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  • Nurses
  • Educators
  • Practice development leads

Build with AI

Illustration of diverse nurses collaborating around a table and whiteboard to design practical clinical workflow tools
Three NCD Stages1. Foundation · 2. Builder · 3. Advanced (Governed)
Free Training100 vetted free AI, platform & clinical courses
Safety EscalationInvolve IG (DPIA) & CSO (DCB0129/0160) before touching patient data

A nurse citizen developer is a nurse who uses accessible tools, increasingly AI, to build simple digital solutions to problems they see in practice. Nurses know where the workarounds, delays and frustrations are. Building tools lets that knowledge shape the technology, instead of waiting for it.

Read the full idea in The nurse citizen developer.

The NCD route​

1

Foundation

Use AI well: clear prompts, careful checking, and the three nursing lenses for drafting, summarising and explaining with approved tools.

2

Builder

Make reusable resources that never touch patient data: prompt templates, teaching tools, static web pages, and team checklists.

3

Advanced

Co-design tools for real services with your digital, IG, and Clinical Safety Officer teams (DCB0129/DCB0160 and DPIA).

StageWhat you doExamples
FoundationUse AI well: clear prompts, careful checking, the three lensesDrafting, summarising and explaining with approved tools
BuilderMake reusable things that don't touch patient dataPrompt templates, teaching resources, forms, static web pages, checklists
AdvancedBuild tools for real services, with governanceAnything that handles personal data or supports care decisions, built with your digital and clinical safety teams

Build safely: the nursing process for tools​

Building a tool follows the same cycle as care:

  1. Assess the problem. Who is affected? What happens now? What matters to staff and patients?
  2. Plan the smallest thing that would help, and decide what data it will and won't touch.
  3. Implement it with approved tools. Keep patient data out unless your organisation has approved the design.
  4. Evaluate it with the people who use it, and keep improving it.

When to stop and get help​

Stop and talk to your organisation's digital, information governance and clinical safety teams before building anything that:

  • stores or processes personal or patient data
  • could influence a clinical decision (it may count as a medical device)
  • will be used by other people as part of their work.

These are signs your tool needs DCB0129/DCB0160 clinical safety work and a DPIA. See Governance and safety.

Tools to start with​