Evaluation of the ability of pharmacy and medicine students to calculate drug dosage
Written by: Lynne Meyler, James W. Barlow, Zebunnissa Ramtoola • December 14 2011• Volume 11 - Issue 1•Abstract
Background – The skills and competencies of healthcare professionals have become an increasing focus of healthcare research. It has been reported that many newly graduated healthcare professionals have low levels of competency in the area of drug dose calculation.
Aims – To assess the ability of healthcare students at our institution to perform drug dose calculations and to obtain the opinions of those students regarding perceived calculations competency and training.
Methods – First and final year pharmacy students and final year medicine students were invited to complete a questionnaire, consisting of drug dose calculations and opinion questions.
Results – The results showed that final year students were competent in calculating dosages based on body surface area and those expressed in international units (IU). They were competent in calculating renal function and the number of tablets required for a prescription. However, 83.5% of students had difficulties interpreting strengths or doses of drugs.
Conclusion – Drug dose calculation continually provides challenges among healthcare graduates, and additional and varied learning resources may enable students to attain and retain an acceptable standard of skill throughout their professional careers.
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