PhD defence: Algorithmization and Professionalism in Nursing Care

On Friday 6 June at 12 pm., Jan-Luuk Hoff will defend his PhD thesis Beyond the Binary. A Multi-Sited Inquiry into Where and How Algorithmization is Reconfiguring Nursing Professionalism.

In his dissertation, Jan-Luuk Hoff analyses how the rise of AI is changing nursing professionalism – an urgent theme given the increasing use of AI in healthcare. Think, for example, of AI systems that support nurses in decision-making, care robots in elderly care, or AI software for remote monitoring and guidance.

The rise of AI often leads to discussions about how AI could or should affect the role and position of nurses. However, how the rise of AI now affects the professionalism of nurses in practice has been studied to a limited extent. Moreover, it is often not clear what exactly is meant by container terms such as 'AI' and 'professionalism'.

The rise of AI in nursing care is analysed by Hoff as a process of 'algorithmization'. This not only concerns the development and use of new AI technologies, but also the ideas and visions of the future about AI that make this development possible. Hoff conducted research on the algorithmization of nursing care in various places. For example, he analyses how ideas about the future of nursing care and AI are formed in policy programmes, how nurses are involved in the (commercial) development of AI technologies and how the use of AI technologies in practice affects the professional identity of nurses.

From artificial intelligence to professional intelligence

Jan-Luuk Hoff's research shows that algorithmization does not radically replace nursing professionalism, but changes it in subtle, seductive, and veiled ways.
 

• First, the research shows that algorithmization leads to subtle but fundamental changes in nursing professionalism. The development and use of AI in practice is not only leading to new tasks and responsibilities for nurses, but also to new ideas about who professional nurses are and what they do.
   
• Second, algorithmization is often accompanied by tempting promises for nurses about strengthening their professionalism and position in the healthcare system. However, these promises turn out to be deceptive in practice. Nursing perspectives on the future of healthcare are largely missing and the interests of technology developers, hospitals and doctors dominate the development and use of AI technology in nursing care.
   
• Thirdly, the research shows that the role of nurses in the algorithmization of care is crucial, but often remains obscured. Algorithmization is not an autonomous development that changes nursing professionalism 'from the outside'. It is precisely through the active contribution of nurses themselves that AI is changing the professionalism of nurses.

Hoff therefore concludes that the future of nursing professionalism does not depend on artificial intelligence, but rather requires the professional intelligence of nurses. They need to take collective action, for example by getting involved in debates about the future of care and AI and developing professional standards and expertise on the use of AI in nursing practice.

Jan-Luuk Hoff is project leader at the Ministry of the Interior (State Committee against Discrimination and Racism) and a PhD student at the School of Governance (USG).