Paramedics' ability to perform drug calculations

Area of Science:

• Paramedic Education
• Patient Safety
• Clinical Calculations

Background:

• Accurate drug calculations are critical for patient safety in prehospital care.
• Research on paramedic drug calculation abilities began in 2000, while nursing research dates back to the 1930s.
• No prior studies investigated undergraduate paramedic students' drug or mathematical calculation proficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review existing literature on the drug calculation abilities of undergraduate and qualified paramedics.
• To identify any documented mathematical deficiencies in paramedic practice.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive literature search was conducted across prehospital-related electronic databases (Ovid, EMBASE, CENTRAL, MEDLINE, CINAHL, JSTOR, Google Scholar) until August 2009.
• References from retrieved articles were also reviewed.
• Inclusion criteria were applied to select relevant studies.

Main Results:

• The search yielded 1,154 articles, with 59 deemed relevant after initial review.
• Only three studies met the final inclusion criteria.
• All included studies reported some level of mathematical deficiencies among the sampled paramedics.

Conclusions:

• Limited available research suggests significant mathematical proficiency gaps in paramedics.
• Further investigation is needed to determine if undergraduate paramedic students can perform essential drug calculations in non-clinical settings.