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Evaluation of students' knowledge about paediatric dosage calculations
Nurcan Özyazıcıoğlu1, Ayla İrem Aydın1, Semra Sürenler2
1Department of Pediatric Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Uludağ University, Bursa, Turkey.
Nurse Education in Practice
|September 25, 2017
Summary
Nursing students demonstrated significant deficiencies in pediatric dosage calculations, particularly with decimal-based problems and basic math skills. Targeted interventions are needed to improve medication safety and patient outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Nursing Education
- Pediatric Pharmacology
- Patient Safety
Background:
- Medication errors pose a significant risk to patient safety, especially in pediatrics where dosages are weight and age-dependent.
- Inaccurate pediatric dosage calculations can lead to severe toxicity, overdose, or delayed treatment, highlighting the critical need for accurate calculation skills.
- Evaluating nursing students' knowledge of pediatric dosage calculations is essential for identifying educational gaps and improving future practice.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the knowledge and competency of nursing students in performing pediatric dosage calculations.
- To identify specific areas of difficulty in pediatric dosage calculation among nursing students.
- To determine the correlation between different types of dosage calculation errors and basic mathematical skills.
Main Methods:
- A retrospective study evaluated 148 third-year nursing students' responses to open-ended dosage calculation questions.
- Questions covered dosage calculations based on age, safe dose range, ratio/proportion, and milliliters per day (ml/dzy).
- Statistical analysis included percentage distribution and Spearman correlation to assess accuracy and relationships between calculation types.
Main Results:
- While 87.1% correctly calculated age-based dosages, significant challenges were observed in decimal calculations (ml/dzy), with only 65.5% accuracy.
- Student performance was also suboptimal in determining safe dose ranges (69.6% correct) and applying ratio/proportion (79.1% correct).
- Basic four-operation math skills showed a 68.2% accuracy rate, indicating a foundational deficit impacting dosage calculations.
Conclusions:
- Nursing students exhibit notable weaknesses in pediatric dosage calculations, particularly concerning decimal values and fundamental mathematical operations.
- Errors in one aspect of dosage calculation correlate with errors in others, suggesting a systemic issue with calculation competency.
- Enhanced educational strategies, including additional courses and practice exercises, are recommended to improve students' math proficiency and dosage calculation skills.
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