The Association Between Perceived Ability to Use Artificial Intelligence, Self-Reported Nursing Productivity, and...

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are increasingly available to nurses, but it is unclear how nurses' perceived ability to use them relates to self-reported work outcomes in Saudi Arabia. This study examined the associations of perceived ability to use AI with self-reported nursing productivity and self-reported practice readiness.

A multicentre cross-sectional survey was conducted between January and March 2025 among a convenience sample of 250 nurses working in general hospitals in five Saudi cities or regions, and it was reported in accordance with the STROBE statement. The questionnaire comprised sociodemographic, professional and AI-use items, the eight-item "Perceived ability to use AI" subscale, the six-item Nursing Productivity Scale and the Nursing Practice Readiness Scale (NPRS). Analyses used Spearman correlations with bootstrap confidence intervals, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests with Benjamini-Hochberg control of the false discovery rate, and multivariable linear models with HC3 heteroscedasticity-consistent standard errors, reported as unstandardized coefficients with 95% confidence intervals.

Mean scores were 27.95 (SD, 7.94) for perceived ability to use AI, 21.50 (SD, 5.42) for productivity and 109.92 (SD, 23.77) for practice readiness. Perceived ability to use AI was correlated with productivity (r_s = 0.638, 95% CI 0.529 to 0.727) and with practice readiness (r_s = 0.479, 95% CI 0.363 to 0.580), and productivity was correlated with readiness (r_s = 0.642, 95% CI 0.548 to 0.721). In the adjusted model with HC3 standard errors, each additional point of perceived ability to use AI was associated with 0.38 points of productivity (95% CI 0.28 to 0.49) and 0.80 points of readiness (95% CI 0.45 to 1.14).

Nurses who rated their ability to use AI more highly also rated their own productivity and practice readiness more highly. The cross-sectional design, convenience sampling, common-method variance and the absence of any objective performance or patient outcome mean that these findings are associations among self-reports.