It was 4 p.m. on a Friday, and I was staring at the list of competencies we still needed to revalidate for all our pediatric clinical research nurses. My passion is mentoring the next generation of nurses, but I was overwhelmed by administrative tasks.

I had a great idea for an interactive game to revalidate pediatric nurse chemotherapy and biotherapy competencies, but when would I ever find the time to build it? This feeling of being a professional box-checker instead of a clinical mentor is what led me to explore a new, unexpected partnership: using artificial intelligence (AI) as a digital assistant.

The Input: The Administrative Treadmill

The “administrative treadmill” is the persistent, fast-paced cycle of routine administrative demands that require constant attention and many work hours, often crowding out time for creative, scholarly, strategic, or transformational work. This constant administrative treadmill with little room for innovative teaching was the critical catalyst for my change, pushing me to find a new way to take back my time and creativity.

As nursing professional development (NPD) practitioners, we wear many hats and serve multiple roles. We are mentors, educators, role models, and leaders. We create lesson plans and simulations, align educational content with evidence-based practices, and continually seek interactive strategies to keep learners engaged. While these tasks are essential, the administrative side often consumes most of our time.

The Throughput: Partnering with AI

My relationship with AI did not start with a desire to have it replace what I do, but to enhance it. The throughput, or the process of transformation, began with simple prompts for my AI assistant to handle time-consuming tasks. I would ask it to "Summarize recent articles on creative strategies to engage nurses" or to "Generate a list of game-like activities." In the past, developing a simulation scenario or an escape room would have taken me days. With AI, hours of my week were returned to me almost immediately.

The real breakthrough happened when I realized AI could be more than an administrative helper; it could be my creative partner!

It was time for our annual chemotherapy and biotherapy competency revalidation. My goal was to move beyond a simple checklist and truly validate critical thinking. With my newfound time, I asked the AI tool, “How can I make revalidation of competencies more engaging to nurses?” The AI generated several suggestions, including escape rooms, scavenger hunts, and detective-style mystery games. As I reviewed the list, a light bulb went off. What if I adapted the classic Clue board game to create an activity where nurses had to identify medication errors? The AI's output of detective-style activities sparked this specific creative direction, transforming a generic idea into a targeted competency validation approach.

Mapping out a complex game is incredibly time-consuming, so this was the perfect task for AI. I wrote the following prompt:

"Act as an expert instructional designer. Help me design a Whodunit mystery game, like the classic Clue game, to revalidate the attached chemotherapy and biotherapy competencies for pediatric nurses.

Create the following elements:

1. An engaging title for the game
2. A detailed pediatric oncology patient profile
3. Five potential 'suspects' (errors), each aligned to a specific competency. Frame them like in Clue (e.g., Ms. Scarlett, Colonel Mustard).
4. Structure the mystery around the who (person), what (equipment/drug), where (location), when (time), and why (motive).
5. Ensure that all clinical references are current and evidence-based, grounded in core nursing frameworks such as the Association for Pediatric Hematology Oncology Nursing (APHON). Do not fabricate any information or references."

Within minutes, AI had generated a complete framework, including a title, characters (who), tools (what), locations (where), time (when), and motives (why) that were fun and engaging. For example, "The Coffee Crash" for the why, "The Change of Shift Shuffle" for the when, and "The Missed Double Check" for the what.

The AI provided a solid foundation, but the NPD practitioner's expertise remained essential throughout the process. My role included:

1. Clinical Validation: Ensuring all scenarios reflected current evidence-based practice and organizational policies
2. Complexity Calibration: Adding nuanced details challenging enough for seasoned nurses while remaining clinically accurate
3. Competency Alignment: Verifying each game element mapped directly to specific competency requirements
4. Critical Thinking Integration: Designing scenarios that validated not just knowledge recall, but clinical reasoning and decision-making

This exemplifies how AI serves as a tool to enhance, not replace, the NPD practitioner's professional judgment and specialized knowledge. The human oversight ensured the final product maintained clinical fidelity while leveraging AI's efficiency in framework development.

