dosage calculations

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I started ns1 this week, we were told we are completly responsible for learning dosage calculation on our own. So basically we have to self teach ourselves and be prepared for a huge test in October. Is this the norm or do other schools teach dosage calculations.

Thanks :nurse:

Specializes in E.R..

We were pretty much told to get a certain book, and they told us we had to have it read by a certain date, which ended up being the day of our med calc test.

I liked the book, but others had complaints. Here is the book, if you are interested-

Clinical Calculations 5th edition

by Joyce LeFever Kee and Sally Marshall

Only 2 people who read the book, didn't pass. So I guess it is worth a try. Good Luck!

We got a letter at the beginning of summer and told to get the book and do chapters 1-10. We already had our first quiz on it last week.

So, I think it is normal. The stuff isn't too hard, if you just work the problems and read teh book.

We had a nursing math class but it wasn't the greatest since it was our teachers first time teaching the class. She did the best she could with our very outspoken class. I basically had to teach myself. Get a great book on nursing math with lots of practice problems. It is simple math once you break it down (and for me get over the "nursing" math title). I can't remember the name of the book I used, but I will look for it tonight. I also used the great website http://www.accd.edu/sac/nursing/math/default.html

It really helped me with teaching myself how to do it.

Good Luck!

We had to do it on our own as well...they gave us information that explained how to do it and then some practice ones. Good luck...just ask if you need assistance...there is no reason they shouldn't be able to provide you with SOME help!

That is crazy! I would be very upset if I had to "self teach/learn" any college class that I am paying for! If your not paying for the dosage class then I can see the institution not teaching you the material. But aren't they required to teach you specific things to remain accredited? How can you get college credit for a class you are not paying for? Hmmmm..........

At my school we met once a week for 2 hours over 5 weeks (so 10 hours total). We had weekly quizzes and a comprehensive final exam. I didn't think the concepts or the math was very hard but then again I had an instructor that demonstrated at least 2-3 different ways to solve every type of dosage problem and walked us through many many many problems in class and answered lots of questions and made sure everyone understood what to do.

In my nursing program we have a quarterly dosage test and you must pass with at least an 85%. If you get less than 85% on your first attempt you get one chance to try again (a diff test of course) and if you don't get 85% on that your out of the program and it doesn't matter if you have 4.0's in everything else. Because of this I am very thankful that I didn't have to self learn the material and that my instructor was mythodical (sp) and patient.

Good luck to you.

Specializes in Cardiac.

I agree with Valasca...

HOW RE-DICULOUS!

Teach yourself dosage calc! I think that is too important to just learn on your own.

We have a whole Pharmacology class, and the first section is Dosage calculations and if we don't pass that test with an 80% we can't go to clinicals.(and without clinicals you can't pass duh)

We have a book, and we have an online teacher, but we meet every two weeks so that we can ask questions and have problems worked for us.

I understand it pretty well with this being a semi-online class, but I'm strong in math, I know that this is not the case with others and I think that we all benefit from an actual teaching session.

In June 2007 we had orientation, and during that we had a basic math test. if ya failed it, one had to take a nursing drug calculation course ( 8 weeks in length) As well in th eoriginal packet they mailed out, I belive they recommended one take a drug calculations course. Some did, some didnt! Most schools do have a students tutoring centre, so take a look at that. I used henke's med math book, as well as calcualtions with confidence. Our school u have to get 90% on the exam, and u only get 1 rewrite, fail that, and ur out of the program, so a bit of incentive to study,lol and yes people have been booted in the very last semester because they have failed the dosage exam!

on your own......that's scary! my program has structured math class and are using clinical calculations (6th ed.) by kee and marshall. before i started the class, i bought "dosage calculations made incredibly easy!" from springhouse which was very helpful. also, be sure to check out the sticky https://allnurses.com/forums/f50/nursing-math-thread-264395.html for any math help you might need.

good luck on your test in october and your continued success in the nursing program!

Specializes in Case management, occupational health.

We had to do it on our own. We have a dosage calculation test at the beginning of every semester and you must get a 90% or you are out of the program until next semester when you can try to pass the math test again.

We were sent a math packet showing us sample problems the summer before 1 semester so we could work on it before that first week.

Our school has a required course which you can take either before you get into the program or during the first semester. I do think it's a big help to have an actual course taught by a teacher, because it can motivate you and keep you on track. He made us do every single problem in the book. but I can understand just having students learn it on their own using a good textbook. It really isn't that hard. The math itself is just basic stuff, it's the methodology that can get a little bit tricky (we learned dimensional analysis). I think they should at least have a tutor or a person you can go to if you really get stuck.

Teaching dosage to yourself is ridiculous. I just started NS this week and it is a requirement We have a class for 2 hours every week. We also have to take a test an score a 85 at the end of every semester. u cannot move on to the next semester without passing. We use math for meds by curren. It's pretty good

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