Does anyone use calculators?

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Specializes in Paramedic 15 years, RN now.

We have two chances to pass a drug administration math test. We are not allowed to use calculators. My question is...why not? I have worked in many hospitals and have never seen a med room that did not have a calculator. If school is preparing us for real life, well, in real life, we use calculators. If a nurse has a high potency drip to hang, would he/she trust a pencil and paper????? NO.....he/she would use a calculator to avoid mistakes.....right?

If there are any instructors who could provide insite as to why we have to do it the hard way..please let me know.

Thank you

JP

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.
If a nurse has a high potency drip to hang, would he/she trust a pencil and paper????? NO.....he/she would use a calculator to avoid mistakes.....right?
Actually, to avoid mistakes I WOULD do it long-hand with a pencil and paper. The calculator is quicker, to be sure, but the paper/pencil way is the sure way to avoid silly mistakes.

That said, we were allowed to use calculators on our med tests. The logic for disallowing them probably centers on forcing you to show all your work.

Were I your instructor, I would let you use calculators... but I would demand that you show each step of the calculation. Sometimes people get the right answer for the wrong reasons.

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Specializes in Paramedic 15 years, RN now.

Thanks for your reply, although, i find it interesting that you say in order to AVOID mistakes, you would do it on paper. I would never in a million years trust my math skills over a computer.....showing each step would be no problem, but, hell, if i KNOW the process, and have ONE decimal out of place, i miss the whole thing.....hence the desire to have a calculator.

Clearly you are one of those ppl whom I envy that actually can do math....and have it make sense.

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Ever hear the old saying "rubbish in ='s rubbish out?" *LOL*

Using a caculator is only as good as the information one inputs. If one does not know the correct order of operations and or formulas, no computer type device is going to help withthe correct answer.

As an RN one is expected to know "med dose calc" backwards and forwards (including formulas), so one can practice safely in any situation regardless of having caculators, computer controlled pumps, and so forth. If there is some sort of natural/man made disaster and power goes out, and or batteries run dead, or you find yourself working in a field hospital your patients may not always have the luxury of waiting for their nurse to find spare (batteries), or another power source so she/he can administer meds.

Consider also that while many hospitals or other clinical settings may allow nurses to use calculators on the floors/units, applicants for nursing positions may have to take a pharma exam where no such devices are allowed.

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Specializes in Paramedic 15 years, RN now.

Lol, well, I hear that "what if there is a disaster" excuse all the time and have yet to see it happen. In this day and age, I have yet to see a situation where someone does not have a calculator on their cell phone or in the drug kit or something.... But I get your point, although, I still don't know of any RN who would hang a Potassium drip based on his/her counting the drops by hand....

but thank you for your input...I'm still trying to see the logic in it all.

If I was the patient, I would want the nurse to figure the calculation on a calculator...not their head. But that's just me....

;)

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Lol, well, I hear that "what if there is a disaster" excuse all the time and have yet to see it happen. In this day and age, I have yet to see a situation where someone does not have a calculator on their cell phone or in the drug kit or something.... But I get your point, although, I still don't know of any RN who would hang a Potassium drip based on his/her counting the drops by hand....

but thank you for your input...I'm still trying to see the logic in it all.

If I was the patient, I would want the nurse to figure the calculation on a calculator...not their head. But that's just me....

;)

You want a disaster? How about Haiti? As one who sat through both college level statistics and finite math classes, am here to tell you just because a person has access to a calculator does not equal they will always arrive at the correct answer.Have seen supposedly high GPA college students, even those claiming to have graduated from high school in the top 90 percentile of their class, clearly not know basic math, and algebra. In short they could not figure how to do long division with a calculator because they kept getting things backwards. Nor did they seem to know how to convert fractions into decimals, or vice versa.

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Specializes in Paramedic 15 years, RN now.

Lol, I think i was not clear in what I said. Of course, Haiti is a disaster, I meant, a disaster of such great magnitude that the rescuers did not have access to a calculator.

Haiti, Katrina, Sept 11, of course those are all diasters....yet even there, nurses had access to calculators.....

I'm only making the argument that today, 2010, no one will ever realisticaly be in such a predicament to not have access to one.

I'm just sayin.......:)

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Lol, I think i was not clear in what I said. Of course, Haiti is a disaster, I meant, a disaster of such great magnitude that the rescuers did not have access to a calculator.

Haiti, Katrina, Sept 11, of course those are all diasters....yet even there, nurses had access to calculators.....

I'm only making the argument that today, 2010, no one will ever realisticaly be in such a predicament to not have access to one.

I'm just sayin.......:)

I know what you mean. I agree that a calculator is only as good as the info you put in, but like you, I'd be really hesitant to not have one on hand. My method is usually to jot down whatever equation I need, then use a calc to do/check the math. Of course, it's important to be able to recognize whether the answer you get is reasonable (ie. should you really be giving 20 pills? No, it's probably 2 and you need to redo the problem), but you seem to get that. So no, I don't see any reason not to use one. I have one on the computer at work, one on my phone, and a battery powered one in my pocket, so I'm unlikely to be without one either.

Pumps on the other hand...we have run out of pumps at my hospital, and while we waited for them, we were definitely calculating gtt rates (with a calculator!) and hanging whatever we could by gravity.

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Specializes in Paramedic 15 years, RN now.

Yes, you seem to understand my argument. Yes, you have to know HOW to figure the equation, which I do, but, checking for accuracy I think is best done with a calculator, which does not make mathmatical mistakes. I am solid in knowing how to set up the problem, but sometimes, it has so many steps till the end that I get lost and off track.

Thanks for your input...

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Also, during nursing school, HESI, NCLEX, my pre-employment pharm exam, and daily on the floor - no problems with the use of a calculator. No harm having an extra safety check!

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