Introduction: Hospital triage is one of the most critical processes in emergency patient management. Effective triage implementation requires nurses to possess adequate knowledge and cognitive skills. However, existing evidence suggests that both nurses and nursing students often demonstrate insufficient competency in triage, which may adversely affect the quality of care delivery, particularly during emergency and disaster situations.
Objective: This study aimed to compare the effects of hospital triage education delivered through mobile-based microlearning and traditional lecture-based instruction on the cognitive skills of nursing student
Materials and Methods: This randomized controlled trial was conducted during 2023–2024. A total of 94 sixth-semester undergraduate nursing students were recruited through census sampling and randomly allocated using the Research Randomizer web-based software into three groups: microlearning (n=31), lecture-based education (n=31), and control (n=32). Participants in the microlearning group received triage training through a mobile application based on the Emergency Severity Index (ESI) triage system. The lecture group received the same educational content in two 2-hour face-to-face sessions. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. Inferential statistical analyses included Fisher’s exact test, chi-square test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), mixed repeated-measures ANOVA, and Bonferroni post hoc tests. Statistical significance was set at P<0.05, while a significance level of P<0.017 was considered for Bonferroni-adjusted comparisons.
Results: Prior to the intervention, no significant differences were observed in the mean cognitive skill scores among the microlearning, lecture, and control groups (7.52±1.96, 7.12±1.74, and 7.36±1.59, respectively; P=0.789). Following the intervention, the mean cognitive skill scores were significantly higher in both intervention groups compared with the control group (15.85±3.07, 12.42±2.31, and 8.43±1.89, respectively; P<0.001). Moreover, the post-intervention cognitive skill score in the microlearning group was significantly higher than that of the lecture group (P<0.001).
Conclusion: Both mobile-based microlearning and lecture-based instruction were effective in improving nursing students’ cognitive skills related to hospital triage. However, microlearning demonstrated superior effectiveness and resulted in significantly greater improvements in cognitive skills compared with traditional lecture-based education. Therefore, the integration of mobile-based microlearning as an active teaching–learning strategy is recommended for triage education among nursing students and other healthcare trainees.