Live at Magnet 2026: Making Every Nurse AI Ready with Rich Kenny

[00:00:10] Hello and welcome to the Nurse Rosa's INsights live at Magnet in Chicago, Illinois. And joining me on this episode is Rich Kenny, the newest member of the A&E System staff people. Tell us what you are doing for the A&E. Rich Kenny, Nurse Rosas Yeah, absolutely. Jennifer Kenny, Nurse Rosas Yes, you can think of from me. Rich Kenny, Nurse Rosa Hart Thanks, Rosa. So my position has been a newly created position with all the changes that we're seeing around

[00:00:39] AI and how that's increasingly influencing healthcare. You know, the A&E leadership really identified that we need to kind of have a stronger voice in how we're shaping what this practice environment is shaping up to look like, as we see the technology shaping those things. And so they identified that as a strategic priority for the enterprise. Jennifer Kenny, Nurse Rosas Didn't just create this role for you? Rich Kenny, Nurse Rosas No. Yeah, right. No, they didn't just create the role for me. Jennifer Kenny, Nurse Rosas Sometimes that happens. Rich Kenny, Nurse Rosas Right. Yeah.

[00:01:07] Rich Kenny, Nurse Rosas I mean, definitely when I saw, you know, the opportunity, I felt like maybe they had like, did they just see my profile and my resume and like write it for me? Because it's been such a perfect fit. But, you know, really kind of recognizing that our leadership recognized that we need to put a significant investment towards this. And then the American Nurses Foundation, their board and leadership went and started some conversations with Johnson & Johnson Foundation

[00:01:36] and Google.org, who ultimately awarded us a $5 million three year grant focused on AI literacy. Jennifer Kenny No, no, no, no. Rich Kenny So right. No, no. So there's Google and Google.org. Right. So as yeah. So the Google.org is their foundation arm. So so that's all separate. But but yeah. So so yeah, they they funded this. And so then out of that, my role formed to be able to lead that effort.

[00:02:03] So vice president over AI and digital health programs is also while this grant is focused on AI fluency, the vision that leadership had is really about what this future practice environment is going to look like and increasingly how that looks more and more digital. So that's part of my remit as well. Jennifer Thank you. So I almost forgot I'm not used to this mic passing back and forth thing, but I really wanted to ask you.

[00:02:30] So I won't say you started as a flight nurse, but before this, you were a flight nurse. Right. Because like there's steps you've got to go work up to to even be a flight nurse. Right. Yeah. I thought I wanted to be a flight nurse originally when I went to nursing school. So I got a job at an ICU and I thought that would be like my intro. And then I shadowed for a flight team and it was a boys club, man. And I'm a girly girl.

[00:02:59] And it just is not it was not working out. So it didn't work out for me. But how did you go from being a flight nurse to being the VP of AI for the National Nurses Organization? Like that's seems like a big leap. What was in between there? Yeah. To going from an office in a helicopter to staring at computer screens all day, pretty much a very, very big shift. So you just jump out of a helicopter to get there? No, no jumping out of helicopters for sure.

[00:03:29] But I do miss it if I'm honest. Right. Like it was an exciting part of my career. I love how much our nursing experiences translate into other work. And so as far as me becoming a flight nurse, started in the neuro ICU and then to the ER. But that was that was my goal when I became a nurse. I was like, I want to do that. Like, I want to climb in a helicopter. And so it was very fortunate to do that and spend a significant part of my career clinically doing that.

[00:03:57] And then moved into had opportunity to move into a management role. So I oversaw the program at Duke and that was right at the time where these EMRs were getting pushed. Right. And so when we talk about the ways that technology alters practice, the experience of giving and receiving care, like we've lived through one cycle of that, one major cycle with the EMRs. AI is reshaping that again. And what I want to make sure of is that we don't repeat that.

[00:04:23] So when I was right there kind of front and center with the EMRs, that's how I became interested in informatics. And increasingly, I was like, I want to be able to make sure that we are shaping these technologies in the right way. And so for the last 12 years, I went back to school, kind of became an informaticist. And so that's really about sitting at that intersection of like practice and technology and being that translator. So that's what I felt like I get to do now with the A&A.

[00:04:49] Well, we definitely need lots of translating between the tech people and the medical people or between the patients and the doctors. And nurses are really good translators, I have found. But there is a whole lot of lingo that we don't understand, like whether it's around finance and the prioritization.

[00:05:08] And I think nurses are really good at workarounds and not necessarily even aware of the possibilities that are available to them using AI and technology. Like, I mean, seeing tech bros go out there and be like, hey, I have an idea. And then somebody is like, OK, let me give you a million dollars to see if that even works. And then nurses are out here trying to build a solution and prove it before they even ask for anything.

[00:05:36] And so I think that the AI is a really great bridge into business and industry and how those things can help each other. And so I've really enjoyed seeing a lot of the conversations around this. And you and I are going to have more of a conversation around this at Health coming up in a few weeks. So for those of you listening, stay tuned. You're going to see this guy on my channel again, probably.

