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

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.

To examine undergraduate nursing students' online information-seeking behaviours when developing nursing care plans during clinical placements, including their use of artificial intelligence tools.

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.

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.

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.