The summit is one of the world’s leading gatherings for health leaders, policymakers, researchers, innovators and youth delegates shaping the future of global health. Faridat has written a blog about the summit saying: “It was an experience that reminded me that nurses are not just deliverers of care, we are architects of health systems.”

From Local Voice to Global Platform

When I first joined Manx Care as a nurse, my focus was simple: to provide safe, compassionate care. Over time, my role as an RCN learning rep helped me realise that empowering staff through learning and professional development is a form of advocacy in itself.

That same spirit took me to Berlin where conversations on AI, digital transformation, and health equity connected directly to what we face every day on the wards.

I also joined sessions on AI in Healthcare: From Implementation to Impact at Scale and Empowering the Global Health Workforce through Lifelong Learning Models both of which echoed the same message: A digitally competent and well-supported workforce is the backbone of resilient health systems.

I was invited to the Google Health Roundtable on ‘Context is Key: Building Health AI for Everyone, Everywhere’ alongside industry leaders. There, I shared real-life insights about responsibly using generative AI tools (e.g. Microsoft Copilot) in clinical practice highlighting the potential and the safeguards needed.

My journey to Berlin was shaped by my work as an RCN Learning Representative, helping colleagues navigate learning resources, build career pathways, and prepare for revalidation or development opportunities.

That same commitment to empowering the workforce is exactly what WHS conversations were centred on.

Lessons that Cross Borders

Across more than 100 sessions, one truth stood out, healthcare challenges are global, but so are the solutions.

Key lessons I brought home:

• Digital readiness starts with people, not technology. Investing in nurses’ confidence to use digital tools is as vital as buying the systems themselves.
• Equity must drive innovation. AI and data shouldn’t widen inequalities; they should help us identify and close them. AI must reflect the realities of the people it serves.
• AI bias in women’s health remains a major global issue, shaped by systemic under-representation, cultural blind spots, and data limitations. AI is powerful, but only when it is ethical and contextual. Context-aware AI is the future: tools that adapt to cultural, linguistic, and resource variations. Health AI is not a tech project, it’s a people project.
• Ethics, transparency and governance must evolve alongside innovation, especially around consent, privacy, and safety.
• Locally generated health data especially from underrepresented regions can inform global responses to disease, inequalities, and system design.
• Cross-country collaboration and public–private partnerships are essential: Countries cannot strengthen their systems alone.
• The most impactful WHS initiatives involved government bodies, NGOs ,private sector innovators, youth and frontline workers and academic institutions.
• Sustainable financing remains a global barrier and requires: long-term investment models, cross-sector collaboration, prioritising cost-effective interventions and ensuring digital transformation does not widen inequalities.

One of the best sessions for me especially as pertaining to my role as an RCN rep was the global health workforce one.

Key insights:

• Lifelong learning builds system resilience. Continuous development is how we future-proof our profession, locally and globally.
• Learning is no longer about what we learn, but how we learn.
• Adaptive models similar to AI recommendation systems can personalise learning to a worker’s needs, pace, and career trajectory.
• Workforce resilience depends on whether health professionals can continuously upskill.

This theme echoed across discussions on global governance and health system evolution.

What This Means for Me

Back home, these lessons are more than theory. They’ve shaped the way I’m developing projects like the ‘Grow Your Career’ event series, aimed at helping staff across Manx Care explore new professional pathways, from Advanced Practice to Digital Nursing.

They have also enabled me to explore a new role in public health and a possible doctorate degree program in AI and technology management.

They’ve also influenced my service evaluation on digital health readiness, which seeks to understand how prepared our workforce is for upcoming technological change.

Why Representation Matters

Standing in a room with global leaders, from WHO executives to AI researchers from Google Health. I realised that the nursing voice is often missing from these conversations.

Yet, who better understands how systems work (and fail) than those who hold them together every day?

“When nurses are part of global dialogue, the solutions become practical, human, and lasting.”

Whether the conversation was about AI governance, pandemic preparedness, equity, or digital transformation, something was abundantly clear: Nurses bring the human lens that global health desperately needs.

We are the bridge between innovation and implementation.

We understand what works, what doesn’t, and why.

Reflections and Looking Ahead

The summit reaffirmed that nurses can influence global health policy, health tech ethics, workforce development and system redesign. But only if we put ourselves in the rooms where these conversations happen.

I am grateful to the RCN for enabling me to bring the voice of frontline staff to a global platform and I’m committed to carrying these insights back home to strengthen our workforce, our systems, and our future.

As a nurse, MBA graduate, and RCN Learning Rep, I’m determined to bridge the gap between global innovation and local implementation.

The World Health Summit wasn’t just an event, it was a reminder that the next chapter of healthcare will be shaped by those who dare to step beyond their job titles and think systemically.

Nursing is global by nature. Whether you’re in Berlin, Belfast, or the Isle of Man, every act of care contributes to a worldwide story of healing, equity, and innovation.

To my fellow RCN members, stay curious, stay engaged, and keep learning. The world is watching what nursing can do next.