Digital Microlearning for Patient-Safety Readiness in Nursing Students

NCT07367906 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: Digital Microlearning-2026
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 90
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This randomized controlled trial evaluated the effect of a patient safety-focused digital microlearning program on nursing students before and during surgical clinical practice. Nursing students may face patient-safety and clinical decision-making challenges when moving from classroom learning to clinical settings. This study examined whether short, structured, scenario-based digital learning modules could improve patient-safety awareness, clinical error recognition, decision-making under stress, clinical practice readiness, and self-confidence. Second-year undergraduate nursing students were randomly assigned to either a digital microlearning plus standard education group or a standard education control group. Outcomes were measured at baseline before the program, immediately after the intervention, at the end of the first week of surgical clinical practice, and at the end of the seventh week of surgical clinical practice. Weekly ecological momentary assessment prompts were also used during clinical practice to examine safety-related behavioral transfer.

Conditions

Nursing Education; Medical Education; Patient Safety

Keywords

Digital microlearning; Nursing students; Patient safety awareness; Clinical error recognition; Surgical clinical practice; Educational intervention; Mixed methods; Randomized controlled trial; Clinical decision-making

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Patient Safety Awareness

  Change in patient-safety awareness assessed using the Patient Safety Awareness Questionnaire. The questionnaire evaluates students' understanding of patient-safety principles, patient-safety risk recognition, and safe clinical practices in surgical care. Total scores are converted to a 0-100 scale, with higher scores indicating greater patient-safety awareness.

  Baseline before the program (T0), immediately after completion of the intervention (T1), end of the first week of surgical clinical practice (T2), and end of the seventh week of surgical clinical practice (T3).

• Clinical Error Recognition Performance

  Change in clinical error recognition performance assessed using a scenario-based Clinical Error Recognition Test. The test evaluates students' ability to identify patient-safety risks and potential clinical errors in surgical clinical scenarios. Total scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better clinical error recognition performance.

  Baseline before the program (T0), immediately after completion of the intervention (T1), end of the first week of surgical clinical practice (T2), and end of the seventh week of surgical clinical practice (T3).

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Clinical Decision-Making Under Stress

  Baseline before the program (T0), immediately after completion of the intervention (T1), end of the first week of surgical clinical practice (T2), and end of the seventh week of surgical clinical practice (T3).

• Clinical Practice Readiness

  Baseline before the program (T0), immediately after completion of the intervention (T1), end of the first week of surgical clinical practice (T2), and end of the seventh week of surgical clinical practice (T3).

• Clinical Self-Confidence

  Baseline before the program (T0), immediately after completion of the intervention (T1), end of the first week of surgical clinical practice (T2), and end of the seventh week of surgical clinical practice (T3).

• EMA Behavioral Transfer Index

  Weekly during surgical clinical practice weeks 1 through 7.

• Acceptability of the Digital Microlearning Program

  Immediately after completion of the intervention (T1).

Study Arms (2)

Digital Microlearning Intervention Group

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants in this group received a patient safety-focused digital microlearning program in addition to standard education before surgical clinical practice.

Behavioral: Digital Microlearning Program on Patient Safety

Control Group Standard Education

NO INTERVENTION

Participants in this group received standard patient-safety education as part of the undergraduate nursing curriculum without additional digital microlearning.

Interventions

Digital Microlearning Program on Patient Safety BEHAVIORAL

A structured digital microlearning program consisting of short, scenario-based online modules lasting approximately 3-5 minutes each. The program was delivered over seven consecutive days and focused on surgical patient-safety readiness, including patient identification, medication safety, patient-safety risk recognition, clinical error recognition, prioritization, escalation, and clinical decision-making under stress.

Digital Microlearning Intervention Group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Second-year undergraduate nursing students
• Enrolled in the Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing
• Preparing to begin surgical clinical practice for the first time
• Aged 18 years or older
• Willing to participate and able to provide written informed consent

You may not qualify if:

• Previous surgical clinical practice experience
• Previous professional nursing or healthcare work experience
• Incomplete baseline assessment
• Declining to participate or withdrawal of consent

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Agri Ibrahim Cecen University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Agri Ibrahim Cecen University Faculty of Health Sciences

AĞRI, Merkez, 04100, Turkey (Türkiye)

Location

Related Publications (4)

• Schulz KF, Altman DG, Moher D; CONSORT Group. CONSORT 2010 statement: updated guidelines for reporting parallel group randomised trials. BMJ. 2010 Mar 23;340:c332. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c332.

  PMID: 20332509 BACKGROUND

• De Gagne JC, Park HK, Hall K, Woodward A, Yamane S, Kim SS. Microlearning in Health Professions Education: Scoping Review. JMIR Med Educ. 2019 Jul 23;5(2):e13997. doi: 10.2196/13997.

  PMID: 31339105 BACKGROUND

• Lee SE, Morse BL, Kim NW. Patient safety educational interventions: A systematic review with recommendations for nurse educators. Nurs Open. 2022 Jul;9(4):1967-1979. doi: 10.1002/nop2.955. Epub 2021 May 28.

  PMID: 34047058 BACKGROUND

• World Health Organization. Patient safety curriculum guide: Multi-professional edition. Geneva: WHO; 2011.

  BACKGROUND

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: Outcome assessors were blinded to group allocation.
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Model Details: Participants were assigned to either a digital microlearning plus standard education group or a standard education control group and followed in parallel from baseline through the seventh week of surgical clinical practice.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 13, 2026
• First Posted: January 26, 2026
• Study Start: February 10, 2026
• Primary Completion: April 30, 2026
• Study Completion: April 30, 2026
• Last Updated: June 4, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-06

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

TU (1)