A series of surprising developments including the release of generative chatbots like ChatGPT has rapidly increased awareness of the growing capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI), sending shock waves through the research, academic, and nursing education community. As a nurse educator, I initially became interested in the power of AI (in all its forms) to speed the research process and improve investigator workflows. Over time, it became evident that nursing students might benefit from AI in their study methods and when acquiring nursing knowledge to support their academic success.

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To better understand this, it is helpful to consider the three fundamental stages in which nursing students acquire knowledge and explore how AI can play a pivotal role in each stage. This blog post will include an overview of AI-powered tools with example prompts to guide students’ academic efforts.

Preparation–Cognitive Stage

In this stage, nursing students are mastering knowledge foundational to nursing practice, including remembering and retaining facts and essential concepts. Students find themselves in this stage when they are learning new content. Open-access large language models (LLMs) in the form of chatbots can support students in this stage by providing concise summaries of pathophysiology, pharmacology, and disease management. AI can also serve as a teaching assistant to help students clarify complex concepts and content. When using an LLM like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, students can try the following example prompts:

  • “Explain the concept of cardiac output in CHF.”
  • “What physiological changes occur in the body due to CHF?”
  • “Provide me with a summary of the latest guidelines on CHF management.”

Practice–Associative Stage

This stage is marked by mastering the fundamentals, with a need to deepen and apply knowledge. This stage is often necessary to master application-style or NCLEX-style test questions. AI can help generate case studies that challenge students to apply their knowledge to realistic patient scenarios. Using chatbots to ask students probing questions allows the students to role-play back and forth with the chatbot to clarify the application and gain a deeper understanding of the applied content. Below are some example prompts to get started:

  • “Given a patient case with CHF symptoms, what would be your nursing diagnosis and care plan?”
  • “How would you prioritize nursing interventions for a CHF patient with comorbid diabetes?”
  • “Role-play a scenario where you educate a patient about self-managing CHF at home.”

Performance–Autonomous Stage

In the final stage, students begin to evaluate their clinical reasoning, application, and decision-making skills, demonstrating a deep understanding of their knowledge and application abilities. AI can support students in this phase by developing complex case studies that allow students to make decisions requiring integrated knowledge autonomously. Additionally, an element of reflection and advanced scenarios can further support enhanced performance when applying knowledge in clinical applications and scenarios. Below are some example prompts for using chatbots in the performance stage:

  • “Develop a comprehensive care plan for a CHF patient presenting with acute pulmonary edema.”
  • “Reflect on a time you encountered a CHF patient in clinicals and discuss how you managed the care and any areas for improvement.”
  • “Create a simulated emergency situation involving a CHF patient and guide me through the steps of acute management.”

Proceeding with Caution

There are some relevant and warranted concerns with using AI. Nurse educators, including myself, are reluctant to recommend AI for student support. While there are many concerns about using AI in various contexts, the primary concern with recommending AI chatbots for students is the possibility and inevitability of inaccurate information. The following tips can help students understand the risks and benefits of using AI as a study aide in nursing education:

  • Ensure students understand that inaccurate information is possible and stress the importance of verifying AI outputs against reputable sources. Nurse educators can support this by generating content and walking students through verification.
  • While chatbots provide quick returns on requests, they are not meant to be a shortcut and should augment learning, not be used as a replacement or shortcut.
  • Nursing students will experiment with chatbots and other forms of AI. Nurse educators should implement effective and responsible ways to use AI in their learning journey instead of avoiding the topic. This might lead to ineffective use of the tools, such as plagiarism, using inaccurate information in class and clinical, and other forms of academic dishonesty.

Whether we like it or not, whether we agree with it or not, AI is here to stay. Nurse educators must learn safe and effective ways to support students’ inevitable use of AI. Nursing students must understand the risks and benefits and program policies should address the consequences and safe use of AI to support learning.

A Few Tips for Graduate Students

Graduate nursing students frequently need support with writing academic-style papers to demonstrate their advanced knowledge and skills. ChatGPT recently underwent a significant upgrade and now allows paid subscribers to upload a document for analysis. Students can use the following example prompts to support their skills after uploading a paper:

  • “Provide a detailed critique of this paper.”
  • “Check the paper for grammar and flow.”
  • “Evaluate the paper’s readability, accuracy, and academic strength.”

Justin Fontenot DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FAADN, is an assistant professor of Nursing in the LHC Group • Myers School of Nursing at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He is also the editor-in-chief of Teaching and Learning in Nursing.