Using Co-Design with Nursing Students to Create Educational Apps for Clinical Training

Mobile technology is being trialed in nursing education to support students in clinical practice, as it can provide instant access to high quality educational material at the point of care. However, most educational mobile apps are generic, off-the-shelf applications that do not take into consideration the unique needs of nursing students, who can require personalised software solutions. This study adapted a socio-cognitive engineering approach and through a series of focus groups with final year nursing students explored the co-design process and gained their input on the design and functionality of a clinical skills based educational app. Results showed students required an uncluttered interface that was fast to navigate and easy to use in busy clinical environments. They also requested simple visual descriptions of key clinical skills and equipment to enable them to quickly refresh their memory so they could perform the skill in practice.