“ChatGPT-assisted learning has the potential to revolutionize nursing education, providing opportunities for enhancing the learning experience and outcomes for nursing students,” says Michael LeTang, MS, RN-BC, CCRN-K, vice president, chief nursing informatics officer for the risk management department at Healthcare Risk Advisors (HRA), a part of TDC Group, and an adjunct professor at New York University in the graduate nursing informatics program.
Daily Nurse spoke with LeTang about the potential for ChatGPT-assisted learning in nursing education.
Michael LeTang, MS, RN-BC, CCRN-K, vice president, chief nursing informatics officer for the risk management department at Healthcare Risk Advisors (HRA), a part of TDC Group
How will AI-powered tools impact nursing education?
Personalized learning is one of AI’s most significant predicted influences on nursing education. ChatGPT could provide students with customized feedback, resources, and learning experiences, ensuring optimal learning outcomes. Additionally, AI-powered tools like ChatGPT could support nursing students in developing their clinical decision-making skills by providing real-time information, evidence-based recommendations, and assistance with clinical scenarios. This can be especially beneficial in developing critical thinking and decision-making skills, which are crucial for success in nursing practice.
AI technology is also predicted to enhance virtual simulation and immersive learning experiences, providing students with practical experience and developing clinical skills in safe, controlled environments. Although not a direct feature of ChatGPT, AI-driven tools could enable the development of virtual simulations and immersive learning experiences, allowing nursing students to gain practical experience.
However, it is important to note that the role of educators remains vital in guiding students to connect course content with real-life situations and ensuring they can effectively apply their knowledge and skills in the context of patient care. Therefore, a balanced approach integrating ChatGPT-assisted learning with traditional teaching methods can enhance nursing education, prepare students for an ever-changing professional landscape, and ultimately improve patient outcomes.
What are the potential misuses of ChatGPT in nursing education?
While ChatGPT can serve as a valuable supplementary resource in nursing education, potential misuses, such as overreliance on AI-generated information, inadvertent neglect of human interaction, fostering complacency, or misinterpreting knowledge, could hinder nursing students’ learning process and professional development.
Nursing education emphasizes theoretical and practical knowledge, so students must apply AI resources like ChatGPT responsibly and cautiously.
A few potential misuses and their possible consequences:
Overreliance on AI-generated information: Students may excessively depend on ChatGPT to answer questions or provide insights without cross-referencing the information with other reliable sources. This could lead to misconceptions, misinformation, and poor decision-making, potentially harming patient care in the long run.
Inadvertent neglect of human interaction: The convenience and immediacy of ChatGPT may inadvertently lead to students favoring digital interactions over human connections. This could impact their interpersonal skills and empathy, essential in nursing. Maintaining a balance between AI assistance and personal communication with educators, mentors, and peers is crucial.
Fostering complacency: The ease with which students can obtain answers from ChatGPT might foster a sense of complacency, reducing the motivation to delve deeper into complex subjects or develop critical thinking skills. Students should always be encouraged to explore beyond the information provided by AI and strive for comprehensive understanding.
Misinterpreting knowledge: AI-generated information may occasionally be ambiguous or misleading, resulting in students misinterpreting the content. Students should be taught to critically evaluate the information they receive from AI sources and cross-check with authoritative references to ensure accuracy.
Ethical concerns: Using AI tools, such as ChatGPT, in nursing education raises ethical concerns around data privacy and security. Students should be aware of these concerns and adhere to guidelines and best practices when using AI technology.
How can educators maximize ChatGPT in nursing education?
To maximize the benefits of ChatGPT in nursing education, educators must guide students on how to responsibly utilize AI as a supplementary tool while emphasizing the importance of critical thinking. This will ensure that future nurses are well-equipped to provide high-quality patient care while responsibly embracing AI technologies.
Big data and machine learning already impact most aspects of modern life, so there is growing optimism about using artificial intelligence (AI) to transform health provider education.
Cristina Lussiana is a senior program manager of digital health and monitoring at Population Services International (PSI) and an expert in the health applications of AI.
Daily Nurse spoke with Lussiana about using AI to transform nursing education.
What follows is our interview, edited for length and clarity.
Cristina Lussiana is a senior program manager of digital health and monitoring at Population Services International (PSI) and an expert in the health applications of AI.
How has AI integration become more prevalent with technological advancements in the healthcare field?
Recently, progress in digital health has led to larger medical-related datasets, and technological advancements have made it possible for these larger datasets to be processed quickly. At the same time, there has been an increased awareness of AI’s potential to sustain and accelerate positive health outcomes. Think of electronic medical records (EMRs), medical imaging, and genomic data and how AI algorithms might identify patterns and trends faster and more accurately than human analysis. AI algorithms can quickly provide insights to help prevent, diagnose, and treat—leading to better health outcomes!
