Healthcare misinformation: Recognition and response in pre-licensure nursing education

Background and objective: The amount of medical misinformation accessible to the public presents challenges for the healthcare community. Nursing graduates require knowledge, skills, and attitudes to enter practice prepared to recognize and respond to misinformation.  The aim of the study was to assess the student nurse’s ability to recognize and respond to misinformation in the media.Methods: A total of 14 prelicensure students were recruited for a qualitative study involving watching/listening to birth-related media containing misinformation. Ability to recognize and respond to misinformation was evaluated using reflective journals guided by Tanner’s Clinical Judgment Model.Results: Evidence of components of clinical judgment were noted: noticing in 14/14; interpreting in 11/14; and responding in 8/14 journals. Further analysis yielded themes: media/social media misinformation can impact care that people seek; students recognize nursing responsibility to respond to misinformation; while most are able to recognize misinformation, many do not know how to respond.Conclusions: Students recognized misinformation, but the degree to which they were prepared to respond to it is unclear. Further study is needed to determine the ability of prelicensure students to respond to misinformation and to determine if programs should evaluate for incorporation of misinformation into curricula.