Will AI replace nurse practitioners?
Updated
Nurse practitioners score 49 of 100 for AI exposure. The largest share of their task time, 79%, is work AI speeds up while they stay in charge. AI can take over 7% outright, and 14% stays with people.
- 7% AI can do it
- 79% AI helps
- 14% Needs a person
Moderate exposure
Higher than 72% of the 923 occupations we scored.
Task by task
We graded 27 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 2 of them today, speeds up 21 and leaves 4 to people.
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Schedule follow-up visits to monitor patients or evaluate health or illness care. Scheduling and reminders are largely software automated. | 75% AI can do it |
| Maintain complete and detailed records of patients' health care plans and prognoses. AI scribes draft detailed notes; clinician reviews and signs. | 70% AI can do it |
| Provide patients with information needed to promote health, reduce risk factors, or prevent disease or disability. AI drafts patient education materials; delivery stays interactive. | 60% AI helps |
| Provide patients or caregivers with assistance in locating health care resources. AI navigators find local resources quickly; staff confirm eligibility. | 60% AI helps |
| Counsel patients about drug regimens and possible side effects or interactions with other substances, such as food supplements, over-the-counter (OTC) medications, or herbal remedies. AI chatbots answer medication and supplement questions; clinician verifies. | 55% AI helps |
| Educate patients about self-management of acute or chronic illnesses, tailoring instructions to patients' individual circumstances. Tailored self care instructions drafted fast; coaching stays personal. | 55% AI helps |
| Read current literature, talk with colleagues, or participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in nursing. AI summarizes literature fast; networking and peer talks stay human. | 55% AI helps |
| Develop treatment plans, based on scientific rationale, standards of care, and professional practice guidelines. AI drafts plans from guidelines; clinician decides and is responsible for them. | 50% AI helps |
| Analyze and interpret patients' histories, symptoms, physical findings, or diagnostic information to develop appropriate diagnoses. LLMs aid differential reasoning; clinician weighs findings and decides. | 50% AI helps |
| Prescribe medication dosages, routes, and frequencies, based on such patient characteristics as age and gender. Dosing decision support tools help; prescriber verifies age and weight. | 50% AI helps |
Show the other 17 tasks
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Treat or refer patients for primary care conditions, such as headaches, hypertension, urinary tract infections, upper respiratory infections, and dermatological conditions. Common conditions follow protocols; AI triage aids, clinician confirms. | 50% AI helps |
| Diagnose or treat chronic health care problems, such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Protocol-driven chronic care; decision support aids, clinician manages. | 45% AI helps |
| Prescribe medications based on efficacy, safety, and cost as legally authorized. Formulary and interaction checks aid choices; prescriber remains accountable. | 45% AI helps |
| Recommend diagnostic or therapeutic interventions with attention to safety, cost, invasiveness, simplicity, acceptability, adherence, and efficacy. Software weighs cost and safety; clinician chooses interventions with patient. | 45% AI helps |
| Maintain current knowledge of state legal regulations for nurse practitioner practice, including reimbursement of services. AI summarizes state rules and payment policy; accuracy needs verification. | 45% AI helps |
| Consult with, or refer patients to, appropriate specialists when conditions exceed the scope of practice or expertise. AI drafts referral letters; judging when to refer stays clinical. | 45% AI helps |
| Maintain departmental policies and procedures in areas such as safety and infection control. AI can draft policies and checklists; leaders approve and enforce them. | 45% AI helps |
| Keep abreast of regulatory processes and payer systems, such as Medicare, Medicaid, managed care, and private sources. AI can summarize payer rules; human judgment on applicability. | 45% AI helps |
| Detect and respond to adverse drug reactions, with special attention to vulnerable populations such as infants, children, pregnant and lactating women, or older adults. Interaction alerts flag reactions; clinician assesses vulnerable patients. | 40% AI helps |
| Diagnose or treat acute health care problems, such as illnesses, infections, or injuries. Acute triage and reasoning aided; hands on care stays with clinician. | 40% AI helps |
| Recommend interventions to modify behavior associated with health risks. Behavior change coaching is partly scripted; motivation needs human rapport. | 40% AI helps |
| Order, perform, or interpret the results of diagnostic tests, such as complete blood counts (CBCs), electrocardiograms (EKGs), and radiographs (x-rays). AI aids ECG and imaging reads; performing tests needs presence. | 35% AI helps |
| Diagnose or treat complex, unstable, comorbid, episodic, or emergency conditions in collaboration with other health care providers as necessary. Complex emergencies need live judgment; AI supports reasoning and references. | 25% AI helps |
| Advocate for accessible health care that minimizes environmental health risks. Advocacy is public and relational; AI only helps draft materials. | 20% Needs a person |
| Supervise or coordinate patient care or support staff activities. Leading staff and coordinating care is interpersonal and accountable. | 20% Needs a person |
| Perform routine or annual physical examinations. Physical exams need hands on examination; AI only aids notes. | 10% Needs a person |
| Perform primary care procedures such as suturing, splinting, administering immunizations, taking cultures, and debriding wounds. Suturing, splinting, and injections need skilled hands on patients. | 5% Needs a person |
How nurse practitioners compare
All occupations (923)
Healthcare practitioners and technical (89)
Pay and outlook in the US
- Median pay
- $132,300 a year, May 2025
- People employed
- 323,040 in the US, May 2025
- Projected change in jobs
- +41.0% from 2024 to 2034
Skills to build
- Sign off AI scribe drafts in Epic Systems
- Suture, splint, and give immunizations during patient visits
- Interpret ECGs and x-rays before setting treatment plans
- Hold a national NP certification from AANP or ANCC
- Counsel patients on drug interactions with OTC and herbal products
- Keep care plan records current in eClinicalWorks EHR
Safer roles nearby
5 related occupations with lower scores.
Questions about nurse practitioners and AI
Will nurse practitioners be replaced by AI?
Nurse practitioners score 49 of 100 for AI exposure. The largest share of their task time, 79%, is work AI speeds up while they stay in charge. AI can take over 7% outright, and 14% stays with people.
Will nurse practitioners be replaced?
Partly. About 4 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly scheduling follow-up visits and keeping records of health care plans. What stays with people is hands-on examination, procedures, and diagnosis of complex conditions, which need a clinician in the room.
Which tasks is AI taking over for nurse practitioners?
Scheduling follow-up visits scores 75 for exposure, since booking and reminders run through software. Keeping detailed records of health care plans scores 70, because AI scribes draft the notes and the clinician reviews and signs them. Patient education materials score 60, since AI drafts them quickly.
Which tasks stay human for nurse practitioners?
Primary care procedures such as suturing, splinting, and immunizations score only 5 for exposure, because they need skilled hands on the patient. Routine physical exams score 10, since they depend on hands-on examination that only a clinician can carry out.
How do nurse practitioners stay valuable?
Stay in the room for exams and procedures, since that work scores lowest for AI exposure. Review every AI scribe draft in Epic Systems or eClinicalWorks before signing, and keep procedure skills current. Use your reading of ECGs and x-rays to lead decisions on complex and emergency care.
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