Nursing Students’ Information Seeking Behavior in Saudi Arabia: A Mixed-Method Study

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Introduction: Nursing care plans are fundamental learning tools for assessing students' clinical judgment, yet documentation quality is influenced by resource accessibility and information-seeking competence. Despite growing emphasis on evidence-based practice and digital literacy, limited research examines how nursing students identify, evaluate, and apply information sources-particularly artificial intelligence-when developing care plans during clinical placements. Objectives: To examine undergraduate nursing students' online information-seeking behaviours when developing nursing care plans during clinical placements, including their use of artificial intelligence tools. Methods: Convergent mixed-methods study at a single Saudi university. Eligible undergraduate nursing students were engaged in clinical courses requiring care plan development. Sixteen final-year students were purposively sampled for four focus groups, and all 192 eligible students were invited to a cross-sectional survey; 157 responded (81.7%). The survey used a validated 17-item information-seeking assessment tool. Qualitative and quantitative strands were collected concurrently, analysed separately-thematically and via descriptive statistics-and integrated at interpretation; no inferential tests were performed. Results: Qualitative findings revealed persistent challenges including time constraints and variable clinical staff collaboration; students used cross-checking and peer consultation to ensure credibility, though concerns about artificial intelligence reliability persisted. Quantitatively, students reported high confidence in online information-seeking (aggregate mean 4.14/5.0), drawing on multiple sources including professional databases and artificial intelligence tools. Conclusions: While nursing students demonstrate confidence as information seekers, gaps exist between perceived competence and actual critical appraisal skills. Although derived from a single Saudi university using a descriptive design, findings may be transferable to programmes facing similar challenges in integrating digital health literacy and emerging technologies into clinical training.

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