Student nurses need more than maths to improve their drug calculating skills

Improving Medication Calculations of Nursing Students through Simulation: An Integrative Review

“…➢ Math classes should be mandatory each semester (Costello, 2011;Glaister, 2007;Rainboth & DeMasi, 2006). ➢ Comprehensive strategies that develop both math and conceptual skills should be adopted (Harne-Britner et al, 2006;Wright, 2004Wright, , 2007Wright, , 2008. ➢ Strategies that help students predict answers and identify mistakes are helpful (Wright, 2007).…”

“…Nine single, descriptive research studies were included (Costello, 2011;Dilles, Vander Stichele, Van Bortel, & Elseviers, 2011;Harne-Bitner, et al, 2006;Kohtz & Gowda, 2010;Pauly-O'Neill, 2009;Walsh, 2008;Wright, 2004Wright, , 2007Wright, , 2008. According to Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt (2010), these rate a level VI in the hierarchy of evidence representing single descriptive or qualitative studies.…”

“…There were nine single, descriptive studies; one quasi-experimental study; one mixed quantitative study; one qualitative study; one theoretical article; one dissertation; and one pilot study (see Online Extra Table 1 at www.nursingsimulation.org). Descriptive studies (Costello, 2011;Dilles et al, 2011;Harne-Britner et al, 2006;Kohtz & Gowda, 2010;Pauly-O'Neill, 2009;Walsh, 2008;Wright, 2004Wright, , 2007Wright, , 2008 delineated that either math calculation methodology was needed or described successful ways to teach math calculations to nursing students. Quasi-experimental research (Glaister, 2007) and the dissertation (Huse, 2010) compared math calculation strategies; posttests were administered to nursing students to ascertain the strategies' effectiveness.…”

“…Well-designed, realistic simulations that include distractions can provide a framework and structure for learning this complex intervention (Pauly-O 'Neill, 2009). If simulation is implemented early in the curriculum, it can give the student an excellent foundation and help students visualize the actual volume of the calculated medication that they plan to administer, thus decreasing risk to all patients (Miller, 2007;Wright, 2004Wright, , 2005Wright, , 2007Wright, , 2008. Costello (2011) compared educational strategies that taught math calculation skills in a classroom and in a simulated setting.…”

Numeracy and nurse prescribing: Do the standards achieve their aim?

“…In the workplace students will be more at ease with their environment, learning in this way should have positive effects for the team of health professionals in the clinical setting with knowledge and skill being shared with others. It would develop skills in interpretation of clinical data and allow an understanding of the relationship between mathematics, concepts and clinical data which are all important components of accurate drug calculations (Weeks et al, 2000;Wright, 2004, andWright, 2007). It would also mean that nurses would learn the calculations that relate to their area of clinical practice.…”