The "Nursing Games" claims it's first victims...

Nursing Students General Students

Published

I posted on another thread recently how nursing school is like "The Hunger Games." Today was a particularly rough day. I heard the cannon sound for several of my fellow classmates. They failed the required drug calculation test and have been dismissed from the program. I feel so sad for them. It just really, really suck to have put in so much time and hard work, not to mention money, to be admitted into the program and then get dropped the first month. I can still see the tears. Blerg!

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

I think the school and the instructors are failing them......If there is a test in the first weeks of class and these students have worked and sweated and PAID their way into school...to have one test at the beginning of the journey and not have a class as a apart of the curriculum......is unfair and brutal.

Drug calculations are VERY IMPORTANT....for mistakes can have dyer consequences. But you have to be taught. I find it baffling that programs are dropping pharmacology from their programs. I find it baffling that there isn't an entire semester devoted on calculations and pharmacology because it IS that important. I find it sad that these "nurses" don't teach how to perform calculations and then try to mentor these new students to find what they are not understanding....before sending them to the electric chair.

It is just a simple algebraic equation to solve these problems......but every time I have posted conversion tables and the amount of students that have never seen one or been given one by their program tells me there is a failure in the system.

Is the school failing them?

No.

They are all adults.

Each and every single one of them.

There are resources everywhere and if the student doesn't utilize them, then that is on the student.

Specializes in Oncology/hematology.

It sucks for them, but I think it's warranted. If you can't pass drug calc, you can't be a nurse. We have to get 100% or we're out. I think it's fair. If I make a mistake on my calculations and give a patient a med that's 1 decimal place off, they could die. And, it would be on me. I hope they are able to get back in next semester or next year and try it again.

It sucks for them, but I think it's warranted. If you can't pass drug calc, you can't be a nurse. We have to get 100% or we're out. I think it's fair. If I make a mistake on my calculations and give a patient a med that's 1 decimal place off, they could die. And, it would be on me. I hope they are able to get back in next semester or next year and try it again.

We have to make 100% as well and I completely agree with what you said.

Specializes in Med-Surg/urology.
I think the school and the instructors are failing them......If there is a test in the first weeks of class and these students have worked and sweated and PAID their way into school...to have one test at the beginning of the journey and not have a class as a apart of the curriculum......is unfair and brutal.

Drug calculations are VERY IMPORTANT....for mistakes can have dyer consequences. But you have to be taught. I find it baffling that programs are dropping pharmacology from their programs. I find it baffling that there isn't an entire semester devoted on calculations and pharmacology because it IS that important. I find it sad that these "nurses" don't teach how to perform calculations and then try to mentor these new students to find what they are not understanding....before sending them to the electric chair.

It is just a simple algebraic equation to solve these problems......but every time I have posted conversion tables and the amount of students that have never seen one or been given one by their program tells me there is a failure in the system.

I agree! Our program is one of the few around in our area that had a class on Dosage Calculations. Although I took that class in November of 2010, I still kept the book & occasionally look at it from time to time, especially before a dosage test at the beginning of the semester. Our program is extremely lenient- we have 3 chances to take the test and we only have to make a 90%. If someone fails the second time, they have to attend tutoring sessions before they are able to take it for the final time.

Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.

I think that there should be a pre-requisite course in Dosage Calculations. Must pass the drug calc class in order to apply to the nursing program. That way, people don't pay for classes and books when they can't meet the minimum requirements.

Some people are just NEVER going to get the math, and math errors can and do lead to patient injuries and deaths. If you can't do the math, you should not be a nurse. Period.

Yeah, it sucks that some people who would make great caregivers can't be nurses, but it that's just life. I'm not a fast runner, so if my dream were to be an Olympic track athlete, I would never achieve my dream. Not everyone gets to realize their dreams in life.

But I do think it's unfair (and just plain short-sighted) that it's not part of the pre-requisites. My original cohort was 80 people. I think there are less than 30 of us left after 5 of 7 semesters. Obviously, the pre-reqs for my program aren't meeting the needs of the program, because they're letting in way too many people who cannot handle the curriculum.

