The role of artificial intelligence in enhancing clinical nursing care: A scoping review

AIM: To present an overview of how artificial intelligence has been used to improve clinical nursing care. BACKGROUND: Artificial intelligence has been reshaping the healthcare industry but little is known about its applicability in enhancing nursing care. EVALUATION: A scoping review was conducted. Seven electronic databases (CINAHL, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, IEEE Xplore, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science) were searched from 1 January 2010 till 20 December 2020. Grey literature and reference lists of included articles were also searched. KEY ISSUES: Thirty-seven studies encapsulating the use of artificial intelligence in improving clinical nursing care were included in this review. Six use cases were identified - documentation, formulating nursing diagnoses, formulating nursing care plans, patient monitoring, patient care prediction such as falls prediction (most common) and wound management. Various techniques of machine learning and classification were used for predictive analyses and to improve nurses' preparedness and management of patients' conditions CONCLUSION: This review highlighted the potential of artificial intelligence in improving the quality of nursing care. However, more randomized controlled trials in real-life healthcare settings should be conducted to enhance the rigor of evidence. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Education in the application of artificial intelligence should be promoted to empower nurses to lead technological transformations and not passively trail behind others.