The use of artificial intelligence in the field of health is becoming increasingly widespread. For this reason, nursing students who are still in the education stage should be ready for artificial intelligence. The use of artificial intelligence, which is today’s innovation, by students providing healthcare services is also related to the innovation levels of students [29]. In this context, our study was conducted to determine the individual innovativeness and readiness levels of nursing students for medical artificial intelligence and the relationship between these two variables.
In Turkey, the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) aims to ensure that a student receiving undergraduate level education has the competence to use professional practice, education, management, research information and care technologies [30]. In this context, YÖK, which is responsible for undergraduate and graduate education, has initiated an important study on integrating today’s technology into undergraduate education in curriculum content and encouraged universities in this regard. In line with the goals of YÖK, universities have conducted workshops and started to update their curricula by adding courses on innovation and artificial intelligence [30, 31]. In this context, our study reveals the current status of students’ attitudes towards artificial intelligence and individual innovativeness before the new educational initiative that will start in Turkey.
Although artificial intelligence applications and artificial intelligence-supported robots have started to be used in some hospitals, the use of this service in the clinic is still in the preparation stage in our country. Therefore, it is important to determine the readiness of nursing students for this technology, which is inevitable to be used in the future [32]. In the present study, the students were ready for medical artificial intelligence the high (Tablo 2). A limited number of studies that examined the readiness of nursing students for medical artificial intelligence were found in the literature [12, 19, 33,34,35,36] and it appeared that the students were aware and willing to explore and use the effectiveness of medical artificial intelligence in professional practices in the dimension of the advantages of artificial intelligence applications. Likewise, the study by Labraque et al., (2023) reported that the readiness of student nurses for medical artificial intelligence was high level and evaluated that the students adopted the use of medical artificial intelligence in nursing practices and they would be more willing to incorporate medical artificial intelligence into their practices in the future. Concordantly, in parallel with finding of the present study and similar results in the literature, it is foreseeable that nursing students from Generation Z will progressively develop a greater interest in medical artificial intelligence applications, and will tend to these applications in nursing care, given their characteristics of following technology closely, their interest in online platforms, their active use of social media, and their ability to access information quickly.
In the present study, the students had the highest score on the ability subscale among the subscales of the MAIRS and they used artificial intelligence applications at an insufficient level in the professional dimension (Table 2). Concordantly, this finding of the study is consistent with the results of studies in the literature [2, 24, 33, 36] and shows that nurses and nursing students do not use artificial intelligence sufficiently in the professional dimension. Therefore, students are not yet sufficiently exposed to medical artificial intelligence hardware and software. Nursing students think that they experience artificial intelligence applications mostly in technological devices that they use personally, such as phones and computers.
The lowest score of the students participating in our study was obtained from the prediction sub-dimension of the Medical Artificial Intelligence Readiness Scale. This finding suggests that students cannot predict the extent to which artificial intelligence can reach in the future. Similar results were obtained in a study conducted in a similar sample group to our study [19], but in a study conducted in a different sample group, the students’ scores were found to be higher [37]. This difference is thought to be due to the different occupational groups of the students and the predictability of the future of the profession.
Artificial intelligence is considered a modern-day innovation [38]. In this study was determined in the present study that the nursing students had a traditionalist trait based on their IIS mean scores (Table 2). Some studies in the literature that examined the individual innovativeness levels of nursing students also found that students were in the traditionalist category, and the results are compatible with findings of the present study [8, 39, 40]. In parallel with our research and similar findings in the literature, it shows that nursing students are not open to innovation, do not keep up to date, avoid taking risks and taking the lead in innovative practices, and are individuals who resist innovation and accept innovation last [26]. Contrary to our research finding, there are studies showing that nursing students have high individual innovativeness [41, 42]. This difference is thought to be due to the education and cultural characteristics of the students. Since traditional educational approaches are generally based on one-way knowledge transfer, students’ development of critical thinking and creative problem solving skills is limited. On the other hand, innovative technologies and active learning strategies allow students to generate their own ideas, think critically and develop creative solutions by encouraging active participation in the lesson. Especially in nursing education, critical thinking skills are critical for providing quality care, using technology effectively and adapting to changing environments, and the integration of contemporary technologies into the curriculum significantly supports students’ innovative behaviors [3, 29].
In parallel with our research and similar findings in the literature, it shows that nursing students are not open to innovation, do not keep up to date, avoid taking risks and taking the lead in innovative practices, and are individuals who resist innovation and accept it last [19, 26]. Contrary to our research finding, there are studies showing that nursing students have high individual innovativeness [41, 42]. This difference is thought to be due to the education and cultural characteristics of the students. Since traditional educational approaches are generally based on one-way knowledge transfer, students’ development of critical thinking and creative problem solving skills are limited. On the other hand, innovative technologies and active learning strategies allow students to generate their ideas, think critically, and develop creative solutions by encouraging active participation in the lesson [41]. Especially in nursing education, critical thinking skills are critical for providing quality care, using technology effectively and adapting to changing environments, and the integration of contemporary technologies into the curriculum significantly supports students’ innovative behaviours [3, 29].
