Nursing students and Internet health information

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Nursing Education

Background:

• The internet is a primary source of health information for many individuals.
• Nursing students require strong digital literacy skills to navigate and critically appraise online health resources.
• Assessing patients' internet use for health information is increasingly relevant in patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate internet health information seeking and evaluation practices among undergraduate nursing students.
• To identify gaps in nursing students' competencies regarding online health information retrieval and assessment.
• To explore the extent to which nursing students discuss or assess patients' use of internet health information.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective descriptive postal survey design was employed.
• Questionnaires were distributed to all undergraduate Bachelor of Nursing students at a New Zealand university in 2005.
• A response rate of 50% (174 responses) was achieved.

Main Results:

• Significant variability was observed in students' ability to effectively search for and evaluate internet-based health and nursing information.
• A small proportion of respondents reported assessing patients' internet health information use or assisting patients with evaluation.
• Core nursing competencies include searching, evaluating, and sharing online information.

Conclusions:

• Formal education is essential to develop and standardize nursing students' competency in retrieving and assessing internet health information.
• Integrating digital literacy skills into nursing curricula is vital for preparing nurses to work with informed health consumers.
• Addressing these skills is a critical step in adapting nursing practice to the digital age.