Embracing AI in healthcare: preparing nurses for the future of clinical practice

Congratulations to Duke University School of Nursing’s Michael Cary, Jr. for being featured in the latest issue of Johnson & Johnson’s Nursing Magazine. His impactful work on the use of hashtag#AI in Healthcare is training nurses to be ready for the future of healthcare practice by empowering nurses to make AI a helpful tool in their work.

Working to advance health equity through AI

Duke’s AI initiative has a dual mission of improving health equity through advancements in AI education and research. The first-of-its-kind initiative hopes to revolutionize how healthcare professionals are taught about AI and how research is conducted. The objective: building AI systems in healthcare that are rooted in fairness and ensuring that each patient population can reap the benefits of AI without bias or exclusion.

Michael Cary, PhD, RN, FAAN, Associate Professor at the Duke University School of Nursing, has built his career at the intersection of health equity, patient care and data science. By integrating clinical expertise with advanced data analytics, his work focuses on analyzing massive data sets to identify high-risk populations and developed targeted approaches to addressing health disparities, personalizing care, and ultimately improving patient outcomes.

One of his first job experiences after graduating was with a major health insurer’s quality improvement program, where he worked with providers to improve patient satisfaction and health outcomes. When his position and entire office were eliminated, he found inspiration in his supervisor, who encouraged him to return to school to pursue a career in nursing.

Now, as the first African American Tenure Associate Professor in the Duke School of Nursing’s 93-year history, he spends his time designing research proposals and conducting studies focused on developing predictive risk models, with a particular emphasis on mitigating bias and promoting fairness in these models. He also serves on the governance committee of Duke AI Health, which works to develop infrastructures and policies for the equitable and ethical deployment of AI within the health system. Cary works with these teams to ensure the algorithms produce less bias in both results and decision-making.

Going forward, Cary is focused on building more workshops for the initiative to equip nurses and other health professionals with knowledge about AI and its implications beyond the bedside, but also in governance, evaluation, and more. These workshops prepare health professionals for AI, such as leveraging algorithms in clinical decision-making, while remaining vigilant to the potential of bias.

What excites Cary the most is giving students the opportunity to gain those competencies through research, education and hands-on training, and empowering healthcare’s decision-makers to ensure that AI helps, not harms patients. As nurses become more comfortable with AI as an ally, not an adversary, the potential for improved access and outcomes is significant. Fostering AI Research for Health Equity and Learning Transformation Hub wants to partner with nurses both locally and around the globe to co-create training programs that improve AI literacy, improve clinical decision making, and ultimately lead to a better patient experience. By actively addressing their concerns and working collaboratively, the initiative helps nurses stay ahead of the curve and confidently embrace AI as tool in service to patients.

Read the story:
https://lnkd.in/eUig5JDE

Learn more about Duke AI Health:
https://aihealth.duke.edu/

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