Abstract
The aim of this study is to evaluate the medication calculation skills of graduating nursing students in six European countries and analyse the associated factors. Medication calculation skills are fundamental to medication safety, which is a substantial part of patient safety. Previous studies have raised concerns about the medication calculation skills of nurses and nursing students. As part of a broader research project, this study applies a multinational cross-sectional survey design with three populations: graduating nursing students, nurse managers and patients. The students performed two calculations (tablet and fluid) testing medication calculation skills requiring different levels of conceptual understanding and arithmetic. The managers and patients answered one question about the students' medication kills. In total, 1,796 students, 538 managers and 1,327 patients participated the study. The data were analysed statistically. The STROBE guideline for cross-sectional studies was applied. Almost all (99%) of the students performed the tablet calculation correctly, and the majority (71%) answered the fluid calculation correctly. Older age, a previous degree in health care and satisfaction with their current degree programme was positively associated with correct fluid calculations. The patients evaluated the students' medication skills higher than the nurse managers did and the evaluations were not systematically aligned with the calculation skills tested. Nursing students have the skills to perform simple medication calculations, but a significant number of students have difficulties with calculations involving multiple operations and a higher level of conceptual understanding. Due to the variation in students' medication calculation skills and the unalignment between the managers' and patients' evaluations and the calculation tests, further research is needed. Graduating nursing students enter clinical field as qualified professionals, but there is still room for improvement in their medication calculation skills. This calls for attention in the fields of clinical nursing, education and research.
Highlights
IntroductionNurses’ medication calculation skills are at the heart of medication safety (Goedecke et al, 2016; Slawomirski et al, 2017; World Health Organization, 2017) because nurses play a central role in administering medication (Rohde & Domm, 2018; Sulosaari et al, 2010)
The inclusion criteria for GNSs were as follows: (i) they must be studying on a nursing degree or certificate programme leading to the initial qualification needed to practise as a registered nurse; (ii) the education or degree programme must be based on European Union Directives (2005/36/EC, 2013/55/EU); (iii) they must be participating in clinical training at the graduation stage; and (iv) they must be doing their clinical training in units treating adults (18 years old and over) to receive patient evaluation of the GNSs’ medication skills
Given that GNSs are about to enter the clinical field, the results of this study are worrying from the perspective of medication safety in patient care
Summary
Nurses’ medication calculation skills are at the heart of medication safety (Goedecke et al, 2016; Slawomirski et al, 2017; World Health Organization, 2017) because nurses play a central role in administering medication (Rohde & Domm, 2018; Sulosaari et al, 2010). Numerous studies have shown that medication calculation skills are either poor or varied among nursing staff (Fleming et al, 2014; McMullan et al, 2010; Ridling et al, 2016) and undergraduate nursing students (Bagnasco et al, 2016; Caboral-Stevens et al, 2020; Goodwin et al, 2019; McMullan et al, 2010; Sulosaari et al, 2012) This is worrying, as a significant proportion of errors in administering medication is reported to result from mistakes in medication calculations (Gorgich et al, 2016; Keers et al, 2013; Salami et al, 2019). In clinical practice, a nursing student must first be able to understand what variables need to be used to be able to accurately perform a medication calculation based on medication orders (Newton et al, 2009, 2010)
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