dosage calculation tests

[BethT]

i just wanted to ask you guys a question--

i am not in nursing school yet but i wanted to ask someone who is...

a friend of mine is going to a school (not the one i am applying to) and when she has a dosage calculation test, if she misses 2 questions you get dropped from the program, regardless of what you average is for the class. this is all d/c tests. is this common? i mean i understand the importance of d/c but have yall ever heard of this??

nervous.........

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

Some employers will terminate a new employed licensed nurse during their orientation period if they cannot pass the dosage calculation test they give them. I'd be more worried about that! Nursing school is just the preliminary of what is going to follow when you get hired. Nursing school is not just school--it is actually job training, in case you didn't know. Some nursing schools take that responsibility very seriously.

[APBT mom, LPN, RN]

Some schools do this and some give you a certain amount of tried before the fail you out for the semester. Our school had a simulated med pour. We picked a "pt" med drawer, had to calculate each med given, had to dispense the med the proper way (no touching of the pills), had to draw up the meds properly, and then give them to our dummy. We got two chances if you messed up the second time you were kicked out of the program. 10 students failed the first time and 1 failed the second time. Although 3 out of the 10 got a patient that the answer sheet was wrong and they were right but of course they caught it during the second round for them.

The drug calculations really aren't as difficult as they seem. If you're not to good at math there is a book that you can get at Borders or Barnes and Nobles called Calculating with Confidence. It has a lot of helpful info in it.

[PurrRN]

In the program I'm attending, the 1st, 2nd and third semesters have med calculation tests that require a 90% to pass. That's 9 questions right out of 10 total. If on the 2nd attempt you do not get the required 90%, you are dropped from the program. In the fourth semester you must get 100% of the 10 questions right, however, after the second failed attempt the school will give a clinical failure and you will not be allowed to pass meds in clinicals until you pass the practicum.

I don't believe that the majority of the NS out there are like my program. This one seems to be more lenient and supportive than other programs that I've heard of.

Med math isn't really all that hard once you get the concepts down, so if you are worried, I would just start reviewing now.