How can AI be used to improve health on a global scale?
In some countries, public health resources are scarce, and it’s mandatory to target these resources where they are more effective. This is where AI can play a role: helping to identify areas that we can invest in to build stronger and more resilient health systems. For example:
Through personalized medicine based on an individual’s medical history and lifestyle, AI can support health practitioners in developing tailored screening and treatment plans. For example, in Kenya, we partnered with Audere on a research project to assess HealthPulse AI, a suite of AI-powered tools for clinicians, Community Health Workers (CHWs), and health consumers. We studied whether the tools could improve the accuracy of administering and interpreting malaria Rapid Diagnostic Test kits (RDTs) by CHWs and health workers in private clinics. HealthPulse AI uses machine learning and computer vision to improve the accuracy of rapid diagnostic test kit results. It requires only an image of the RDT captured by the user’s smartphone to interpret the results of the RDT and can read even the faint test result lines that expert test readers may miss. This pilot project demonstrated that AI-powered tools in health workers’ hands and CHWs’ hands could improve the accuracy and interpretation of rapid diagnostic tests and positively impact the quality of care consumers receive. Additionally, it holds potential as a mobile tool that can be scaled up for use in low-resource settings with potential benefits as a supportive supervision, diagnostic, and surveillance tool. The project also confirmed that health facilities and CHWs would accept and welcome such a tool.
When accessing health-related information, AI-powered chatbots can provide accurate information and direct consumers to relevant health facilities, even in areas with limited resources. For example, in late 2022, PSI and Babylon launched AI OI, a new digital health service focused on supporting people in low-income communities to make informed decisions about their health and efficiently navigate the healthcare system. Piloted in Vietnam, the new, free 24/7 service gives users more control over their access to healthcare, triages users to the appropriate level of care, and signposts to high-quality providers in their local area. And it saves people time and subsequent loss of income from taking time off work and paying unnecessary out-of-pocket expenses.
By analyzing large datasets and identifying patterns, AI algorithms can support governments and public health implementers in predicting outbreaks, playing an important function in health security.
For research and development, AI has the potential to advance progress in medicine by, for example, identifying potential drug targets and improving the sensitivity and specificity of diagnosis.
Yes, AI can potentially improve health globally – but only once we have determined who leads and how we implement it.
Does ChatGPT provide nursing students with a convenient and accessible way to access information and practice clinical skills?Talk about the potential for ChatGPT-assisted learning in nursing education.
ChatGPT provides students with a wealth of information that can fit their educational needs.
ChatGPT offers students a variety of case scenarios and medical questions for research and practice.
ChatGPT can also facilitate group work – students can work on similar case scenarios and exchange ideas.
Students can stay current on the latest guidelines and best practices in medicine and have access to nursing education materials for free, even from low-resource areas.
But it does not, and should not, replace in-person training. With ChatGPT, students won’t have the in-person experience to treat patients, including emotional intelligence development and hands-on clinical care.
What are the potential misuses of ChatGPT in nursing education?
ChatGPT can be a valuable tool in nursing education; however, there are some misuses that students need to be aware of, namely:
AI-related bias: AI algorithms are based on the type of data they are fed. Despite technology advancements to ensure a great deal of variety in datasets, there are limitations to the accuracy and usefulness of AI technology in contexts and scenarios that represent a case for a bias, resulting in inaccurate or unfair recommendations.
Lack of domain-specific knowledge: In some cases, ChatGPT might not be up to date on emerging diseases and changing patterns in specific health-related topics or specialized medical fields.
Lack of or limited understanding of context: This might quickly change even when trained in a specific context. ChatGPT might not always correctly understand the context where its answers should operate, resulting in inappropriate responses.
Overreliance on technology: Similar to how calculators can limit mental math abilities, there is the risk that ChatGPT users over-rely on the technology and don’t train their clinical memory and critical thinking muscles. These are skills for nurses to make decisions adequate to their patient’s unique needs and contexts.
As AI continues to develop, will it replace educators in the future?
According to Oxford Languages, education can be defined as an enlightening experience. This goes beyond transferring knowledge and skills from one human being (or an AI) to another. AI technology cannot offer the level of human interaction, debate, discussion, and involvement needed to spark a rich learning experience. Also, because of the limitations of AI technology listed above, it is unlikely that the role of educators will be replaced by AI technology. AI has the potential to complement and enhance education. Still, it cannot replace what educators offer regarding human interaction and soft skills like critical thinking, understanding of the context, empathy, communication skills, and creativity.
If acquiring knowledge becomes increasingly accessible, what will be the role of higher education in an AI world?
