does your school require a dosage caluculations test that has to be above 90%?

donnar232 · Jan 16, 2005

we have a class called dosage and calculations and you have to get a 85 or above in that class. I just finised it. This class is before clinicals. Then when Nursing one clinicals start you do get a test and have to get 85% right. You do get three trys or you are out? Do you actually take a course for this or is every one referring to clinicals? Just wondering

mattsmom81 · Jan 16, 2005

Schools do because guess what...hospitals do too. Likely if one does not pass the NLN pretest with a 90 they may not be hired. In my state it is employment at will...so we can be fired for anything or nothing barring federal law. Hiring is always tentative pending 'pre employment testing' which includes a physical exam, medical history and nurse skill test taking. Also some facilities use the PBDS simulation testing in the same way.

So..may as well get used to tests, students.

grgpeech · Jan 16, 2005

Yes, my school does. Every semester in fact. You have 3 tries, and you must get a 95% or above, or you are dropped from the program.

Saved_by_Grace · Jan 16, 2005

No calculators at my school either.

KrisRNwannabe · Jan 16, 2005

we have to get 100% on our tests but we get 3 tries to take. personally the math isn't exactly rocket science. one girl in out class missed the following question, which she thought was so hard and i thought "God, if I am ever sick please don't let her be the one to take care of me"

" you need to give PT X his medication. the order reads give pt 250 mg of tylenol. in the drawer you have the following 3 capsules marked 100 mg each and 4 capsules marked 25 mg each. how many pills would give total and what strengths?"

okay how hard is that?? umm 2 caps marked 100 mg and 2 marked 25 mg for a total of 4. she also missed the sliding scale insulin question example below

your patient has a blood sugar of 300. he is getting 15 units of fast acting insulin. using the scale below how many units of regular will he get and how much total insulin will he recieve?

150-225=5 units

226-265=7 units

266-290= 10 units

291-315= 12 units

316-330 =15 units

so his BS is 300 so he will 12 units of regular. he is getting 15 units of fast acting so 15+12= 27 total units.

again stop me if this is hard. this something that is fundemental to nursing. we are talking adding, subtracting, multipling and dividing. skills learned in elementary school. we are not asking people to do calculus here anything

CarVsTree · Jan 16, 2005

We had one first semester and it had to be 100%. In Med-Surg I & II we had dosage calc questions in the exams, but we just need an overall grade on the exam, no special requirements for the dosage calcs.

AngieSC · Jan 16, 2005

Kris,

Are they really that straight forward? That is a little reassuring.

Angie

Saved_by_Grace · Jan 16, 2005

Kris,
Are they really that straight forward? That is a little reassuring.
Angie

Well I am glad at some schools they are said to be that straight forward, but frankly at mine they were not. Yea it's not rocket science as was stated, but ours were not THAT simple.:stone

cherokeesummer · Jan 16, 2005

Ours requires a 90% but you get 3 tries. It is done every semester, the first week usually.

LeesieBug · Jan 16, 2005

Come to think of it, I think some of the ones during our OB rotation actually WERE rocket science. I'd get to the end of the paragraph (question) and think...What was the question? :chuckle

But, hey, it's good for me. I remember first semester when an instuctor was going over information for med math testing, and someone complained about a 90% to pass. She made the point that when dealing with someones life, she would prefer it would be a 100%...as others said, would anyone want someone taking care of them that could not get a 100% on a dosage calculations test?

BeenThereDoneThat74, MSN, RN · Jan 16, 2005

Math mistake=MED ERROR!!!
:stone

Med Error --> DEAD PATIENT!!! :imbar

manna, BSN, RN · Jan 16, 2005

We have a calculations exam each semester before we can begin clinical. Must make a 95% or better within 3 tries. Of course, they increase in difficulty each semester, but so far I haven't found it to be that difficult - once you memorize the conversion factors and formulas!