Does AI have the potential to be used in mental health nursing?
AI will be in the forthcoming 10 Year Health Plan for the NHS and we are already seeing the benefits in clinical care with efficiency improvements and improved patient outcomes. However, its use raises questions about the quality of care, safety and decisions made. Mental health nursing places much importance on its relationships with people, something AI would find impossible to replace
AI has proved its worth in clinical care with improved efficiency and patient outcomes but can it ever replace the relationships of nursing staff to people?
We cannot escape artificial intelligence (AI), it is being integrated increasingly into our daily lives. Whether this is through automated chatbots for customer service with generative AI, or automated booking systems that improve efficiency for missed appointments.
‘People feel that the true essence of nursing is based on the quality of the relationship with individuals who access services. Will AI add to this relationship or detract from it?’
But does this technology have the potential to be used in mental health nursing and, if so, how? Such questions can raise strong emotions, with people feeling that the true essence of nursing is based on the quality of the relationship with individuals who access services. Will AI add to this relationship or detract from it?
We are already seeing benefits in clinical care with improved efficiency and patient outcomes. These benefits often extend outside of clinics such as the use of wearable technology to identify irregular heart function with electrocardiogram capabilities that empower people to monitor their own health and, hopefully, help potential problems to be identified earlier.
The 10 Year Health Plan for the NHS will make AI part of the direction of travel
AI is also being incorporated into apps for emotional and mental well-being to personalise approaches with individualised insights for mental health.
Using AI is part of the direction of travel. The English government’s forthcoming 10 Year Health Plan for the NHS will highlight digital transformation as key with aspirations for people to be able to access services digitally, optimised electronic health records, digital data analysis and using AI for decision support tools.
While AI is progressing rapidly, it has been said that it will not replace the relationship we have with people as clinicians. Instead, it will become a tool to improve patient care overall, like X-ray technology is used by radiologists.
In the future, rather than questioning the use of AI, its absence is likely to be remarkable and raise questions about the quality of care, safety and decisions made.
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