Hospitals have raced to put AI tools into nurses’ hands over the past two years, from documentation assistants to fall-detection cameras to predictive deterioration alerts. A new report drawn from the 2026 State of Nursing Survey suggests that rollout has badly outpaced the training and buy-in needed to make it work, leaving many nurses skeptical of technology they are nonetheless required to use every shift.
The Headline Numbers
According to the survey findings published by Nurse.org, only 25% of nurses report currently using AI tools at work, and just 22% say they trust AI tools to support safe patient care. Among nurses who do have some AI exposure on the job, 60% say their employer has not provided adequate training on how to use it. The gap between deployment and preparation is stark: hospitals are turning tools on faster than they are teaching staff how to use them safely.
Nurses Feel Shut Out of the Decision
The survey also probed how much say nurses have in which AI tools their hospitals buy in the first place. Forty percent of respondents said they have no meaningful input into how AI tools are selected and deployed in their workplace, and only 19% believe nurses have a genuine seat at the table when those purchasing decisions are made. That matters because nurses are often the ones actually interacting with bedside AI systems, whether it’s a virtual nursing camera, an ambient documentation tool, or an early-warning alert, far more than the physicians and administrators typically driving procurement.
Training Changes Everything
The most striking finding may be the causal pattern the survey uncovered between involvement, training, and trust. Among nurses who were consulted when a tool was being selected, 74% say they now trust the technology, compared with just 38% of nurses who had no input into the decision. Similarly, of nurses who received formal training on a new AI tool, 24% say it actually saved them time, versus only 16% among those who had to teach themselves how to use it. In other words, the same technology can produce dramatically different results depending on how it’s introduced to the people expected to use it.
Why This Keeps Happening
Part of the problem, nursing workforce researchers say, is structural. AI purchasing decisions are typically made by hospital IT departments, chief medical information officers, or C-suite executives evaluating return on investment and vendor contracts, while frontline nursing input gets folded in late, if at all, often just before go-live training that itself may be rushed to meet a vendor’s rollout schedule. With nursing shortages already straining staffing ratios, many hospitals also struggle to free up nurses’ time for lengthy training sessions, opting instead for brief onboarding videos or job aids that leave gaps in understanding.
A More Optimistic Counterpoint
Not every recent survey paints as grim a picture. Other 2026 industry data cited by outlets like Healthcare IT News has found nurses growing somewhat less fearful of AI over time and using it more as familiarity increases, particularly among younger nurses and in systems that have taken care to involve clinical staff early. Some health systems have begun standing up nurse informaticist roles specifically to bridge the gap between IT procurement and bedside reality, suggesting the structural problem the survey identifies is fixable, not fixed — and that outcomes vary considerably by institution rather than reflecting a uniform industry failure.
What Needs to Change
Nursing advocates responding to the survey are calling for hospitals to build nurse representation directly into AI vendor evaluation committees, extend paid time for hands-on training rather than passive video modules, and create ongoing feedback loops so nurses can flag when a tool’s alerts or workflows don’t match real bedside conditions. The survey’s authors argue the fix is not necessarily more AI oversight from regulators, but more basic organizational discipline: involve the people who will use a system in choosing it, and train them properly once it arrives. Absent that, they warn, hospitals risk technology that looks impressive in a vendor demo but erodes trust and satisfaction among the nursing workforce meant to rely on it every day.
