The share of nurses who use AI multiple times a day at work doubled in a year, from 16% to 32%, according to Wolters Kluwer’s 2026 Future Ready Healthcare survey.
The findings, detailed in an Oct. 26 analysis by Bethany Robertson, DNP, clinical executive at Wolters Kluwer Health, show nurses are using AI mostly to cut administrative work and improve patient communication, not to direct clinical care.
Here is how nurses said they use AI at work:
1. Summarizing medical literature or analyzing data: 43%
2. Generating patient education materials: 41%
3. Checking drug interactions: 37%
4. Communicating with non-English-speaking patients: 32%
5. Drafting shift handoffs, discharge summaries or nursing notes: 29%
6. Supporting training for newer nurses: 29%
7. Predicting patient flow or managing staffing schedules: 22%
Five more findings:
1. Eighty percent of nurses said their organizations expect nursing and medical staff to use generative AI as a top trend over the next three years, up from 65% in the 2025 survey.
2. More nurses said their organizations are prepared to use AI for:
- Improving service to patients: 64%, up from 38% in 2025
- Improving administrative productivity: 65%, up from 53%
- Improving patient experience: 65%, up from 51%
- Supporting patient diagnosis or treatment: 60%, up from 42%
- Ambient listening: 60%, up from 45%
3. Fewer nurses see governance as a major hurdle. Thirty-four percent named a lack of regulations and standards as a top AI risk, down from 49% in 2025.
4. Over the next 12 months, nurses expect to use AI for telehealth (41%), AI-powered patient education (41%), generating patient education materials (36%) and patient communication and outreach, such as care reminders or post-discharge follow-ups (28%).
5. Workforce worries persist. Eighty-one percent of nurses said recruiting talent will affect their organization over the next three years, up from 69% in 2025, and 74% cited retention. Confidence is climbing: 72% said their organization is prepared to recruit and retain health professional staff, up from 62%, and 72% said the same for medical staff, up from 55%. Still, 60% said their organization is prepared to address nurse shortages.
“Patient education is one of the most significant and underrated means of preventing and addressing readmission rates, making this an impactful use case for AI,” Dr. Robertson wrote.
The nurse figures trail clinicians overall slightly: 35% of clinicians use AI multiple times a day at work, according to Wolters Kluwer’s key survey findings.
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