Design and Evaluation of a Gamified Mobile Application for Teaching Cardiac Rhythm Interpretation to Nursing Students: A Quasi-experimental Pre/Post Study

BMC Medical Education (04/20/26) Aalaei, Shokoufeh; Mastour, Haniye; Amiri, Fatemeh; et al.

Researchers developed and tested RhythmPath, a gamified mobile app designed to improve nursing students' cardiac rhythm interpretation skills, using features like points, badges, leaderboards and timed quizzes to boost engagement. In a 2-week pretest–posttest pilot with 13 seventh-semester nursing students, knowledge scores rose from 39.48 to 51.79, a statistically significant improvement, and students spent an average of 7.2 hours using the app. Usability ratings were high, especially for ease of use and information quality. Overall, the findings suggest that RhythmPath may enhance learning and satisfaction in rhythm-interpretation training, though larger controlled studies are needed to confirm its effectiveness and long-term impact.

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