Assuming that in the next ten years, knowledge will be increasingly accessible through AI technology for free, the role of higher education might evolve to concentrate on skills and competencies that cannot be learned via AI, like emotional intelligence, critical thinking, interdisciplinary learning, contextualization, and prioritization. Furthermore, highly specialized education in medical fields requires education that is not AI-based.
What kind of education and training do we need to provide our nursing students so they become highly qualified geriatric nursing professionals?
The world population is getting older, and we know this trend won’t reverse. Hence, nursing needs highly qualified professionals who confidently and competently manage geriatric patients. This entails offering students a comprehensive package of educational knowledge and skills that prepare them to care for an aging population in different aspects, from the medical to the mental one. Specific education topics include geriatric diseases, management of chronic diseases, mental health, palliative care, emotional intelligence, and ethics. This ensures geriatric nursing professionals have diverse skills that equip them to deal with older adults who might experience chronic or aging diseases, mental health issues, and emotional burdens related to loneliness, isolation, and anxiety due to a fast-changing world where it’s difficult to catch up. Furthermore, we want to ensure we equip geriatric nursing professionals with the tools they need to support older adults in making life/death choices in an ethical way.
Does this mean that training critical thinking, rather than delivering the content of the class materials, becomes more important than ever?
Absolutely, and this is not just about AI! Knowledge and information have been broadly available and accessible since the world wide web. Now, AI technology presents this information in a tailored and targeted way. However, the need to develop critical thinking and emotional intelligence is still there. Problem-solving, debating, collaboration, coordination, prioritization, evidence-based decision-making, making assumptions, and contextualization are soft skills that allow students to apply knowledge and information, regardless of where they have acquired these from (classroom training, AI chats, etc.).
How should we evaluate students’ competency in acquiring knowledge in the classroom? Should we start implementing traditional paper and pencil formats for exams?
Traditional paper and pencil formats are still very effective for evaluating students’ competency. These can be complemented by other assessment methods like practical skills assessments, where students are required to prove their competency on a case scenario (real or simulated), or project-based assessments, where students are required to develop a specific project to demonstrate the knowledge and skills acquired (i.e., a literature review, a group project, etc.).
While we are making concerted efforts to address health disparities and promote equity globally, do you see the advancement of technology further widening the digital divide across populations with various socio-demographic characteristics (e.g., age, socioeconomic status, and geographic locations)?
Digital health and technology, in general, have the potential to improve healthcare even in low-resource settings. However, it is widely accepted and recognized that technological advancements can widen the digital divide across socio-demographic groups because not all groups have equal access to technology. There is the risk that technological advancements benefit only some of us, leaving behind people with specific socio-demographic characteristics.
There are disparities in the data used to train AI algorithms because underserved populations often lack access to digital health, and their data is not represented in these datasets. This can result in health disparities because AI algorithms do not represent diverse populations, leading to inaccurate or discriminatory results, particularly for those living in low-and-middle-income countries.
As we work toward Universal Health Coverage, it is important to design technology in a way that takes equity and inclusion into consideration, and that is freely available and accessible to all population segments, like zero-rate or low-cost internet access, digital training, language-inclusive content, inclusion of technology elements for people with disabilities, and so on.
Anything else to add?
We now collect data while we offer services like diagnostic, triaging, and signposting. That is because of Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR). This standard describes how to collect, store, use, exchange, and distribute workforce-related information and patient and health data, regardless of the application used. By implementing FHIR and consumer-facing data, we can identify patterns in digital health that point to causalities the human brain cannot quickly identify.
Artificial intelligence (AI) offers incredible potential to improve health on a global scale, and ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI, shows great promise as a convenient and accessible way for nursing students to access information and practice their clinical skills using ChatGPT-assisted learning in nursing education.
Cara Lunsford, RN, CPHON, is the vice president of community at Nurse.com, where she fosters a community where nurses can find peer support, allies, professional opportunities, resources, and education. Lunsford has 16 years of experience in acute care, home health, and home infusion settings.
Daily Nurse spoke with Lunsford about using ChatGPT in nursing education, the role of nursing educators in an AI world, and lessening the digital divide to make technological advancements accessible for all.
What follows is our interview, edited for length and clarity.
How has AI integration become more prevalent with technological advancements in the healthcare field?
AI supports simulations to give students and clinicians more practice in safer environments before they begin working with human beings. AI also can bring a broader range of knowledge together more quickly for potential further exploration of the best course of action. Additionally, asChatGPT becomes more accurate and reliable, students can use it on their own time and in a private setting. They’ll likely feel more comfortable asking questions without fear of judgment from instructors or other students.
How can AI be used to improve health on a global scale?
The demand for healthcare will only continue to increase across the globe as the population ages. However, with challenges related to staffing for both nurses and physicians, AI presents opportunities to reduce costs for organizations and limit exposure to contagious diseases, especially in underserved areas of the world.
