Navigating the Future: Nursing Leadership in AI-Powered Health Care (Spotlight Poster)

According to Yang et al. (2021) “the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is building momentum in health care. It presents an opportunity for primary care to ride the wave of technology development and plow an innovative pathway of modernization to improve population health.” This poster presents a transformative approach to leadership, focusing on the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in primary care. Nurse leaders are crucial in leveraging technology to enhance patient care and streamline healthcare processes. This initiative explores the strategic use of AI to improve population health outcomes and optimize the role of registered nurse care managers.
Chronic health conditions pose a challenge in health care, often leading to substantial morbidity and mortality. Patient outreach, laboratory testing, and routine monitoring often hinder effective management of these conditions, causing open care gaps. Leadership has acknowledged the growing prevalence of texting capabilities to reach a larger patient population. Utilizing these capabilities, we implemented AI technology to support the closure of care gaps, facilitating adherence to testing and monitoring, to promote improved health maintenance.
Digital technology is an essential tool necessary for primary care to carry out its basic functions. This AI platform is designed to analyze discrete and indiscrete data within the electronic health record to ascertain whether patients have completed the necessary elements to close care gaps. In instances where a care gap persists, the system initiates electronic outreach to patients via mobile device. The technology provides patients with the convenience to schedule appointments or request services. Based on the patient’s response, they may be offered a nurse visit appointment, laboratory testing, or referral. The initiative showcases success measures, including a 98% patient satisfaction rate, care gap closure, and streamlined care management processes. The phased approach to implementation across 22 primary care clinics and collaboration with interdisciplinary teams underscore the effectiveness of integration. This technology has outreached to more than 28,000 patients, with 27% of those patients engaging via smartphone. Over 3,200 appointments have been scheduled, making this a successful implementation.
In summary, nursing leadership was instrumental in the transformative approach to integrate AI in the primary care setting. Nurse leaders have the unique ability to engage and understand nursing scope, patient care and patient experience and leverage improved patient health outcomes to optimize the role of the registered nurse care manager in the outpatient setting. Looking ahead, the potential for AI in health care is vast. Continuous advancements in AI promise even greater improvements in patient care and management, paving the way for a more efficient and effective healthcare system.