The perfect storm: A conversation with Rosemarie Aznavorian, D.N.P., RN

The perfect storm

Patients who can't get a timely appointment aren't waiting quietly. Many are opening ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or another artificial intelligence (AI) tool, working through their symptoms, arriving at a diagnosis and sometimes acting on it — all before they've seen a clinician. When they do show up, they may be sicker, more anxious or more convinced of a diagnosis that turns out to be wrong.

That pattern is one of several converging pressures that Rosemarie Aznavorian, D.N.P., RN, CENP, CCWP, CCRN, executive vice president of client services and chief clinical officer at MedPro Healthcare Staffing, sees playing out across health care right now.

In this conversation with Medical Economics, she traces the connection between a thinning nursing workforce and the growing reliance on generative AI for health advice. She explains why the two problems are feeding each other.

Aznavorian draws on nearly five decades in nursing, including 10 years as chief nursing officer of a large Texas health system, to lay out what's driving the shortage: declining enrollment in nursing programs, a wave of experienced nurses aging out or retiring early and patients who are arriving sicker and requiring more intensive care. The result is a workforce that is stretched across more complex cases with less experienced support, pushing wait times up and continuity of care down.

As access gaps widen, she says, AI tools are filling in — imperfectly.

A January OpenAI report found that 5% of all ChatGPT messages in 2025 were health-related, reflecting a mix of unmet clinical need, patient anxiety and curiosity. Aznavorian sees real educational value in that engagement, but is clear about the risks when patients act on AI advice rather than using it as a starting point for a clinical conversation.

Her prescription is direct: staff to acuity, not just to ratios, and treat health care staffing companies as consultative partners rather than a budgetary concession. The cost of understaffing, she argues, shows up in missed care, poor outcomes and regulatory exposure. No accrediting body is going to overlook it.