Patient populations are also becoming more complex, and we will continue to face increasing global health challenges, such as COVID-19. People will continue to travel more than before. Viruses will spread more quickly than we can keep up with. However, we can provide global health equity with immediate access to evidence-based best practices that will eventually be available through AI. As a result, we can save hundreds of thousands of lives.
Does ChatGPT provide students a convenient and accessible way to access information and practice their clinical skills?
As ChatGPT becomes more reliable, it will allow nursing students to build clinical and interpersonal skills in a more controlled setting. Whether simulating patient interactions or explaining a clinical procedure, ChatGPT has the potential to be an excellent resource for basic information that nursing students can use as a starting point and then expand their knowledge.
Talk about the potential for ChatGPT-assisted learning in nursing education.
ChatGPT could create scenarios or personas for students as they think through the best course of action in providing care for an AI-simulated patient or communicating with a simulated family member.Additionally, ChatGPT can help summarize complex topics in courses nurses often find challenging, such as chemistry or pharmacology. Having a non-textbook take can help break learnings down into digestible pieces.
What are the potential misuses of ChatGPT in nursing education?
Using the current iteration of ChatGPT to diagnose or provide care plans would be dangerous. The information provided by AI can be a valuable time saver; however, the results of queries can contain outright errors. While ChatGPT has numerous advantages, you can run into ethical issues in nursing education, such as plagiarism or cheating. ChatGPT can create unique pieces that include scientific data depending on your prompt. However, it removes the essential components of completing your research, compiling your data, and formulating your thoughts. It can be a slippery slope. On another note, when ChatGPT creates each text, it may be missing critical elements like tone, which makes writing more authentic and personal. ChatGPT lacks empathy – something all nursing students need.
What are some of the potential limitations and fallacies in the use of ChatGPT?
As noted, the current iteration of ChatGPT sometimes contains errors in answers to queries. Also, the software cannot currently provide citations for the source of the information in its responses. In nursing education, this has a dangerous potential for students to act on erroneous information. Student nurses will continue to need guidance from educators with years of experience who have well-developed judgment and hands-on knowledge of nursing protocols and pitfalls. ChatGPT cannot also pull recent data. Students seeking information on recent clinical trials or new protocols for patient care might receive responses needing more current data.
As AI continues to develop, will it replace educators in the future?
While AI has advanced rapidly, it’s unlikely it will completely replace human educators in the near future. Educators provide more than just information; they’re mentors, counselors, and more, to their students. Human educators can also empathize with students, bringing creativity and critical thinking to the learning process, which isn’t what AI is known for. Education is a social process, and human interaction, especially in medicine, is essential for effective learning. While AI has its growing list of uses and benefits in the educational realm, it can’t fully replace in-person interaction between educators and their peers, educators and their students, or the human perspective. Right now, AI can serve as a tool to augment the work of educators, providing personalized and adaptive learning experiences and automating routine tasks. This gives educators time to focus on providing their students mentorship, support, and guidance.
Additionally, nursing education is all about hands-on clinical experience. Student nurses stand to absorb more information and build more confidence through hands-on clinical experiences with nurse educators at the helm. While ChatGPT is a helpful piece of technology and can aid in giving students further academic support, it can’t replace the one-on-one guidance they receive from their nurse educators during their most formative years in nursing.
If acquiring knowledge becomes increasingly accessible, what will be the role of higher education in an AI world?
Making knowledge more readily accessible is a good thing. You might ask an AI tool: Give me three options for providing care to this person in this simulated scenario. Compiling knowledge and ideas more quickly can aid life-saving actions. But it can also empower life-threatening actions if misused. Nurses must have supervised early experiences to build their expertise. They need sounding boards and critical feedback as they develop their nursing skills. When a nurse returns to school for an advanced degree, it validates employers and peers that this person has gained access to a certain degree of information that will help them advance in their career. A BSN, MSN, or PhD will still stand as a confirmation that a nurse has not only received the higher education but that they were able to apply it to their practice and demonstrate an understanding of that information. Higher education is vital to developing good nurses we can trust to do the best for their patients.
Does this mean that training critical thinking, rather than delivering the content of the class materials, becomes more important than ever?
Critical thinking and gut instinct have always been vital for nurses, which is necessary for good problem-solving. Student nurses must be aware of anything that rings alarm bells, just as it is for experienced nurses.As general content becomes more available through AI, it will be imperative that nursing educators use their time to help students hone their critical thinking skills and instincts. If something seems off, asking a more knowledgeable nurse, or getting a second opinion, is a good course of action. However, nurses must think quickly and act based on their knowledge and experience. Using AI for information gathering and suggesting solutions can be a time saver, but relying on AI for clinical decision-making could have tragic outcomes.
How should we evaluate students’ competency in acquiring knowledge in the classroom? For example, should we start implementing traditional paper and pencil formats for exams?
