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Why nurses are key to building patient health literacy about AI
Nurses could effectively help build patient health literacy about AI, but they themselves must be empowered with information about the technology.
The insurgence of AI in healthcare has been heralded as a profound step forward for the medical industry, but it may also be cause for concern, as industry experts worry that low health literacy levels could keep some patients in the dark and imperil ethical AI use.
According to Jing Wang, Ph.D., Dean of Florida State University's College of Nursing, nurses will be instrumental in preventing that from happening.
"These new digital health tools -- telehealth, chatbots, AI, ambient documentation -- are used every day in the healthcare setting," Wang said in a recent interview. "You may have a physician asking you for your permission, 'can I use ambient scribing to record our conversation?'"
While most experts agree providing that level of transparency for patients whenever AI is being used is a good thing, it can also be confusing. After all, the typical consumer doesn't know how AI works.
"What does AI mean for patient privacy, and how do we expect patients to understand?" Wang queried. "That is the health literacy piece. Healthcare is evolving with all these new tools that patients need to understand, but that health literacy part gets a little more complicated."
Getting patients to a full understanding of AI is a tall order, but Wang is betting big on nurses spearheading patient education.
Patient education starts with nurse education in AI
AI holds a lot of promise in transforming the patient experience.
The technology has proven useful in improving clinical processes and outcomes. Meanwhile, tools like ambient scribing have made it easier for providers to reconnect with their patients, while AI in patient portal message drafting helps speed up the time it takes for patients to hear back from their doctors.
But still, there's an understanding disconnect.
In 2024, a Dynata/athenahealth poll found that patients were open to AI in healthcare, but they weren't sure of the top use cases or how the technology would support their care.
"Patients need help interpreting -- and sometimes trusting -- this information from these applications, these portals and all of these algorithms," Wang explained.
In order to unlock the potential of healthcare's digital transformation, patients are going to need someone to explain these tools, how they work and why patients should trust them, and nurses are primed to do the job.
"Nurses are often in charge of turning complex medical information into clear, compassionate language and guiding our patients [on] what they need to be doing day to day," Wang noted.
For example, nurses are usually the ones explaining a consent form or a medical document to patients. During hospital discharge, nurses give post-discharge care instructions to patients and their caregivers. In fact, one 2023 assessment in JAMA Internal Medicine showed that nurses spend around 22 minutes with patients during hospital discharge, compared to the 3 minutes attending physicians and 4 minutes interns spend with patients.
But to empower nurses to guide patients through the digital transformation, they're going to need support and their own education, according to Wang.
"Even as healthcare professionals, we are trying to train our nurses and other healthcare professionals on how to even communicate this information back to the patient," she explained.
At FSU's College of Nursing, AI education, in particular, has taken center stage. Wang said the College is invested in helping its nursing students understand the role AI will play in both their clinical practice and the patient experience, particularly because FSU doesn't want nurses to be pulled away from their patients once they've entered the workforce.
AI and other digital tools are constantly evolving, Wang acknowledged, but getting a good foundation of AI education during nursing school will help nurses adapt once they are in the workforce.
"The AI tool that's embedded may change, but it doesn't mean that we cannot train our students so they know how to better leverage those tools," she insisted.
That's actually what happened when EHRs saw widespread adoption, Wang added. To learn how to use these tools, clinicians were pulled away from patient care to get training with the systems. Although adequate EHR training increases user satisfaction, Wang noted that giving nurses a strong background in digital health during school will make continuing education in health IT more workable in the future.
Empowering nurses with AI knowledge
According to Wang, the biggest mistake a nurse can make in this AI-powered healthcare landscape is to go all in -- or all out.
"Instead, I want nurses to be empowered by knowing more about AI," she said.
FSU's nursing curriculum requires students to assess AI the way they'd read a nutrition label. What type of AI is this? How was it developed and with what data? What is the use case? What guardrails are in place to ensure it is appropriately and ethically utilized?
Again, AI is constantly evolving. Therefore, the criteria upon which nurses assess it will also constantly evolve.
But by building a toolkit early on, nurses will be empowered to continuously learn more about the technology so they can make informed decisions about how they will use it -- or how their patients will use it.
After all, nurses are among the most trusted professions rated by the American public, Wang noted, citing data from Gallup. If nurses can help patients understand AI and how it is affecting their medical care -- plus how patients themselves can use AI to support their own self-management -- they will help individuals connect more deeply with the tools that are shaping the medical landscape.
Sara Heath has reported news related to patient engagement and health equity since 2015.
