Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
To be numerate means to be competent, confident and comfortable
with one's judgments (7) . Safe and meaningful checks, ensuring
effective mechanisms are in place to prevent errors, and
demonstrating competence is key to safe medicine management.
Structure
Calculations for nursing is a curriculum requirement and
fundamental to preparation for practice. It has been piloted in the
Common Foundation Programme (CFP), where students must
achieve 100% on an electronic summative assessment as a
progression point for each year of study. Various learning and
teaching strategies include group work, reflection, guided practice
questions, and self directed learning. The assessments consist of
formatives and a pre test, all accessed electronically and in a similar
format.
Content
Basic rudimentary maths skills and their application to drug
calculations is the main focus, where students are encourage to
gain confidence in solving maths problems without relying on a
calculator. The workbook and electronic resources focussed on the
following;
� Formative one- addition, subtraction, multiplication and
division of whole numbers, decimal fractions and fractions
� Formative two- metric conversions
� Formative three- problem solving and calculating drug
dosages
Electronic component- WebCT
In a supervised PAWS lab, a host of resources and links within the
Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) are accessed. The formatives
and pre-test are accessed in WebCT at the students own pace, as
often as they wish. The results and scores are accessible. Under
examination conditions the students complete the summative
assessment (10 multiple choice questions) in 30 minutes.
Students who failed to achieve 100% receive tutorial support,
practice questions and access to electronic resources. Re-takes are
offered monthly.
6 (O’Shea 1999), 7 (Coben,2000)
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