The Future of Care: stories that illustrate how our relationship with artificial intelligence is changing
How do we move from simply knowing about artificial intelligence to being able to envisage a practical application of it in our own work? The testimonies gathered through the The Future of Care project continue to illustrate this journey through a wide range of professional experiences, needs and contexts.
This time, we hear from Carmen Sacrieriu, nursing coordinator of the rehabilitation ward at Delmati Hospital in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, part of the Lodi Local Health Authority. After thirty years in the profession, Carmen regards continuous professional development as essential for keeping pace with changes in healthcare, and she has chosen this training programme to approach artificial intelligence with awareness, confidence and a focus on ethical considerations.
She does not yet use AI tools in her day-to-day practice, but the training has enabled her to recognise potential applications within her professional environment: from preparing personalised information materials for patients and carers to summarising nursing handover notes, right through to ensuring continuity of care and managing the complexities of rehabilitation. What emerges most clearly from her account is a very concrete measure of the value of innovation: time. When used competently and under the control of the professional, artificial intelligence can lighten the load of certain information-gathering and documentation tasks, freeing up time for listening, building relationships and being present with the patient. It is here that Carmen places her greatest hope: to reclaim the time to ‘look the patient in the eye’ and listen to them.
Carmen’s story, as told by Onelia Onorati.
Carmen is always considering how technology can be integrated into her work to promote progress and the wellbeing of everyone, with awareness and common sense. “I am a nurse; I work for a social and healthcare organisation in Lombardy, in the field of rehabilitation. Obviously, things have changed compared to 30 years ago, when I started my career, and quite rightly my professional development must keep pace with these changes.” For her professional development, she favours the ProMis platform, which also offers the opportunity to exchange best practices and promotes cooperation between institutions and healthcare professionals, providing free training courses on strategic topics for innovation in healthcare systems. The ‘The Future of Care’ project is one of the training courses in the catalogue, available as a new free resource in asynchronous distance learning format, accessible via the platform. Carmen particularly appreciated it: “The world of work is moving at such a pace that continuous professional development is no longer an option, but a necessity if we are not to be left behind” [see the news item The Future of Care in the ProMis catalogue].
It was a first taste of the potential of artificial intelligence in healthcare: “At the moment, I don’t use AI tools in my work, but I’d like to be able to adopt these technologies in an informed, safe and ethical way. That’s why I took this course. Generally speaking, distance learning courses are an excellent starting point for learning the theory, but they often leave us wondering: how do I apply all this in my department?” The course content, on the other hand, is practical in nature and sparks ideas and plans: “I’ve thought of a few ways to start experimenting with AI in the day-to-day routine of rehabilitation, such as planning therapeutic education. For example, we can use the tools to help us write personalised discharge information sheets with simple advice, using language suitable for the carers who will be looking after a patient at home.
It can also help summarise the nursing handover. I believe that AI applied to rehabilitation can offer solutions for managing clinical complexity, the risk of falls and motor-cognitive recovery, as well as continuity of care”.
The role of the clinician, and in particular that of the nurse, is undergoing a profound transformation. Healthcare professionals must be able to manage and control technology in order to provide more precise and timely care. “After this journey, my hope is probably to reclaim my time – the time to look the patient in the eye, to listen to them without the anxiety of having to rush off to fill in a string of assessment scales on the computer or get bogged down in the bureaucracy of handover reports”.
