Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: Legal Risk Management Considerations in Nursing Practice

Disclaimer: The CNPS does not endorse the use of specific technologies, including AI. This publication is for information purposes only, as an overview of some legal issues relevant to professional nursing practice. It is not intended as and cannot be a substitute for legal advice. To obtain advice about a specific situation, please speak to a lawyer.

The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies across the healthcare sector is rapidly accelerating, increasing the likelihood that nurses will encounter AI in their professional environment.¹ AI encompasses a wide range of powerful technologies that can be expected to significantly transform healthcare and improve patient outcomes. For example, AI-assisted tools can be used to enhance research and knowledge management capabilities, optimize clinical analysis, increase diagnostic accuracy, enable remote monitoring, and reduce workloads by streamlining administrative tasks.

Integrating AI into healthcare requires careful management of risks, including monitoring the reliability of AI outputs, mitigating bias in decision-making, safeguarding the privacy and security of health information, and obtaining informed consent for the use of personal health information by AI. The new risks associated with the use of AI should be clearly identified and managed, to allow nurses to continue to meet their legal, professional, and ethical obligations.

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1. Canada’s Drug Agency (March 2025) “Horizon Scan 2025 Watch List: Artificial Intelligence in Health Care”; Canadian Journal of Health Technologies Vol. 5 Iss. 3; Canada Health Infoway (2024), “Infoway Insights: 2023 Canadian Survey of Nurses”.