Can AI Patients Build Nursing Gut Instinct?

What if new nurses could build gut instinct in months instead of years? Ryan Schmaltz, CEO and co-founder of PatientReady, joins Nurse Rosa to explore how AI-powered simulation is transforming clinical education and tackling the global nursing workforce shortage. Ryan spent two decades in emerging tech, from Uber's global expansion to immersive VR and AR, before turning his focus to healthcare's most urgent problem: preparing clinicians for high-stakes decisions at scale. In this conversation, he and Rosa dig into AI patient simulations, the pandemic-era experience gap, nurse skepticism about AI, the faculty shortage, and the one thing technology can never replace: the human connection at the bedside. Rosa even shares her own experience talking with "Lauren," PatientReady's AI patient, and asks Ryan her signature question: how would you invest $1 billion in healthcare? His answer might surprise you. In this episode: Why nurse gut instinct takes 5 years to feel and 10 to 12 years to trust How pandemic-era graduates missed critical clinical reps, and what that means now The AI debrief feature dividing nursing professors How faculty are using AI to cut scenario writing from weeks to days Why augmentation, not replacement, is the future of simulation labs Timestamps 0:00 – Introduction: Meet Ryan Schmaltz and PatientReady 1:11 – What is the global nursing workforce crisis? 4:57 – Ryan's backstory: From Uber and immersive entertainment to healthcare 9:16 – The VR "rocking chair" moment: What is spatial computing actually good for? 15:05 – Meeting Dr. Leslie Battle and discovering the scale of the nursing shortage 22:55 – How PatientReady was born out of a university collaboration 27:48 – "Peanut butter and chocolate": Merging storytelling with clinical education 33:56 – Rosa's experience with "Lauren," PatientReady's AI patient 40:00 – The power of post-simulation feedback and emotional memory 45:23 – What is nurse gut instinct, and how long does it really take to develop? 47:31 – Ryan's global research: 5 years to feel it, 10–12 years to trust it 50:31 – Rosa's insight: The bedside experience gap from pre-COVID to today 56:27 – Pandemic-era nursing graduates and the missing clinical reps 1:07:03 – Nurses and AI: Addressing fear, skepticism, and job replacement concerns 1:14:00 – A conversation with chief nursing officers about AI policy 1:20:09 – What AI cannot replace: The human nurse-patient connection 1:23:25 – Why there aren't enough nursing instructors (and who's not taking those jobs) 1:28:09 – The cognitive load risk of AI taking over routine nursing tasks 1:30:53 – How simulation labs use PatientReady as augmentation, not replacement 1:23:53 – New grad nurse in a headset: What the experience actually looks like 1:35:12 – Pre-briefing, objectives, and NCLEX-aligned competency assessments 1:39:12 – AI debrief: The controversial feature that's dividing nursing professors 1:46:28 – Custom scenario design: How professors write their own simulations with AI 1:49:48 – Overcoming writer's block with AI: From weeks to days for scenario creation 1:53:27 – The billion-dollar question: How would Ryan invest $1B in healthcare? 1:55:28 – Ryan's honest answer: Nurses need a raise 1:55:56 – Role shifts in healthcare: EMS, NPs, PAs, and AI prescribing 2:09:49 – The origin of Rosa's $1 billion question (from the See You Now podcast) 2:14:48 – What Rosa finds consistently across every health system visited 2:23:10 – Where to learn more about PatientReady 2:30:44 – PatientReady ranked #5 Most Innovative Education Company by Fast Company 2:37:33 – How to connect with Ryan (LinkedIn & email) 2:39:10 – Closing thoughts and listener call to action Links & Resources PatientReady: getpatientready.com Email Ryan: [email protected] Connect on LinkedIn Enjoying the show? Follow Nurse Rosa's INsights and leave a rating; it helps more nurses find these conversations.