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

I like the idea of a prerequisite course or something similar. If students can't do basic high school math, they should not be allowed to progress into further nursing courses. It's just a waste of everyone's time, energy, and money. Those kinds of fundamental requirements should be tested early in a students program and the necessary cuts made in the beginning. It's nice that they gave so many students a chance to prove themselves capable -- but it would be cruel to string them along for any length of time.

Yes, it's painful. But it is a lot better for the student to flunk out in the first semester than to invest a fortune (and time) into a program only to fail in the last semester.

Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.

In an education system that is already more expensive than it should be, why should med math be a required class when the vast majority of students have no problems with it?

I my opinion there are only two major reasons why a student can't pass simple math in two tries:

1. They don't read carefully or work too fast and make mistakes, which is dangerous.

2. They can't do basic math which is dangerous.

I like the idea of a prerequisite course or something similar. If students can't do basic high school math, they should not be allowed to progress into further nursing courses. It's just a waste of everyone's time, energy, and money. Those kinds of fundamental requirements should be tested early in a students program and the necessary cuts made in the beginning. It's nice that they gave so many students a chance to prove themselves capable -- but it would be cruel to string them along for any length of time.

Yes, it's painful. But it is a lot better for the student to flunk out in the first semester than to invest a fortune (and time) into a program only to fail in the last semester.

I agree with a math prerequisite. An idea could be to have potential nursing students attend a workshop and learn how to read drug labels, do metric conversions, and how to do the "desired over have" method of calculations. Give them "x" amount of time to practice and then test them. This would be before they have been accepted into the program and spent a butt-load of money on everything. It is not that drug calc is hard, it is just making sure to read the all the little details in the question. Sometimes the questions would say per dose, and sometimes they were in a 24 hour period. I passed with a 100, but it was a little tricky trying to decipher the poorly xeroxed copies of med labels on some of the questions.

Speaking of money, at my school we started plunking down cash this past May. We had to get background checks, uniforms, and a lab kit. Then in August we all spent over a thousand dollars on books. Oh, add tuition to that. So, if people had taken the drug calc test before even being accepted, then it would have been so much better. FWIW, I passed with a 100. People I knew who took it the second time said it was much harder.

My school required a 100% for passing. If you fail, you can take it again. The irony is that there is a medical math class offered. But it started the week after our math test. How was the class helpful for passing the test? I passed my test on first try. But I am still taking the class. All you do is work on calculations.

Specializes in Trauma Surgical ICU.

First week of each semester was dedicated to math. At the end of that week we had a math test, we had to make a 100 in order to continue. Many students were dropped because even after the 3 attempts they were unable to pass. Many teachers offered additional help, extra sheets for practice. We had a few each semester not make it due to the math but they were able to start again the following semester. The down side, we could fail only 2 classes during the program; if you failed due to math that also counted as a fail. If you failed more than twice you were out of the nursing program for 2 years then had to start at the beginning.

Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.

At the bare minimum, a pre-admission math test should be given. People who don't pass the test can take a Dosage Calc course, then re-test for admission. If you can't pass even after taking a Dosage Calculation class, then you don't get into the program. As stated, thousands of dollars have already been spent before you even step foot in class... I had to pay for a physical, immunizations/titers (not covered by insurance in my case), scrubs, shoes, stethoscope, books, and tuition. All of those things are completely useless if you don't get into the program (or you don't advance past the first few weeks).

I personally would *hate* having to sit through a basic dosage calculation course... but then again, five semesters in, I have yet to miss a single dosage calc question on an exam (we have at least five per exam, all throughout the program, plus the pharmacology class). I've always been strong in math, and I never did have any difficulty with story problems, even back in elementary school. However, I'm one of the few people in my program who doesn't stress out over dosage calculations.

Some people just have always gotten flustered at story problems and no matter how intelligent they are and no matter how many classes they take, they will never "get it". They would be better off in a different field where their inability to compute story problems won't result in someone's death. They may have made wonderful caregivers, but they simply aren't going to be safe when it comes to administering medication, which is a huge part of nursing.

+ Add a Comment