In Summer 2024, THMA’s Nursing Catalyst team surveyed 403 bedside nurses to better understand how tenure and union status influence nurses’ views on emerging technologies, alternative staffing models, and current staffing levels and their views on safe staffing strategies.
Frontline Nurses View Tech Through a Practical Lens
While nursing leaders often emphasize innovation, frontline nurses assess new technologies based on their usefulness. They prioritize tools that address real issues like staffing shortages, inefficient workflows, and patient care, experience, and safety.
Key Insights
Novice Nurses: New Graduates More Receptive to Innovation
Novice nurses are more receptive to technological solutions. Their familiarity with digital tools and simulation-based learning during nursing school translates to greater comfort with technology at the bedside. They are twice as likely as veteran nurses to believe that technology investments will improve safe staffing and are more likely to experiment with AI and virtual nursing tools for documentation, translation, and patient education.
Mid-Career Nurses: Champions for Technological and Care Innovations
Mid-career nurses are the most likely to champion technological and care innovations on their units, making them valuable advocates for organizational change. One in three nurses in this tenure category actively supports virtual nursing as supplementary support and not a replacement for bedside staff. Their credibility with both veteran and novice peers makes them valuable champions for change.
Veteran RNs Hold a Hard Line on Ratios, Human-Centered Solutions
Veteran nurses are skeptical of technological solutions, requiring clear evidence that tools will ease administrative burdens. Their hesitance is rooted in two main concerns: distrust in tech reliability and a strong preference for traditional clinical practices — stemming from negative first impressions during the pandemic. Nearly 90% of veteran nurses view staffing ratios as essential for patient safety and reducing burnout, compared to 83% of mid-career and 76% of novice nurses. Many also fear that adopting tech might erode personal patient relationships or be used to justify higher patient loads.
Union Nurses' Views on Care Innovation
Unionized nurses are 12% more likely than non-union peers to prioritize staffing ratios as the solution for improving care and reducing burnout. They are cautious of innovations, favoring changes supported by policy-backed measures that protect nurse wellbeing. Survey results show 42% of union nurses are concerned about AI disrupting workflows, and 72% worry about its impact on patient quality.
In contrast, non-union nurses show more openness to tech solutions without the same emphasis on policy backing or standardized protections, highlighting how union membership shapes attitudes toward healthcare change.
Finding a Common Ground on Building Trust
Nurses of all experience levels rely on source credibility when deciding whether to adopt new solutions in their practice. More than 70% of nurses prioritize established nursing experts, valuing credible authorship and real-world examples of successful implementation. Over 60% of respondents from all tenure groups trust solutions based on concrete performance metrics.
These shared priorities provide a strong foundation for nursing leaders to move forward with confidence. By focusing on credible sources, demonstrating measurable results, and maintaining open communication about system performance, health systems can earn the trust of their nursing teams and successfully implement new solutions.
Read the full report here