Effectiveness of a Clinical Skills Workshop for drug-dosage calculation in a nursing program

SummaryBackground atical and calculation skills are widely acknowledged as being key nursing competences if patients are to receive care that is both effective and safe. Indeed, weaknesses in mathematical competence may lead to the administration of miscalculated drug doses, which in turn may harm or endanger patientsʹ lives. However, little attention has been given to identifying appropriate teaching and learning strategies that will effectively facilitate the development of these skills in nurses. One such approach may be simulation. ives luate the effectiveness of a Clinical Skills Workshop on drug administration that focused on improving the drug-dosage calculation skills of second-year nursing students, with a view to promoting safety in drugs administration. riptive pre-post test design. gs ional. Simulation center. ipants mple population included 77 nursing students from a Northern Italian University who attended a 30-hour Clinical Skills Workshop over a period of two weeks. s rkshop covered integrated teaching strategies and innovative drug-calculation methodologies which have been described to improve psychomotor skills and build cognitive abilities through a greater understanding of mathematics linked to clinical practice. s results showed a significant improvement between the pre- and the post-test phases, after the intervention. Pre-test scores ranged between 0 and 25 out of a maximum of 30 points, with a mean score of 15.96 (SD 4.85), and a median score of 17. Post-test scores ranged between 15 and 30 out of 30, with a mean score of 25.2 (SD 3.63) and a median score of 26 (p < 0.001). sions udy shows that Clinical Skills Workshops may be tailored to include teaching techniques that encourage the development of drug-dosage calculation skills, and that training strategies implemented during a Clinical skills Workshop can enhance studentsʹ comprehension of mathematical calculations.