Determination of Senior Nursing Students’ Mathematical Perception Skills and Pediatric Medication Calculation Performance

Year 2019, Volume: 27 Issue: 2, 166 - 172, 01.06.2019

Esra Ardahan Akgül , Beste Özgüven Öztornacı , Zehra Doğan , Hatice Yıldırım Sarı

Abstract

Aim: Math skills in the health field are
often used to calculate drug dosage and liquid quantity, body mass and cost
analysis. The aim of this research is to determine the senior nursing students’
mathematical perception skills and pediatric medication calculation
performance.

Method: The population of this descriptive
cross-sectional research is composed of 103 nursing students in attending a
state university in Izmir, Turkey. Of the 103 nursing students, 97 who answered
all the questions comprised the study sample. All the participants took
one-month training in the pediatric clinics during the last year of their
education. The data were collected using the “Personal Information Form and Mathematics
Perception, Information and Pediatric Drug Calculator Skills Survey” developed
by the researchers by reviewing the literature.

Results: The mean age of the study
participants was 22.24±0.89. Of them, 76.3% were female, 23.7% completed their Pediatric
Internship Training in the pediatric inpatient units or the Pediatric Intensive
Care Unit (PICU), 68% thought that their basic mathematics knowledge was
adequate, and %30 stated that their dosage calculation, solution preparation
and drug preparation skills were insufficient. In addition, the rate of the
correct answers they gave to the questions on percentages, fractions and
conversions was low.

Conclusion: In the drug application
process; not only practical skills, but also the theoretical knowledge should
be considered. A nurse’s responsibility does not end once he/she administers
medication. Being careful throughout the entire process is one of the nurse’s
legal and ethical responsibilities. In this study, the students’ drug
calculation skills were inadequate.

Cite this article as: Ardahan-Akgül, E.,
Özgüven-Öztornacı, B., Doğan, Z. and Yıldırım-Sarı, H. (2019). Determination of
senior nursing students’ mathematical perception skills and pediatric
medication calculation performance. FNJN Florence Nightingale Journal of Nursing,
27(2): 166-172. 

Keywords

medication, nursing student, nursing education, pediatrics, Calculation skill

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