Background: 21st century skills are critical for health professionals to adapt to a changing world. Purpose:  This study was conducted to examine the relationship between computational thinking, digital literacy, and 21st century skills among students in health education. Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with 778 students enrolled at the Faculty of Health Sciences in a province in eastern Turkey between July and December 2024. Computational thinking scale, digital literacy scale and 21st century skills scale were used in the study. Results: Correlation analyses showed that digital literacy was moderately and positively correlated with computational thinking (r = .529, p < .001) and multidimensional 21st century skills (r = .477, p < .001). Computational thinking also demonstrated a moderate positive correlation with multidimensional 21st century skills (r = .441, p < .001). Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that computational thinking and digital literacy together significantly predicted multidimensional 21st century skills, accounting for 27.7% of the variance (R² = .277). Both predictors showed significant positive standardized effects (computational thinking: β = .262, p < .001; digital literacy: β = .338, p < .001).

Conclusions: The findings suggest that in order to develop 21st century skills in health education, it is necessary to support algorithmic thinking and digital literacy as a combined effort. Implications for Nursing: Nursing curricula should incorporate algorithmic thinking and the use of digital tools holistically; clinical and applied courses should provide learning opportunities in which students can apply 21 st-century skills in real-life contexts.