Trinity College Dublin, School of Nursing & Midwifery, 24 D'olier St., Dublin 2, Ireland.
Nurse Educ Pract. 2014 Jan;14(1):55-61. doi: 10.1016/j.nepr.2013.06.002. Epub 2013 Jul 4.
Mathematical skill and proficiency underpin a number of nursing activities, with the most common application being in relation to drug dosage calculation and administration. Medication errors have been identified as the most common type of error affecting patient safety and the most common single preventable cause of adverse events and they can occur as a result of mathematical calculation error and or conceptual error. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the drug calculation skills of registered nurses (n = 124) on commencement of employment. The findings of this study indicate that there are inconsistencies in the amount of pharmacology content and drug calculation skills delivered within nursing curricula. The most frequent type of drug calculation errors are attributed to conceptual errors and participants identified ward based education on drug calculation as a pathway for improving the drug calculation skills of registered nurses. The study recommends that medication education, encompassing mathematical and conceptual drug calculation skills should be identified as a distinct competency in nursing curricula and continuing education programme.
数学技能和熟练度是许多护理活动的基础，最常见的应用是与药物剂量计算和给药有关。药物错误已被确定为影响患者安全的最常见类型的错误，也是最常见的单一可预防的不良事件的原因，这些错误可能是由于数学计算错误和/或概念错误造成的。本研究的目的是评估注册护士（n=124）入职时的药物计算技能。研究结果表明，护理课程中提供的药理学内容和药物计算技能的数量存在不一致。最常见的药物计算错误类型归因于概念错误，参与者认为基于病房的药物计算教育是提高注册护士药物计算技能的途径。该研究建议，药物教育应包括数学和概念性药物计算技能，并将其确定为护理课程和继续教育计划中的一个明确能力。