At every level, we have to trust nurses to make ethical decisions. For student nurses, knowing how to find reliable sources and remember evidence-based practices is crucial to their future careers and the safety of their patients. So, digital exams are still valuable. Requiring students to cite their answers’ sources can ensure they know how to find the information they need to succeed in nursing.
The best kind of competency evaluation for nurses still resides in clinical practice and access to simulations. Instead of going back to paper and pencil, we should look at ways of harnessing technology so we can place student nurses in virtually realistic situations so they can make real patient care decisions.
While we are making concerted efforts to address health disparities and promote equity globally, do you see the advancement of technology further widening the digital divide across populations with various socio-demographic characteristics (e.g., age, socioeconomic status, and geographic locations)?
Like every tool and skill, that depends on how we put the technology into practice. Technology can help spread the word about differences in populations and individuals more quickly. For instance, it can help us recognize disease trends in certain populations. It can help more people around the world be aware of cultural resistance or preferences for communicating, being approached by caregivers, and receiving care. In the past, some research findings used male populations and extrapolated those results to females. With technology, we can share broader and specific knowledge more quickly and widely. That, in turn, allows critical and sometimes opposing views to be shared more quickly, adding to critical thinking and sparking further research. While there will always be those that embrace or resist new technology, it also raises the question, is it accessible? Creators of technology, like ChatGPT, place themselves in unique positions to deliver information and services more quickly. However, it’s essential to recognize what must be done to make technological advancements accessible for all. For example, internet access is still not as widely available in certain geographic areas, creating limitations for populations living there. As a result, healthcare resources such as telehealth services become more limited and inaccessible for those populations. I believe steps have been taken to make healthcare resources and services through technology more equitable to these populations, but more work needs to be done to lessen this divide.
Artificial intelligence (AI) holds significant potential in nursing education to create more sophisticated and complex simulations that help nursing students develop critical thinking skills and prepare them for real-world patient care situations. However, as with any new technology, it also presents concerns and controversies about its use in nursing education.
Dr. Hunter Cherwek is the vice president of clinical services and technologies at Orbis International, with a specific interest in how training and technologies can be used to eliminate avoidable blindness in low-resource communities around the world. In his role, Dr. Cherwek supports Orbis’ clinical training efforts and patient care programs.
Daily Nurse spoke with Dr. Cherwek about Orbis’ use of AI in their Cybersight program and AI’s role in nursing education.
What follows is our interview, edited for length and clarity.
Dr. Hunter Cherwek is the vice president of clinical services and technologies, Orbis International. Photo by Geoff Oliver Bugbee
How can AI be used to improve health on a global scale?
More people in the world have access to the internet than clean water. For example, 98% of adults in Kenya have a cell phone. There are more ways of reaching patients and offering them services than ever. AI has huge potential to diagnose and treat patients in areas where that was previously impossible.
Regarding global eye care and avoidable vision loss, AI can bridge the physical distance required for diagnosing eye diseases. Orbis has shown in places like Rwanda, Vietnam, and Bangladesh, where eye care clinics are few and far between, that AI can detect signs of serious eye conditions like glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and macular disease within seconds. This means patients can get treatment immediately or be referred to a specialist at the same appointment without undertaking more costly and sometimes arduous travel or taking time away from home and work obligations.
In eye health, we also see AI acting as an awareness and education tool. AI can better educate patients and health care providers, especially technicians in rural clinics.
AI is a tool in the doctor’s tool belt. It is not a replacement for the doctor. It is a way, say, for a healthcare worker in a rural clinic, often the only eye health provider for hundreds of miles, to diagnose and treat more efficiently the patients who need their help the most.
Does AI provide students with a convenient and accessible way to access information and practice clinical skills?
Yes, AI-assisted searches, AI-assisted education, and AI-assisted diagnosis are all valuable tools for a student. At Orbis, we have trademarked the term “machine mentoring.” Instead of just learning from a machine, we use machines and AI to mentor doctors, nurses, technicians, and patients. We see huge potential – when AI is properly supervised and studied – to help educate at all levels of eye care, from the patient to the surgeon.
Talk about how Orbis uses AI in its award-winning Cybersight program to expedite teaching, common diagnosis, and in-person training via its Flying Eye Hospital program.
Orbis’s robust telemedicine program, Cybersight, has been important in educating eye care professionals for over 20 years. It started at the dawn of the internet. The platform’s AI tool is only one of its features. Cybersight also connects healthcare workers in their home country with recognized experts from around the world to consult about specific patient cases, participate in live lectures, watch live surgeries, and take virtual courses in eye health. This method has proven to be successful not only in improving patient care but also in mentoring the next generation of eye care professionals.
