Digital Microlearning and Patient Safety in Nursing Students

The transition from preclinical education to clinical practice represents a critical period for patient safety among nursing students. During this phase, limited clinical experience combined with increased responsibility may increase the risk of errors related to patient safety and clinical decision-making. Educational strategies that strengthen patient safety awareness and cognitive readiness before clinical exposure are therefore essential. This study is designed as a single-center, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial. It will be conducted at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing, Agri Ibrahim Cecen University. Participants will consist of second-year undergraduate nursing students who are preparing to begin surgical clinical practice for the first time. After baseline assessment, eligible participants will be randomly assigned to either an intervention group or a control group using stratified randomization based on gender and grade point average. The intervention group will receive a patient safety-focused digital microlearning program delivered online for seven consecutive days. The program consists of short, scenario-based modules lasting approximately 3-5 minutes each and addresses topics such as patient safety risks, clinical error recognition, prioritization, and decision-making under stress. Participants will be able to access the modules flexibly within a daily time limit. The control group will receive standard patient safety education as part of the undergraduate nursing curriculum without additional intervention. Outcome measures will be collected at three time points: baseline prior to the intervention (T0), immediately after completion of the intervention (T1), and during the first week of surgical clinical practice (T2). Primary outcomes include changes in patient safety awareness and clinical error recognition performance. Secondary outcomes include clinical decision-making under stress, perceived readiness for clinical practice, self-confidence, and acceptability of the digital microlearning program. This study involves an educational intervention only and does not include any invasive procedures, drugs, or medical devices. Participation is voluntary, and written informed consent will be obtained from all participants. The study has been submitted for ethical review and will be conducted in accordance with ethical principles for research involving human participants.