Can medical students calculate drug doses?

Abstract

AbstractObjectives: A doctor's ability to calculate drug doses is a skill that is generally assumed. We assessed medical students' performance when given four types of dosing calculations typical of those required in an emergency setting.Design: Longitudinal study.Setting and subjects: Students were assessed at the beginning of the third year, and repeatedly during the third and fourth year while receiving training in dosage calculations. Competence was defined as correctly answering all four categories of calculation at any one time, i.e. a score of 100%. Failure to respond correctly to the individual questions was also analysed because an incorrect calculation could be equated with a “patient” receiving a wrong dose.Outcome measures: Outcome measures were the percentage of students achieving competence and the proportion of times students showed competence relative to their total number of opportunities. A further outcome was the percentage of calculations incorrect i.e. potential “patients” harmed.Resu...