Nurses in Saudi Arabia and across the Gulf have spent the past two days building artificial intelligence and digital tools aimed at improving patient safety and easing pressure on hospital staff.
King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSH&RC) hosted the “Future of Nursing: AI and Innovation” hackathon on 1 and 2 November 2026, in partnership with the Center of Digital Entrepreneurship, according to Arab News.
Key facts
- 21 projects were selected from 75 submissions from Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf region.
- Sessions ran in person in Riyadh and online for remote participants.
- Teams had access to prototyping labs and 3D printing facilities.
- Nurses worked alongside healthcare practitioners and technology and AI specialists, with guidance from clinical and technical experts.
- Projects will be judged on 10 November on potential impact, innovation, feasibility and scalability.
- Winning projects will be eligible for incubation and further development, with the aim of moving toward testing in real healthcare settings.
The organisers said the event was designed to empower nurses to use AI and digital technologies to solve everyday problems in patient care and the workplace, with goals of improving patient safety, quality of care and workforce sustainability.
Why nurse-led innovation matters
Nurses are the largest group of health workers worldwide and spend more time with patients than any other profession. That makes them well placed to spot the problems technology could solve, such as:
- Early warning of patient deterioration
- Reducing medication errors
- Cutting time spent on documentation
- Smarter staffing and rota planning
- Falls and pressure ulcer prevention
- Patient education in multiple languages
Too often, digital tools are designed without nurses and then added to their workload. Events that put nurses in the design seat can produce solutions that actually fit clinical reality.
Saudi Arabia’s nursing workforce
Saudi Arabia relies heavily on internationally recruited nurses from countries including the Philippines, India, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Malaysia, while also expanding Saudi nursing education under its Vision 2030 health transformation plans. Digital health and AI are central to those plans, and nurses with digital skills are increasingly valued.
A note of caution on AI in nursing
The World Health Organization has published guidance on the ethics and governance of AI for health, stressing principles such as protecting autonomy, ensuring safety, transparency, accountability, equity and sustainability. For nurses, that means:
- AI tools should support, not replace, professional judgement.
- Patient data must be protected.
- Tools should be tested for bias, including across different skin tones, languages and populations.
- Nurses should be involved in evaluating whether tools improve care in practice.
How nurses can build digital skills
- Take free online courses in health informatics and data basics.
- Volunteer for electronic health record or digital projects in your hospital.
- Join innovation challenges and hackathons. Many are open to clinicians without coding experience.
- Learn the basics of quality improvement, which helps turn ideas into measurable change.