The effect of drug dosage calculation training program on math anxiety and nursing students’ skills: A non-randomized trial study

Background & Aim: Drug dosage calculation is one of the main skills in the drug administration process that requires sufficient knowledge about mathematical calculations and drug dosage; besides, lack of math anxiety is required for drug dosage calculation. This study aimed to determine the effect of mathematical calculation and drug dosage training programs on math anxiety and nursing students’ drug dosage calculation skills. Background & Aim: Drug dosage calculation is one of the main skills in the drug administration process that requires sufficient knowledge about mathematical calculations and drug dosage; besides, lack of math anxiety is required for drug dosage calculation. This study aimed to determine the effect of mathematical calculation and drug dosage training programs on math anxiety and nursing students’ drug dosage calculation skills. Results: The two groups were homogeneous in terms of demographic variables, math anxiety, and drug calculation scores in the baseline. Two-way analysis of variance with repeated measures indicated the significant effect of the group on math anxiety (P=0.024). Given the interaction between group effect and time for the drug dosage calculations, comparing the differences between the second- and third-time scores of the baseline scores showed a statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of drug dosage calculations (P <0.001). Conclusion: Implementation of a drug dosage calculation training program for nursing students can lead to the reduction of math anxiety and improvement of the drug dosage calculations; this can ultimately help improve patient safety.

Retention of mathematics and drug dosage calculation knowledge among undergraduate nursing students of a private school of nursing in Pakistan

This study aims to assess retention of drug dose calculation knowledge of undergraduate nursing students studying at a private school of nursing. This is a pre and post comparison design conducted at Aga Khan University, Pakistan from August, 2017 to September, 2019. All students enrolled in Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) - Class of 2019 were enrolled. Mean test scores of 141 fourth year BScN students were compared with their own performance in second year. Mean scores on mathematics and drug dosage calculation test decreased significantly from 21 in 2nd year of studies to 17.97 in final year of studies. Modifications in assessments as well as curriculum are suggested to improve retention of dose calculation skills among undergraduate nursing students. Keywords: Nursing Education, Drug Calculation, Continuous...

A new method to calculate the maximum dose of local anesthetics

The purpose of this correspondence is to present a suggestion of a simple and practical formula to calculate the maximum recommended dose of local anesthetics. We believe that using the proposed formula, it will be easier to calculate the maximum recommended dose.Descriptors: : Local Anesthetics; Drug Dosage Calculation; Clinical Practice Pattern.ReferencesMalamed SF. Handbook of local anesthesia. 6th ed. St Louis: Mosby 2013.