Now, when a doctor logs on to Cybersight and requests a consult with a world-class expert, they can enable AI to help detect certain diseases by simply submitting a picture of a patient’s retina. The AI can give an immediate result when the patient’s data is submitted, and the image is uploaded. The doctor on the ground at their clinic can take action to treat the patient sitting in front of them before they even speak to the expert. The AI acts as a mentor because it shows the doctor how to recognize the patterns that are attributed to the disease it found. For example, the AI will highlight where the signs of glaucoma are located in the picture and how advanced the case is. Over time, the doctor will learn how to diagnose the condition on their own.
We use Cybersight before and during our Flying Eye Hospital programs. Orbis’s Flying Eye Hospital is the world’s only fully accredited ophthalmic teaching hospital on board an MD-10 aircraft. The Flying Eye Hospital is a state-of-the-art teaching facility with an operating room, classroom, and recovery room. On board, the Flying Eye Hospital, Orbis’s Volunteer Faculty, and clinical staff share their knowledge and expertise with local eye care teams. We use Cybersight to prescreen patients, often using AI, even before the plane has landed in a new country to begin a surgical training program. During the program, we use AI teaching, and we conduct workshops on AI.
What are the potential misuses of AI in nursing education?
AI, as an educational tool, can make a student’s learning faster, but it may not make it deeper unless it is used correctly. Like any tool, it can be used for good or bad. I worry that people will use AI to bypass knowledge that usually becomes hardwired through the learning process. So much of what we are trying to learn in medicine is judgment, critical thinking, and assessment workflows. If AI gives you the answer and you haven’t learned the why behind that answer, you could be doing yourself a disservice. AI can’t teach you how to think like a nurse. AI can’t teach you the human side of nursing. It can’t teach you how to get to a differential diagnosis, create a knowledgeable treatment plan, and build soft skills like communicating with patients and showing compassion.
Also, healthcare professionals would become dependent on AI without developing full competency. On the other hand, AI could be the best thing for a motivated self-starter student. With AI, they have more access to books and more synthesis of information and data. But someone uninterested in self-learning or self-development could quickly become dangerous.
What are some of the potential limitations and fallacies in the use of AI?
Technology is very good at amplifying the behaviors and systems that are already available. Simply throwing technology at a problem cannot solve the problem alone. It is going to enhance what is already there. AI can enhance a good system that is already in place or make a bad one worse.
We don’t know all of AI’s limitations or benefits yet. It’s a field in its infancy, and we are just starting. Orbis is leading the charge in developing AI in global eye health to find the potential benefits of this fascinating new technology.
Anything that can make the human experience better and improve human suffering is a technology I want to explore. I want to validate, test, research, and ensure it gets to the right people for the right purposes.
As AI continues to develop, will it replace educators in the future?
AI can make educators more powerful and more impactful. But there is an element of humanity in medicine and teaching that a machine can never duplicate. AI cannot teach the nuances of interviewing patients and how to show human kindness and compassion. A huge part of the medical field is not about science. Medicine is a very human experience. It is about listening to someone cry when they lose their loved one. It is the art of telling someone about a bad diagnosis while providing hope and a path forward. We can’t outsource humanity to a machine. There is no algorithm for compassion.
Does this mean that training critical thinking, rather than delivering the content of the class materials, becomes more important than ever?
A single lesson can give a student data, information, and knowledge. But the wisdom to use this data, information, and knowledge is where it counts. The hardest thing a surgeon needs to learn is judgment, not how to operate. My favorite professor in ophthalmology said the best surgery he ever did was the one he never started. The ability to evaluate risk and reward cannot be replaced. Technology will help us if we don’t lose sight of our humanity and use it to multiply the information at our disposal.
How should we evaluate students’ competency in acquiring knowledge in the classroom? For example, should we start implementing traditional paper and pencil formats for exams?
Traditional testing methods to measure knowledge remain critical. But also, it will become more important to evaluate students with oral exams and in role-playing scenarios with actors playing patients. These tests can assess students’ judgment and how much they have internalized the material.
While we are making concerted efforts to address health disparities and promote equity globally, do you see the advancement of technology further widening the digital divide across populations with various socio-demographic characteristics (e.g., age, socioeconomic status, and geographic locations)?
I worry about two divides: the digital divide and the data divide.
We are familiar with the digital divide, where modern technologies are inaccessible in low-resource regions. The data divide is less visible but equally as important. When data from specific populations or regions are not included in a data set that helps determine an algorithm, that algorithm becomes biased and less reliable. At Orbis, we are leading the way to closing both divides. Our goal is to leverage technology and training to connect doctors and eye health professionals with mentors and education, connect patients to the best care, and create a thriving community where eye care is prioritized and eye diseases are understood. It is the job of nonprofits, like Orbis, to globalize access to technology and education, which is exactly what Cybersight does. Cybersight is giving eye health professionals access to world-class training at no cost, no matter where they live.
