A smartphone application to educate undergraduate nursing students about providing care for infant airway obstruction

Abstract

Purpose: This study had two aims: (a) to develop a smartphone-based application and (b) to evaluate the effectiveness of the application by measuring nursing students' knowledge, skills, and confidence in simulated performance when providing that care.

Design: We conducted a randomized trial using a pre- and post-test design at a university in Korea. Seventy-three junior nursing students participated.

Methods: A smartphone-based app using a video was developed for the experimental group and one time lecture-based education was designed for the control group. We provided the app and information about its use to the experimental group, and we encouraged its use. We provided classroom instruction to the control group. Then, learning outcomes were evaluated.

Results: The smartphone-based education group showed significantly higher scores on skills (t=4.774, p<0.001) and confidence in performance (t=2.888, p=0.005) than the control group. The scores on knowledge (t=0.886, p=0.379) and satisfaction with the learning method (t=0.168, p=0.867) for the experimental group were higher than for the control group, but the differences were not statistically significant.

Conclusion: This study suggests that smartphone-based education may be an effective method to use in nursing education related to teaching infant airway obstruction.

Keywords: Airway obstruction; Health education; Information technology; Smartphone.