Nurses feel they have more time with patients than doctors do, and are much more optimistic about their organizations' use of AI, a new report finds.
Elsevier's Clinician of the Future report is based on a survey fielded between the end of 2025 and early 2026. The survey reached over 2,700 clinicians globally, including physicians and nurses. It found 71% of nurses globally feel they have enough time with patients, compared to 60% of doctors.
Across many measures, doctors struggle more than nurses, the report found: they report being too tired to treat patients effectively at higher rates (44% of doctors; 34% of nurses); struggle more to keep up with medical advances (68% of docs; 43% of nurses); and struggle more to keep up with the latest tech advances (70% of docs; 42% of nurses). However, four in 10 nurses feel unheard in the workplace, while only a fifth of doctors said the same.
And compared to the rest of the world, clinicians in the U.S. have less time to provide good care (49% compared to 65% globally), most commonly due to administrative burden. Medical misinformation among patients is also notably higher in the U.S. (66%) than worldwide (51%).
“Our Clinician of the Future 2026 report shows that clinicians, particularly physicians in the U.S., continue to face significant administrative and workflow pressures that reduce time with patients and contribute to burnout,” Jan Herzhoff, president of health markets at Elsevier, told Fierce Healthcare in an emailed comment.
“While nurses are also experiencing substantial strain, physicians reported especially high levels of burden tied to documentation, data overload and operational complexity,” Herzhoff wrote.
Part of the report was dedicated to understanding sentiment around artificial intelligence tools. Half of clinicians think AI is improving patient care, though fewer clinicians expect AI to save them time compared to last year. Half of clinicians reported using AI for work purposes, with uptake lower among nurses than doctors.
Despite lower uptake, nurses have more positive views of their workplace’s approach to AI than doctors. When it comes to whether their institutions are good at providing access to digital tools, including AI, nurses rated positively much more often (51%) than doctors (30%). Nurses were also more optimistic about their institutions’ governance of AI (51%) than doctors (27%). And, nurses rated their institutions' training for the use of AI tools (46%) more positively than doctors (18%).
Of the half of clinicians who use AI for work, more than half use generalist AI tools frequently or always. Nurses rate generalist AI tools higher than doctors. Doctors are more likely to use them for medical research and professional education, and are less likely to use the tools for patient communication and analyzing medical images. In contrast, nurses typically use them for upskilling and patient education, followed by medical research.
Of those who use AI for work, a third use clinical-specific tools frequently or always, up from 22% in 2025. Doctors use them at slightly higher rates than nurses, primarily for clinical decision-making and second opinions on complex cases. Nurses primarily use them for patient monitoring or patient care decision support. Use of clinical-specific tools was highest in North America of all regions studied.
“The encouraging takeaway is that clinicians increasingly see AI, and in particular specialized and secure medical AI solutions, as part of the solution, especially when designed to reduce friction, streamline workflows and help clinicians spend more time focused on patient care,” Herzhoff wrote.
“We strongly believe that clinicians need access to solutions that are secure and backed by evidence-based, peer-reviewed medical research and not based on unverified information pulled from the internet,” Herzhoff said.
“AI tools are developing fast. The question is not whether or not they will play a role in clinical settings, but to what extent they will transform clinicians’ work in the future,” the report concluded.