Anything else to add?
There are thousands of nurses using Cybersight. I encourage your readers to log on and take a look around!
Artificial intelligence (AI) integration in healthcare has become more prevalent through the advancements of ChatGPT, an OpenAI-developed AI language model based on deep learning that produces human-like text.
ChatGPT has many questioning its role in healthcare, specifically its use in nursing education.
So Daily Nurse spoke with Bei Wu, PhD, FGSA, FAAN (Honorary), Vice Dean for Research, Dean’s Professor in Global Health, New York University, Rory Meyers College of Nursing, and Xiang Qi, BSN, RN, PhD candidate at New York University, Rory Meyers College of Nursing about ChatGPT’s potential use in geriatric nursing education.
Bei Wu, PhD, FGSA, FAAN (Honorary), Vice Dean for Research, Dean’s Professor in Global Health, New York University, Rory Meyers College of Nursing, and Xiang Qi, BSN, RN, PhD candidate at New York University, Rory Meyers College of Nursing
What follows is our interview, edited for length and clarity.
How has AI integration become more prevalent with technological advancements in the healthcare field?
Xiang Qi: AI has become increasingly prevalent in the healthcare field due to several factors, including advancements in machine learning algorithms, increased computational power, and the availability of large datasets for training. These improvements have led to applications such as early disease detection, personalized medicine, patient monitoring, telehealth, and streamlining administrative tasks. For example, in geriatric nursing care, AI is used for monitoring patients with dementia, detecting falls, facilitating communication, and managing medications, enhancing the overall quality and efficiency of care for older adults.
Does ChatGPT provide students a convenient and accessible way to access information and practice their clinical skills?
Bei Wu: ChatGPT provides students a convenient and accessible way to access information and practice their clinical skills. As an AI language model, ChatGPT can offer instant feedback, answer questions, and engage in interactive conversations, making it a valuable resource for learning. However, it is important to note that ChatGPT should be used as a supplementary tool alongside traditional educational methods and guidance from qualified educators to ensure a comprehensive understanding of clinical skills and concepts.
Talk about the potential for ChatGPT-assisted learning in geriatric nursing education.
Xiang Qi: ChatGPT-assisted learning has significant potential in geriatric nursing education. Key benefits include accessibility, personalized learning, scenario-based learning, and continuous updates. For example, ChatGPT allows students to access information and resources 24/7, accommodating diverse schedules and learning needs.
ChatGPT can simulate patient interactions, enabling students to practice communication, decision-making, and critical thinking skills in realistic geriatric care situations. In addition, AI can tailor the learning experience based on individual students’ needs, strengths, and weaknesses, ensuring effective learning outcomes. Furthermore, ChatGPT can integrate the latest research and best practices in geriatric care, keeping students current with evolving knowledge. However, it’s crucial to combine ChatGPT-assisted learning with guidance from experienced instructors and hands-on training to ensure the development of well-rounded geriatric nursing professionals.
What are the potential misuses of ChatGPT in geriatric nursing education?
Xiang Qi: Potential misuses of ChatGPT in geriatric nursing education include students’ overreliance, misinformation, limitations in empathy, and inadequate preparation. For instance, students may become overly dependent on ChatGPT, neglecting the need for hands-on experience, critical thinking, and guidance from a qualified educator. For the problem of misinformation, while ChatGPT is a powerful tool, it may occasionally provide inaccurate or outdated information, which could negatively impact students’ learning. As an AI, ChatGPT lacks genuine empathy, essential in geriatric nursing. Overemphasis on AI-based learning may hinder students’ interpersonal skills and compassion development. Furthermore, ChatGPT is now not well prepared for geriatric nursing education. It cannot replicate all aspects of real-world geriatric care, so students might not be fully prepared for the complexity and challenges of actual clinical situations.
What are some of the potential limitations and fallacies in the use of ChatGPT?
Xiang Qi: Some potential limitations and fallacies in using ChatGPT include inaccurate information, ambiguity and context, verbose and overconfident answers, and dependence on user inputs. As noted in our article, ChatGPT may occasionally provide incorrect or outdated responses, as its knowledge is based on the data it was trained on and is limited to a specific cutoff date. We asked ChatGPT to provide literature on a particular topic, but all its outputs need to be more accurate, and all literature it provided is non-existent. ChatGPT may sometimes generate verbose responses or provide overly confident answers even when uncertain, which could mislead users. It should be mentioned that ChatGPT’s responses are guided by user input, which means that its effectiveness is partly dependent on the clarity and quality of the questions asked. ChatGPT may struggle with understanding ambiguous questions or context, potentially leading to irrelevant or unclear responses.
As AI continues to develop, will it replace educators in the future?
