Exploring Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Perception on AI Integration in the Classroom

A Descriptive Qualitative Study

Abstract

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The sudden emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the healthcare industry has brought into being a paradigm shift needed but restless in the field of nursing education. These two approaches to learning and knowledge transfer are the most important because the curricular gap between the old and the new digital reality of the modern clinical practice and the ways to negotiate these technologies in nursing students is growing wider with each passing day. This qualitative research is a descriptive study that will examine the perceptions, attitudes, and lived experiences of undergraduate nursing students in terms of the application of AI tools, namely Generative AI (GenAI) and Virtual Reality (VR), in the classroom and clinical learning settings. Data were gathered using semi-structured philosophy of focus groups with undergraduate nursing students (N=22) to reflect on the student experience in order to capture its essence in terms of the descriptive phenomenological approach. The interpretations of the qualitative data were done using thematic analysis. The results indicate the complex dichotomy of the student perceptions. Although the students do see the possibility of AI improving the efficiency of learning, tailoring study schedules and offering secure and simulated clinical settings, there are major challenges when it comes to professional identity. Overwhelming themes included: AI as an Efficiency Tool vs. Critical Thinking Barrier, The Safety Net of Virtual Reality, and Ethical Anxiety and The Hidden Curriculum. The participants were deeply worried about the fact that the overuse of AI could destroy the fundamental humanistic nursing competencies and compassion and create such a phenomenon as de-skilling. The research concludes that students are usually prepared to accept AI technically, but they do not have the required ethical frameworks and institutional guidance that they could be sure. Therefore, AI introduction into nursing education should not be technical but pedagogical by focusing on both AI literacy and human-centered care. These observations can guide educators to plan their curricula based on the idea that AI could be used as a guide, not to replace the critical thinking of nursing.