From skills to smart care: The mediating role of digital literacy in the relationship between digital competence and medical artificial intelligence readiness among nursing students.

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare requires nurses to possess strong digital competence, advanced digital literacy, and readiness to engage with AI technologies. Despite this need, the ways in which digital competence influences AI readiness, and the mediating role of digital literacy, remain underexplored. This descriptive cross-sectional study examined 500 undergraduate nursing students from two Universities for Health Sciences in Saudi Arabia and Egypt using validated measures of digital competence, digital literacy, and medical AI readiness. Results indicated strong positive correlations between digital competence, digital literacy, and AI readiness, with digital literacy partially mediating the effect of digital competence on AI readiness. These findings highlight the importance of integrating ethical, reflective, and AI-focused digital literacy alongside technical skills in nursing education, ensuring that future nurses are prepared to use medical AI effectively and safely, thereby supporting clinical decision-making and improving quality of care.