However, authors are responsible to develop and write their own content. Any content generated by AI must be fact checked and cited from professional sources. The AI publication guidelines listed on the CCN website align with those developed by the Commission on Publication Ethics8  and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.9  Also, to comply with CCN’s confidentiality agreement, peer reviewers are instructed to avoid using AI when performing peer review of a journal manuscript. The AI guidelines for peer reviewers on the CCN website align with those developed by the Journal of the American Medical Association10  and the National Institutes of Health.11 

The guest editorial in this issue provides a balanced look at factors that should be considered when planning for the adoption of AI in clinical practice. The practice of acute and critical care nursing can be supplemented but not replaced by AI.

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Fiore
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Authorship and AI tools
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Defining the role of authors and contributors
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Footnotes

To purchase electronic and print reprints, contact the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 27071 Aliso Creek Rd, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656. Phone, (800) 809-2273 or (949) 362-2050 (ext 532); fax, (949) 362-2049; email, [email protected].

 

The statements and opinions contained in this editorial are solely those of the Editor in Chief.