Published November 28, 2018 
Rounds with Leadership: Artificial Intelligence: A Catalyst for Innovation in Pedagogy and Practice
As leaders in academic nursing, we are acutely aware of the need to re-envision how we educate the next generation of nursing leaders to thrive in a health system undergoing rapid change. To remain relevant, we must prepare now for fundamental and irreversible change in health care and higher education. Technology will be the main driver of change in pedagogy and practice and, in the long run, we will neither need nor want professionals to work as they did in the 20th century or prior. As British economist John Maynard Keynes said, the difficulty lies not so much in generating new ideas, but with escaping from the old ones.
For example, one change agent shaping the future of nursing education, research, and practice is artificial intelligence or AI. Simply stated, AI uses computers and algorithms to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence (Derrington, 2017). Because computers can instantly synthesize data from a wide variety of sources, AI has proven effective at enhancing clinical decision-making, recognizing patterns (predictive analytics), empowering student learning and faculty effectiveness, and harnessing the power of Big Data to improve the overall quality of healthcare services and educational activities.