It is important to note that the patient profile was entirely fictional, and no real patient information was ever used or uploaded to the AI during this process. I then shared the scenario with two pediatric oncology clinical educators. Together, we developed debriefing questions to explore not just the causes of errors, but why they happened. This collaborative approach aligns with Standard 11: Collaboration from the Nursing Professional Development Scope and Standards of Practice (Harper & Maloney, 2022), which emphasizes working with interprofessional teams and stakeholders to optimize learning outcomes. We always confirmed that all content aligned with our organizational policies and best practices.

Participants were informed that AI had been used as a tool in developing the game framework, while emphasizing that all clinical content had been validated by NPD practitioners and clinical experts. This disclosure fostered trust and modeled ethical AI integration in professional practice.

The Output: Engaging Critical Thinkers

During the game, the energy among the staff was noticeable. Instead of a passive checklist, our nurses became active investigators. The final output was beyond just the completion of a competency; it was a re-energized team and a validated critical-thinking mindset that defines a competent chemotherapy/biotherapy nurse.

Following the AI-enhanced revalidation activity, a quality improvement evaluation was conducted with 21 pediatric oncology nurses who completed a post-activity survey using 10-point Likert scales. Participants reported high levels of clarity (mean 9.0), enjoyment (mean 9.1), and perceived effectiveness in refreshing chemotherapy and biotherapy knowledge (mean 9.1). The median score across all domains was 10, indicating consistently positive learner perceptions. Qualitative feedback did not identify significant concerns or barriers to participation. In addition, 21 pediatric oncology nurses successfully revalidated their chemo/bio annual competency, achieving 100% on the chemo/bio quiz.

My experience powerfully illustrates how we, as NPD practitioners, can use AI to transform routine requirements into deeply engaging interactive learning experiences. It is a perfect example of being unburdened to become more innovative and impactful, honing the critical thinking that truly keeps patients safe.

Further Reading and Conclusion

As the American Nurses Association (ANA, 2022) position statement on the Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence in Nursing Practice notes, AI should augment nursing judgment and human-centered care, with nurses remaining accountable for ensuring appropriate, ethical use and ongoing evaluation of AI in practice.

I suspect my experience is not unique, and I encourage readers to review the most recent research on innovative ways to use AI. While the literature on AI in education highlights potential benefits in reducing routine workload (Chen et al., 2023; Fitria, T. N., 2023; Oledzka et al., 2024), the value to NPD lies in how AI can augment our practice. AI can automate certain time-consuming tasks, but the critical work of competency management, clinical validation, alignment with evidence-based standards, policy and safety considerations, and meaningful debriefing remains a function of skilled NPD practitioners in collaboration with clinical experts.

By using AI as a tool to streamline workflow, data gathering, and framework development, practitioners can reclaim time for higher-order activities such as mentorship, instructional design, and transformative learning experiences that advance patient safety and nurse development. This approach aligns with the ANPD Scope and Standards and with ethical practice, reinforcing that AI supports, and does not replace, the specialized knowledge and judgment of the NPD practitioner.

References

American Nurses Association. (2022). The ethical use of artificial intelligence in nursing practice [Position statement]. ANA. https://www.nursingworld.org/

Chen, Y., Deng, H., Chen, C. H., & Chung, C. L. (2023). Efficient artificial intelligence-teaching assistant based on ChatGPT. IEEE Xplore. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSSES58299.2023.10200077

Fitria, T. N. (2023). The use of artificial intelligence in education (AIED): Can AI replace the teacher’s role? EPIGRAM. https://doi.org/10.32722/epi.v20i2.5711.

Harper, M. G., & Maloney, P. (Eds.). (2022). Nursing professional development: Scope and standards of practice (4th ed.). Association for Nursing Professional Development.

Oledzka, M., Carace, M. B., Tomaz, S. D. O., Pan, B, & Jiang, P. (2024). AI as a teaching assistant: An innovative approach to education through customized model answer generation and guided practice. CEJSH, 74, 67-79. https://doi.org/10.14746/se.2024.74.4