Nurses Shouldn't Just Adapt to AI. They Should Shape It. By Dr. Kathy Sienko, O.B.E.

By Dr. Kathy Sienko, O.B.E.
Chief Nursing Officer, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre
Artificial intelligence holds enormous promise for healthcare. It may not cure every disease in the next decade, but it can and is improving care for patients today by reducing administrative burdens, improving communication, and identifying risks earlier. But AI's true value in health depends on the people using it. Nurses are on the front line of patient care and therefore also of technology adoption, using digital systems daily to document care, monitor patients, and support clinical decisions.

As hospitals invest and AI increasingly becomes part of clinical practice, nurses must have a voice in how these technologies are designed, implemented and evaluated. Nurses need a seat at the table from the beginning -- not just when technologies are introduced, but when they are imagined. Who better to identify problems worth solving than the people closest to patients?
Start with a problem worth solving. Every nurse knows the frustration of repetitive documentation, poor communication systems, or workflows that take time away from patients. These frustrations are often where innovation begins.

A 2026 McKinsey survey found that nearly 65% of U.S. nurses surveyed were using more AI tools than a year earlier. Yet adoption remains uneven, and technology is often added to existing workflows without fundamentally improving how nurses work.So why isn’t it working? Start by documenting the problem. How much time does a a new process consume? Does it delay care or increase the risk of errors? What could nurses do differently if that problem were solved?

Frontline experience, backed by 0evidence, gives hospital leaders something concrete to evaluate. Build allies across the hospital Innovation rarely happens within one department. Nurses need colleagues in technology, quality improvement, clinical operations, and research to help turn ideas into practical solutions.
At King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre (KFSH), technology is part of our broader clinical strategy. Collaboration matters because something that looks promising in a demonstration may work very differently during a busy shift.

But collaboration cannot simply mean asking nurses to test a system someone else designed. Nurses should help define problems, develop solutions, and decide how success will be measured.
We must also invest in nurses as innovators and leaders, giving them the skills and opportunities to influence the future of care. Think Different. Demonstrate Value. Then Scale.

Steve Jobs famously urged us to "Think different." For nurses, that might mean questioning why a process exists or imagining a better way to meet patients' needs.
Innovation doesn't always require the latest technology. Sometimes it begins with a simple question: could we do this better? At KFSH, our Future of Nursing: AI & Innovation Hackathon encourages nurses to bring their clinical experience and creativity into developing new solutions. Nurses understand the realities of patient care, and that experience should shape the technologies they use.
Of course, a good idea must prove itself. Test the approach, listen to colleagues and patients, and measure results. Does it save time, improve safety, or give nurses more capacity for direct patient care?

When something works, we should move beyond isolated pilots. Measurable results should lead to broader adoption, making successful innovations part of everyday care.
Keep people at the center. Nurses are already being asked to do more with less. Growing patient demands, administrative responsibilities, and workforce pressures leave little room for unnecessary complexity. AI should ease those pressures, not create new ones. Making existing processes faster isn't enough. The real opportunity is to give nurses more time to exercise the judgment, compassion, creativity, and intuition that define our profession.

As AI becomes more sophisticated, nurses must help decide where it adds value and where human judgment remains indispensable. Nurses notice concerns that may not appear in data, respond to changing patient needs, and offer empathy and reassurance that technology cannot replace. The future of nursing should not simply happen to nurses. We should help shape it.
That means having a voice in setting the AI innovation agenda, not just implementing decisions made elsewhere. By identifying problems, working across disciplines, and demonstrating what works, nurses can help ensure AI delivers what healthcare needs most: better patient care, fewer unnecessary tasks, and more time to care for people.