A Comparison of Nursing Maths Support Approaches

John Little

Abstract


This article compares interventions for improvement of students numeracy and drug calculations skills respectively; numeracy test / re-test with maths support versus a numeracy workshop and a calculations drop-in.

In the first intervention supported students increased their mean score from 19 out of 40 to 30 out of 40 and their peers increased from 27 out of 40 to 30 out of 40, both statistically significant increases.

In the second intervention the highest scoring group of students made use of both the workshop and the drop-in. Whilst there was no statistically significant difference in mean scores across the four identified groups of students there were no low scoring outliers amongst the students who made use of the support offered.

Although there is stronger evidence for the first intervention having impact, the second intervention is more aligned to drug calculations skills development. However, the latter would need a larger scale sample to confirm efficacy.


Keywords


medicine dosage calculations numeracy, nursing numeracy learning enhancement

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.21100/msor.v16i2.486

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