Mathematical calculation skills required for drug administration in undergraduate nursing students to ensure patient safety: A descriptive study: Drug calculation skills in nursing students.
Annamaria Bagnasco, Lucia Galaverna, Giuseppe Aleo, Anna Maria Grugnetti, Francesca Rosa, Loredana Sasso
Author Information
Annamaria Bagnasco: Department of Health Sciences, University of Genoa, Via Pastore 1, I-16132 Genoa, Italy. Electronic address: Annamaria.bagnasco@unige.it.
Lucia Galaverna: Facoltà di Dipartimento di Scienze della Sanita Pubblica e Pediatriche, Italy. Electronic address: lucia.galaverna@unito.it.
Giuseppe Aleo: Department of Health Sciences, University of Genoa, Via Pastore 1, I-16132 Genoa, Italy. Electronic address: g.aleo@idi.it.
Anna Maria Grugnetti: Department of Health Sciences, University of Genoa, Via Pastore 1, I-16132 Genoa, Italy.
Francesca Rosa: Department of Health Sciences, University of Genoa, Via Pastore 1, I-16132 Genoa, Italy. Electronic address: francescarosa@live.it.
Loredana Sasso: Department of Health Sciences, University of Genoa, Via Pastore 1, I-16132 Genoa, Italy. Electronic address: L.sasso@unige.it.
In the literature we found many studies that confirmed our concerns about nursing students' poor maths skills that directly impact on their ability to correctly calculate drug dosages with very serious consequences for patient safety. The aim of our study was to explore where students had most difficulty and identify appropriate educational interventions to bridge their mathematical knowledge gaps. This was a quali-quantitative descriptive study that included a sample of 726 undergraduate nursing students. We identified exactly where students had most difficulty and identified appropriate educational interventions to bridge their mathematical knowledge gaps. We found that the undergraduate nursing students mainly had difficulty with basic maths principles. Specific learning interventions are needed to improve their basic maths skills and their dosage calculation skills. For this purpose, we identified safeMedicate and eDose (Authentic World Ltd.), only that they are only available in English. In the near future we hope to set up a partnership to work together on the Italian version of these tools.
