The effect of triage training using the WebQuest method on the knowledge level of nursing students in patient triage

Background: In conventional educational programs, learners are passive during instruction and are rarely given the opportunity to think. One of the student-centered educational methods that causes deep learning in students is the WebQuest method. which can create an important transformation in learners. Considering the limited studies in this field, the present study was conducted with the aim of comparing the effectiveness of lecture and web quest methods on the knowledge of nursing students in patient triage at Saveh University of Medical Sciences. Method: This research is an interventional and semi-experimental study. The present study was conducted in Saveh University of Medical Sciences between 2021 and 2022. The participants included Sixty-eight nursing students of the fifth semester who were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The control group was trained by the instructor and the intervention group was trained by the 6-step web quest method. The triage Knowledge questionnaire was taken as a pre-test and post-test. Then the scores were analyzed using the Wilcoxon, Mann-Whitney and independent t-tests. Results: : The average score of students' knowledge about triage in the control and intervention groups, before the intervention, did not have a statistically significant difference (P=0.89). But after the intervention, the average score of students' knowledge about triage in the control and intervention groups had a statistically significant difference (P<0.001). Conclusion: The results of this research showed that teaching triage using the web quest method causes enables students to learn more than the lecture method. Therefore, it is recommended to use the WebQuest method as one of the effective methods in triage training.