NursingAI

Redefining Nursing Skills for AI and robotization in health care

In rapidly changing health care systems, digitalization, e-health and robotisation are gaining influence. Due to the existing global nurse shortage in Europe, a demand for healthcare and therewith nurses will continue to grow, whilst the supply of available nurses is projected to drop. Therefore, it is expected that the shortages will accelerate in the coming decade and will be more serious than the cyclical shortages of the past. This nursing shortage will ultimately constrain health system reform and innovation, and contribute to escalating costs. ICT, AI and robotization are one way to support health care professionals, enhance interprofessional cooperation and patients` safety. This introduction of ICT, robotisation and other technologies in nursing care will create a disruptive change in the provision of health and nursing care. Furthermore, research shows, that the usage of ICT is still limited within the health care professions and thus in nursing. For that external and internal factors have been identified, e.g. infrastructure not being suitable or the lack of interoperability of different computer and ICT systems, the limited awareness and understanding of ICT concepts. Health care professionals who use ICT complain about the lack of skills and tailored trainings for their needs. Usually nurses have to learn ICT related skills on the job within their working duties. As ICT is rapidly changing and developing towards robotization and AI, the resistance and skepticism towards technology among nursing professionals are expected to grow.

The NursingAI project will analyze and forecast the types of skills and competencies needed by health care professionals, especially nurses. By gaining insight of needed competencies and skill, curriculums for trainings and education programs can be enhanced to the actual needs concerning ICT competencies.

NursingAI will work towards an assessment and training tool for skills related to AI, robotisation, digitalization and e-health in nursing sectors of Germany, Hungary and the Netherlands. The tool prototype will be tested and evaluated in these countries in order to make them available for local and European VET curriculums and further education programs. These efforts are critical, since 1), nurses should be able to understand and work with novel AI and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in order to improve the general quality of care; 2) the current offer of assessment and training methods on AI, robotisation, digitalization and e-health skills in nursing in Europe is very limited, and 3) in order to have a significant amount of AI and robotization skilled nurses in place in 5-10 years time in Europe, investments and changes in the VET curricula need to be initiated now.

With the transnationally project, needed competencies in future workplaces will be multiplied and progress made in VET and health care.