Finnish nurses’ and nursing students’ mathematical skills

The health care environment requires that practitioners have sufficient mathematical skills to perform accurate, safe and effective medication administration. This is a highly responsible and nursing task, which is performed daily. In this study 364 nurses and 282 graduating nursing students in Finl...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nurse education today 2006-02, Vol.26 (2), p.151-161
Main Authors: Grandell-Niemi, Heidi, Hupli, Maija, Puukka, Pauli, Leino-Kilpi, Helena
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Attitude of Health Personnel
Clinical Competence - standards
Clinical skills
Drug Therapy - nursing
Drugs
Education
Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate - standards
Educational Measurement - methods
Educational Measurement - standards
Educational Status
Female
Finland
Hospitals, University
Humans
Male
Mathematics
Medication
Medication Errors - nursing
Middle Aged
Needs Assessment
Nurse
Nurse practitioners
Nurses
Nursing
Nursing Education Research
Nursing Methodology Research
Nursing Staff, Hospital - education
Nursing Staff, Hospital - psychology
Nursing students
Pharmacology - education
Self Efficacy
Skills
Student
Students, Nursing - psychology
Study and teaching
Surveys and Questionnaires
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The health care environment requires that practitioners have sufficient mathematical skills to perform accurate, safe and effective medication administration. This is a highly responsible and nursing task, which is performed daily. In this study 364 nurses and 282 graduating nursing students in Finland completed the Medication Calculation Skills Test (MCS Test). According to the findings students lacked accurate mathematical skills, while nurses attained higher scores in the test. Nurses with an upper secondary school education managed better with the calculation problems than nurses with a lower basic education. Students who had an excellent mark (9–10) in mathematics, had studied mathematics longer at high school and were more satisfied with the amount of medication calculation instructions and scored higher in the MCS Test than others. The differences between the nurses’ and students’ mathematical skills were significant. The MCS Test could be used to measure one’s own skills and to give information of the mathematical skill level for constructing a nursing curriculum or additional training for clinical practice.
ISSN:0260-6917
1532-2793
DOI:10.1016/j.nedt.2005.08.007