[00:06:02] But so while we are here, let's talk a little bit more about the goal of your role. Right. Because this is not about just Rich Kenny getting out here and making executive decisions about AI for nurses. You're on a mission to teach nurses. Right. Tell us about how many nurses you want to teach about AI. So I have started saying every nurse, AI ready. Right. Like we have a profession of close to five million of us in the U.S. alone.

[00:06:30] That's not even touching global reach for the scope of the grant. The goal is to to start with at least getting 250,000 nurses trained and 100,000 of those are going to be nurses that are working in rural frontier underserved communities.

[00:06:45] And so the thesis of that is if we can figure out how to design what nurses in those areas need where they don't have the same kind of resources as nurses that work in the larger systems or academic centers, then, you know, everyone else will come along like that. That's where we have to start. What's interesting, too, is I meet more and more nurses that do work in the in more rural and underserved areas. I think they recognize the opportunity more. And so there's really a hunger for it.

[00:07:14] So part of the work is trying to understand, OK, how do we how do we get a sense for where they are there from kind of an attitude, you know, aspect and then figure out exactly what they need from a competency, you know, from kind of developing that just baseline fluency. Like, that's where I want to start. How do we just establish a baseline fluency to to empower nurses to feel like they can ask better questions? This is not about becoming technical. This is not about becoming an informaticist.

[00:07:43] This is about building a level of confidence to just feel like you can ask questions when you're interacting with these technologies. Well, I'm really excited about that. And it's it feels pretty opaque to say, hey, I ready when the A.I. itself seems to be changing super duper fast. Right. So it's like by the time you have a plan, I hope we're not five steps beyond that in the technology. Right.

[00:08:10] But there's I don't know. I think it's really exciting. And I'm so thankful that, you know, the A&E has got you in this role to get the ball rolling. It's about time we do this. Right. I was just gonna say you make a good point. I probably need to think through that word of A.I. ready. I think it's in life. Are we ever really, truly ready for something? You know, it is an evolving thing and it's hard and it is overwhelming because of how fast this technology is changing.

[00:08:40] You know, I feel like it's a full time job just for me to stay on top of everything. And so trying to figure out what's the right level of education and exposure and awareness we can build across our profession, you know, to to to put them in a place where they are ready to engage with these technologies as they evolve. There's not a simple answer for it. I don't have it figured out, but that's why we've we're making this investment.

[00:09:08] So we're bringing on, you know, an amazing team to to to try to figure that part of it out. Well, and maybe the definition of ready can be curious. Yeah. Right. Because ready doesn't necessarily mean you're arrived and you know everything.

[00:09:29] One thing that I learned when I got my stroke certified registered nurse certification and took that test was I already knew that stuff from the clinical practice. But before I took the test, it was really vague. And I was like, I don't know what I even know about this. Right. Because a neuro, a lot of it is like nuanced and stuff like that.

[00:09:53] And I knew I was given good patient care, but I still probably didn't have confidence to put myself out there in conversations with more mature nurses. Right. And once I had that certification, I was like, well, I at least know this. I have proof that I know this. Right.

[00:10:12] And and then I realized that I felt more confident to share in conversations with other stroke and neuro experts, whereas before maybe I had like a mental block of thinking I wasn't ready. But also in neuro, you have never arrived because neuro is pretty vague. That's why I picked it. That's why I was it. That's why I went into neuro ICU first, because I actually I actually love that aspect.

[00:10:40] Right. Versus being versus going through another specialty where everything was very algorithmic and much more defined. Like I love that ambiguity. So there's something about that. Maybe that is an element or a thread that I pulled through throughout my career. You know, now I'm trying to shape it. I would just be very ambiguous as we're trying to shape it. But I would agree with you very much. And I like that. I like how you throw a little Ted Lasso in there, like be curious, stay curious. So, yeah, I might have to use that phrase a little bit more. It's about what does it mean to be curious?

[00:11:11] Might be Ted Lasso, might be Theo Vaughn, you know, but I do think that, you know, just not feeling like you have to have all the answers to start is a big thing. I might have written a book called Speak Up Start Now that's literally all about that. But thank you for fostering that curiosity.

[00:11:31] And I guess on a mission to make nurses AI ready, empowering them that they are good enough or equipped enough to be part of the conversation so we can design AI solutions. Yeah. And I was just going to add a part of the conversation is there's no other profession that is probably needed more than that nursing voice right now and shaping these technologies.

[00:11:56] Because as we talk about kind of what does that look like from, you know, our experiences around human interaction in a relationship like we as nurses get that better than any other profession. Like, you know, we meet people when they're at their most vulnerable states. And so how do we protect that human element? Will it change? Yes. Should it change? Honestly, I think there's some ways that it can change. And so how do we open up the conversations and the dialogue?

[00:12:21] And like you said, like, you know, just ask some better questions. But we need nurses showing up in those conversations and, you know, expressing and protecting those values. Thank you, Rich Kinney. And we will have more information in the show notes if you want to connect with him and the A&E about getting AI ready as a nurse wherever you are. And stay tuned for more coverage from the Magnet Conference here in 2026 Chicago, Illinois. And I'll see you in the next one.

[00:12:53] Yay. We did it.