Digital Microlearning for Patient-Safety Readiness in Nursing Students

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.

Inclusion Criteria: * 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 Exclusion Criteria: * Previous surgical clinical practice experience * Previous professional nursing or healthcare work experience * Incomplete baseline assessment * Declining to participate or withdrawal of consent