Within the scope of our study, it was determined that the students obtained the highest score from the sub-dimensions of the CBM scale from the idea leadership and the lowest score from the risk-taking sub-dimension. Similar results were obtained in studies in the literature [8, 29]. In line with all these findings, it can be said that nursing students do not have the willingness to change [8].
In this study, a statistically significant and positive weak correlation was found between the IIS and MAIRS total mean scores (r =.172; p =.001) (Table 3). With a comprehensive review of the literature, a study examining the relationship between the sense of openness to innovation and medical artificial intelligence readiness in nursing students was found and the results were similar. It is thought that the findings of this study will contribute significantly to the body of research on individual innovativeness and AI. In the literature, a similar relationship was found in a study examining nursing students’ readiness for medical artificial intelligence and their individual innovativeness [19].
When the readiness levels of the nursing students participating in the study were compared with their individual characteristics, it was found that there was a significant difference with gender, class, feeling open to innovation, receiving training on artificial intelligence, and the use of artificial intelligence in the field of health (Table 4). In our study, the scores of males, first graders, those who had knowledge about artificial intelligence and those who had knowledge about the use of artificial intelligence in the field of health were found to be higher. Our research results are similar to the results of studies conducted with male nursing [19, 34], medical and dental students [24, 43] in the literature, and there is a study showing that gender does not affect the level of artificial intelligence readiness [43]. These results may be associated with the fact that male students are more intertwined with technology [44]. Similar to our study Labrague et al., (2023) also found that first-year students had a high mean score of readiness for artificial intelligence. Parallel to these findings, it can be asserted that younger students are more familiar with and interested in technological devices and artificial intelligence applications that are involved in life. In this study, it was determined that students who received training on artificial intelligence and felt open to innovation scored higher. This is an expected result and is in line with the literature [44, 45]. A study conducted in Türkiye in 2021 reported that nursing students had opinions about medical artificial intelligence and were willing to use it in their professional lives, but they had insufficient knowledge about artificial intelligence, so they were concerned about using medical artificial intelligence [22]. Some universities in Türkiye give information technology courses, but the courses cover only theoretical aspects and lack content related to the concept of artificial intelligence. In this sense, experimental study conducted by Taşkıran (2023), who trained nursing students on medical artificial intelligence in order to assess the effectiveness of the information technologies course with artificial intelligence content, found that the course positively affected the readiness of the students for medical artificial intelligence [4]. In this context, it can be asserted that medical artificial intelligence knowledge and practices to be integrated into the nursing curricula will encourage students to use artificial intelligence.
When the individual innovativeness levels of the nursing students participating in the study were compared with their individual characteristics, it was determined that they were affected by gender, class, feeling open to innovation and having knowledge about artificial intelligence and its use in the field of health Table 4). Male students participating in the study were found to be more innovative. These findings are similar to the research results in the literature [29, 46,47,48,49]. In the present study, the individual innovativeness level of the final-year students was found to higest of the students, and a statistically significant difference was obtained between the groups. Studies conducted in Turkey [46] and China [49] has reached a similar conclusion to the present study. As a matter of fact, the study showing that class has no effect on students’ innovativeness levels is also included in the literature [19]. According to this research and literature, it is seen that the innovation perspectives of senior students develop in direct proportion to their educational processes, although not at the expected level. It can be said that the educational content offered to students to gain an innovative perspective is effective in improving the level of innovation [41]. It is an expected result that those who feel open to innovation and have knowledge about artificial intelligence and its use in the field of health have high levels of individual innovativeness. Research results in the literature are also similar to our findings [48, 50,51,52].
The present study revealed statistically significant correlations between both scales and their subscales in terms of feeling open to innovation and readiness for medical artificial intelligence (Table 3). Although the students felt themselves open to innovation, their traditionalism and readiness for artificial intelligence were at an above-average level. Studies in the literature have found that nursing students feel themselves open to innovation [48, 51, 52]. This may be due to the fact that students have foresight about the future of artificial intelligence, are cautious by being aware of possible ethical problems [33], and experience technological shortcomings [4, 33]. Nursing students’ level of openness to innovation is thought to contribute to their use of artificial intelligence in the professional field by contributing to their adoption of an innovative perspective.
Limitations
The study has some limitations. The first limitation is that the data were collected from two universities. Therefore, the data cannot be generalized to all nursing students. The second limitation is that the study was conducted only with undergraduate nurses. It cannot be generalized to different education programs carried out in nursing education.
Implications for nurse education
Based on the results of the study, some implications for nursing education were identified. In this context, the education of nursing students should be based on educating students with an innovative perspective. Nursing education programs should prioritize the development of students’ individual innovation levels and technological competencies. In this way, students can master high-level technology such as artificial intelligence and improve patient care outcomes by following the current trends in the field of health and being equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills.
