aiexpress – The worlds of healthcare and higher education have a mixed view of artificial intelligence (AI), with both optimism and skepticism. According to a survey conducted by BestColleges among 1,000 respondents nationwide who were currently enrolled in an on-campus, online, or hybrid undergraduate or graduate degree program, NurseJournal explored attitudes about AI. The survey revealed that nursing students and other health professions students have confidence in their own ability to use AI responsibly, but also have concerns about its benefits in the hands of others or in healthcare practice as a whole.
According to the survey, slightly more than half of nursing and other health professions students (53%) utilized generative AI tools like ChatGPT to fulfill assignments or exams. Interestingly, an equivalent proportion of students also believed that employing AI for such purposes should be considered cheating or plagiarism.
According to the study, it is interesting to note that only 33% of health and nursing students expressed their trust in colleges using AI to assist in college admission decisions. Moreover, an even lower percentage of 32% of students had confidence in colleges utilizing AI tools for administrative tasks like sorting and processing. This data highlights the lack of trust students have in the capabilities of AI within the education system.
Only 37% of health and nursing students believe it is acceptable to utilize AI tools for job applications, while 32% disagree and 31% remain neutral.
BestColleges, a website dedicated to education and career resources and planning, is owned by Red Ventures, the same company that owns NurseJournal.
Ongoing Mistrust of AI
According to a survey conducted by BestColleges, college students have mixed feelings about AI, with mistrust being a common factor. Out of all the respondents, 39% considered the use of AI tools on job applications acceptable, while 55% believed it would provide unfair advantages.
According to a survey conducted by AI company Krista Software in June 2023, concerns about AI extend beyond healthcare or higher education. The survey revealed that there is widespread societal skepticism of AI on various topics, including crime and Christmas shopping.
The authors of the Krista study noted that Americans are still hesitant to let AI make decisions or perform tasks that could potentially impact them, ranging from choosing an outfit to teaching or even writing laws.
According to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center in August, it was discovered that 52% of Americans expressed more concern than excitement regarding the growing use of this emerging technology, whereas only 10% felt more excited than concerned.
According to the researchers at Pew, previous studies have shown that Americans have expressed their concerns about artificial intelligence (AI). These concerns include a strong desire to retain human control over AI technologies, skepticism about the potential improvements brought by AI, and caution regarding the rapid adoption of AI in fields like health and medicine.
Nursing and Health Students May Receive Less Exposure to AI
At the same time, all students seem to be using AI for their own reasons, even though some might be worried about unfair benefits. 56% of the undergraduate and graduate students who answered the BestColleges poll said they had used AI on homework or tests, while 41% said they hadn’t and 4% said they didn’t want to answer.
53% of health and nursing students said they used AI to help them with homework or tests, while 44% said they didn’t and 3% said they didn’t want to say. On the other hand, 56% of health and nursing students said that using AI tools to do homework or take tests is cheating or copying. Only 17% disagreed, and 27% were not sure.
A lot of nursing and health students who answered the survey said they were exposed to AI in some way as part of their education, though not as much as students in the general community.
Just under half of nursing and health professions students (49%) said they had to use AI for homework, and about three quarters of health and nursing students (73%) said at least one teacher talked about the use or ethics of AI in the classroom.
The numbers are lower than those found in the BestColleges poll of general undergraduate and graduate students. That survey found that 53% of students had coursework that required AI and that 79% of those students learned about the use and ethics of AI in the classroom.
This probably doesn’t come as a surprise to nursing school faculty, who have long said that schools need to keep faculty more up to date on technology skills.
Over half of health and nursing students (51%) say they are afraid about how AI will change the future job market. Not even a quarter of people (23%) disagreed, and 26% were not sure either way.
