Etisk arbejde i fremtidens sundhedssektor

– om professionelt engagement, viden og ansvar i arbejde med AI ’in the making’

Abstract

Ethics work in the healthcare sector of the future: On professional engagement, knowledge and responsibility when working with AI in the making
The introduction of AI‑based technologies plays an important role in visions for the future healthcare sector by enabling remote monitoring, diagnosis, and treatment of patients, thereby creating more withdrawn forms of care. In this article, we examine how this development challenges nurses’ professional work. The article is based on an ethnographic study of nurses’ work with a data‑generating, AI‑based remote monitoring system for discharged patients, which is currently under development. With an understanding of healthcare professionals as critical and creative actors in this transformation of work and the healthcare sector, we illuminate nurses’ efforts to create visibility and knowledge within an AI‑based socio‑technical arrangement as a framework for sharing responsibility and making decisions in their work with discharged patients. We show how the use of the system generates enthusiasm and engagement in a high‑tech professional future but also challenges professional knowledge and accountability and gives rise to extensive and previously underexamined ‘ethics work’, thereby involving identity, values, emotions, and relations. Finally, we discuss the emergent character of AI and perspectives for working life, when participation in testing and developing technologies may become a permanent part of future professional work in the healthcare sector.