ChatGPT usage among nursing students in Taiwan: a qualitative study

ChatGPT enhances students’ understanding of complex healthcare concepts and demonstrates significant potential for nursing education and research. In Taiwan, nursing students have used ChatGPT independently in various courses. Understanding students’ perspectives is essential to nursing education, and ChatGPT shows promise as an educational tool; nonetheless, further empirical research is required to fully understand the impact of ChatGPT usage on education. This study included 20 nursing students (15 females, five males) enrolled in a 4-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program in Eastern Taiwan. A qualitative research approach with purposive and snowball sampling was employed to gather information on nursing students’ experiences in online practicum courses. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the collected data were analyzed using an eight-step content analysis process. The research was conducted in private spaces convenient for the participants. In-depth interviews revealed the advantages: “Convenient artificial intelligence (AI) assistant,” and “Enhancing self-learning effectiveness,” and disadvantages: “Challenges of ChatGPT usage,” and “Gap between ChatGPT and nursing.” Each main theme comprised three to four subthemes. Generative AI is a valuable assistive tool that supports students in nursing practice. However, nursing educators should guide students in using generative AI appropriately and incorporate it into their instructional strategies.