Bei Wu: While AI will likely play an increasingly significant role in education, it is unlikely to replace educators completely. Instead, AI will serve as a tool to complement and support our work. Faculty possess unique qualities, such as empathy, creativity, and adaptability, which are difficult for AI to replicate. The human element remains essential for fostering relationships, understanding individual needs, and providing tailored guidance. AI can, however, streamline administrative tasks, personalize learning experiences, and offer additional resources, allowing educators to focus on higher-level teaching and mentoring responsibilities.
If acquiring knowledge becomes increasingly accessible, what will the role of higher education become in an AI world?
Bei Wu: We may finally enter into an AI world. In an AI-driven world, higher education’s role will likely evolve to focus on skills development, interdisciplinary learning, ethical and social responsibility, and innovation. Higher education will emphasize the development of critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, and emotional intelligence, which are difficult for AI to replicate and remain essential for professional success.
Higher education will encourage students to engage in interdisciplinary studies, fostering the ability to integrate knowledge from various fields and driving innovation and adaptability in a rapidly changing world. Furthermore, higher education will play a critical role in teaching students about ethical considerations, social responsibility, and the impact of AI on society, ensuring responsible AI development and application. By embracing these roles, higher education will maintain its relevance and importance in an AI-driven world, preparing students for a future that increasingly depends on human skills, adaptability, and ethical awareness.
What kind of education and training do we need to provide our students so they become highly qualified geriatric nursing professionals?
Bei Wu: Education should focus on theoretical knowledge, clinical skills, interprofessional collaboration, empathetic communication, ethical considerations, cultural competence, evidence-based practice, technological proficiency, and leadership development to train highly qualified geriatric nursing professionals.
I emphasize cultural competence and leadership development as we now see a more diverse world than ever. Educators must equip students with the knowledge and skills to provide culturally sensitive care and respect students from diverse backgrounds with different cultural beliefs and values towards older adults. We also need to foster leadership skills and encourage students to advocate for the needs of older adults, both within the healthcare system and in the broader society. By combining these elements, educational programs can prepare students to become competent, compassionate, and well-rounded geriatric nursing professionals.
Does this mean that training critical thinking, rather than delivering the content of the class materials, becomes more important than ever?
Bei Wu: Yes, training critical thinking becomes increasingly important as it enables students to effectively analyze, interpret, and apply the content of class materials. This skill empowers them to adapt to new information, solve complex problems, and make informed decisions in their professional practice, which is essential in the dynamic field of geriatric nursing.
How should we evaluate students’ competency in acquiring knowledge in the classroom? For example, should we start implementing traditional paper and pencil formats for exams?
Bei Wu: Evaluating students’ competency in acquiring knowledge should involve various assessment methods to capture the breadth and depth of their understanding. While traditional paper-and-pencil exams can help assess theoretical knowledge, it is also essential to consider alternative methods, such as practical exams, which assess students’ clinical skills and abilities through simulations or hands-on clinical experiences; group projects to evaluate teamwork, collaboration, and problem-solving skills in real-life scenarios or case studies; presentations that allow students to demonstrate their understanding and communication skills by presenting on specific topics; and portfolios to track students’ progress and achievements over time with a collection of their work, including research papers, clinical evaluations, and other relevant documents. Educators can better evaluate students’ competency across various aspects of their geriatric nursing education by implementing a mix of assessment methods.
While we are making concerted efforts to address health disparities and promote equity globally, do you see the advancement of technology further widening the digital divide across populations with various socio-demographic characteristics (e.g., age, socioeconomic status, and geographic locations)?
Bei Wu: Advancements in AI technology do have the potential to widen the digital divide across populations with different socio-demographic characteristics. Some of the challenges include affordability, infrastructure, and digital literacy. For example, lower-income populations may need help to afford devices, internet connections, or services required to access digital health resources. Rural or underdeveloped areas may need more infrastructure for reliable internet connectivity or access to advanced healthcare technologies. Older adults or those with limited education may need help understanding and utilizing digital technologies effectively.
However, government, healthcare providers, technology companies, and researchers should make concerted efforts to minimize these disparities and promote digital equity. For example, investing in infrastructure to improve internet connectivity and access to digital resources in underserved areas, providing financial assistance or subsidized devices and services for low-income populations, and implementing digital literacy programs to enhance digital skills and understanding across all age groups and backgrounds. By addressing these challenges, the advancement of technology can be harnessed to promote health equity and reduce disparities across diverse populations.
Anything else to add?
Bei Wu: ChatGPT can transform practice and research in geriatric nursing and allied health. Its capabilities in generating natural language text, synthesizing vast data, and responding to specific inquiries render it a valuable asset for healthcare professionals. As geriatric nursing progresses, staying current with cutting-edge tools and methodologies, including AI, becomes crucial for healthcare practitioners.
