Beyond Competency: Developing Critical Digital Capabilities in Nursing Students Through Freirean Pedagogy.

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Nursing Education
• Critical Pedagogy

Background:

• Digitalization is transforming healthcare, creating new challenges for nursing practice.
• Current nursing education may lack critical and theoretical frameworks for digital transformation.
• Nursing is in the early stages of digital transformation, requiring enhanced digital literacy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore how Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy can address gaps in digital skills for nursing students.
• To propose a pedagogical model fostering critical examination of digital tools in healthcare.
• To advocate for educational approaches promoting reflective and ethical engagement with technology.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of Paulo Freire's pedagogical concepts: problem-posing education, conscientization, dialogue, and praxis.
• Application of Freirean principles to contemporary nursing education and digital challenges.
• Development of a proposed pedagogical model for nursing students.

Main Results:

• Freire's pedagogy can foster critical digital skills by encouraging examination of socio-political and ethical implications.
• A shift from competency-based to reflective, dialogical, and ethically informed educational approaches is proposed.
• The approach aims to cultivate a philosophically engaged nursing workforce for the digital healthcare era.

Conclusions:

• Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy offers a framework to enhance nursing students' digital literacy and critical thinking.
• This approach supports preserving core nursing values while embracing digital transformation.
• It promotes a more philosophically grounded and ethically aware nursing profession in a digitalized healthcare landscape.