Discussion Can nurses remain relevant in a technologically advanced future? Joseph Andrew Pepito a, b, * , Rozzano Locsin c, d a Nursing Science, Cebu Doctors' University, Cebu, Philippines b Center for Research and Development, University of the Visayas, Cebu, Philippines c Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan d Florida Atlantic University, Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, Boca Raton, FL, USA article info Article history: Received 11 April 2018 Received in revised form 23 July 2018 Accepted 28 September 2018 Available online 4 October 2018 Keywords: Artificial intelligence Education Nursing Nursing care Robotics abstract Technological breakthroughs occur at an ever-increasing rate thereby revolutionizing human health and wellness care. Technological advancements have drastically changed the structure and organization of the healthcare industry. McKinsey Global Institute estimates that 800 million workers worldwide could be replaced by robots by the year 2030. There is already a robotic revolution happening in healthcare wherein robots have made tasks and procedures more efficient and safer. Locsin and Ito has addressed the threat to nursing practice with human nurses being replaced by humanoid robots. Routine nursing care dictated solely by prescribed procedures and accomplishment of nursing tasks would be best performed by machines. With the future practice of nursing in a technologically advanced future tran- scending the implementation of nursing actions to achieve predictable outcomes, how can human nurses remain relevant as practitioners of nursing? Nurses should be involved in deciding which aspects of their practice can be delegated to technology. Nurses should oversee the introduction of automated tech- nology and artificial intelligence ensuring their practice to be more about the universal aspects of human care continuing under a novel system. Nursing education and nursing research will change to encompass a differentiated demand for professional nursing practice with, and not for, robots in healthcare. © 2018 Chinese Nursing Association. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). 1. Introduction With technological breakthroughs occurring at an ever increasing rate, and more and more tasks of nurses are being delegated to machines and artificial intelligence (AI), the main question of this discussion paper is, “how can nurses remain rele- vant in a technologically advanced future?” 2. Technology in nursing What is affecting every aspect of modern society today is technology. From low fidelity machineries to high fidelity tech- nologies with artificial super intelligence (ASI) [1], technological advancements have changed the practice of nursing. Technological breakthroughs occur at an ever-increasing rate thereby revolutionizing human health and wellness care. Technological advancements have drastically changed the structure and organi- zation of the nursing industry: From the adoption of electronic health records, to advances in biomedical and engineering tech- nologies that enable the development of ever more sophisticated technologies in health care, robotics technology, and artificial in- telligence, these modal changes in modern healthcare and its methods of delivery have transformed the nursing industry. Advances in technology have been made available to aid nurses perform their jobs and care for patients more efficiently and safely. Nursing today is not the same as it was 30 years ago. From tech- nological advancements such as robotic-assisted surgery which may one day replace surgeons and nurses in the operating rooms [2], humanoid nurse robots which have the possibility of replacing human nurses in hospital wards [3], companion robots that are designed to provide useful and socially acceptable assistance to people who need special attention like the elderly, children who have autism, or the disabled [4], automated dispensing robots which would take away the responsibilities of nurses in medication administration [5] coupled with major progresses seen in the development of ever more sophisticated artificial intelligence that would enable machines to make critical decisions in health care * Corresponding author. 301 Israel St. Vista Bella Subdivision, Basak, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, Philippines. E-mail addresses: pepitojosephandrew@gmail.com (J.A. Pepito), locsin@medsci. tokushima-u.ac.jp, locsin@health.fau.edu (R. Locsin). Peer review under responsibility of Chinese Nursing Association. HOSTED BY Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Nursing Sciences journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/journals/international-journal-of- nursing-sciences/2352-0132 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2018.09.013 2352-0132/© 2018 Chinese Nursing Association. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). International Journal of Nursing Sciences 6 (2019) 106e110