Calculator not permitted?!

Nursing Students General Students

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The school I'm going to doesn't allow its students to use calculators for dosage calculations. This scares me.

are dosage calculations possible, and comprehensible without calculators?

Specializes in Pediatrics, Geriatrics, Call Center RN.
This is silly. Calculators are available on watches, cell phones and desktop computers, they're not some new-fangled device that only the academically weak use. Using a calculator will not only ensure accuracy but it saves time. If the nursing schools are so afraid that their students do not have the basic math skills to do math without one, then they need to tighten their admission standards and be more selective with their admissions.

In my program you were not allowed to carry any of those tools to tests. You walked in on test day. You put ALL your belongings on the table in the back of the room. If you were caught having a calculator on your watch, having your cell phone even remotely close to you or pda you would automatically fail the test. Who can fit a desk top computer in their pocket? Where did you go to school that you were allowed this luxury? I have not known a school yet that did not allow them at some point.

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So, basically...if you're bad at math nursing isn't for you?

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Geriatrics, Call Center RN.
So, basically...if you're bad at math nursing isn't for you?

No! If you are bad at math, and nursing is what you truely want to do. YOU need to take the initiative to upgrade your math skills. Yes, math is an important part of nursing. If you want it bad enough you can do it. Trust me I finished my RN with 2 five year old (one that is special needs) and a very high risk unplanned pregnancy at age 39. Just start working now. Go to the academic center get a tutor, take some basic math classes. You can do it if you have the inner desire to be a nurse. But it is something you can't just fake your way through.

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This is silly. Calculators are available on watches, cell phones and desktop computers, they're not some new-fangled device that only the academically weak use. Using a calculator will not only ensure accuracy but it saves time. If the nursing schools are so afraid that their students do not have the basic math skills to do math without one, then they need to tighten their admission standards and be more selective with their admissions.

Personally basic math is a basic skill. Most drug calculations involve basic math (mine do anyways remember I'm a vet tech and not a nurse). To me basic math involves addition, subtraction, multiplication, and divison. Just like basic English involves spelling, grammer, punctuation, and definitions. These are things that people should be learning while they are in grade and high school. I should be able to do a basic math problem without technology just like I should be able to correctly write a simple sentence without technology.

From what I can tell it's not like we are doing calculus, trigonometry, or advanced algebra here. We're just putting numbers into a formula to find an unknown amount. That unknown amount may save someone or kill him depending on our skills and understanding.

Fuzzy

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Specializes in school nursing.
So, basically...if you're bad at math nursing isn't for you?

Not to seem hard line - however - think of it this way. Is it better to learn these "math" skills in training while you have the luxury of making a mistake - or bone up on your skills later by performing body counts on the dead. We are living in a world that has an escalating conflict that will probably get worse before it gets any better. Only a matter of time before we see casualties in every country on the globe and don't count on the availability of electricity or working electronics to keep your patients alive. Learn the skills now while you have the time. It will make a difference - and is that not why we all want to be nurses ? The chance to make a difference for the positive in this world by helping others? I say help yourselves now - build your skills - and be sure to learn how to set up an IV without the aid of a pump. This one item alone may save hundreds of lives in the very near future.

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Specializes in OR.
So, basically...if you're bad at math nursing isn't for you?
Sounds harsh, but yes, maybe if you are very bad at math, nursing may not be for you. Compassion and caring are big parts of this job but not all of it. You also have to have strong math and science skills as well as strong critical thinking skills. Also, I have seen many people give up way too easily where math is concerned. Classmates of mine didn't even try to get math help, they just said "Math isn't my thing" I would hate to say that to a patient or a family member after a med error was made.My program gave you three chances first semester to pass the med exam with an 80(subsequent semesters, it went up to an 85) and if you failed to pass, then you couldn't go on.
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Specializes in Med/Surg, Geriatrics.
In my program you were not allowed to carry any of those tools to tests. You walked in on test day. You put ALL your belongings on the table in the back of the room. If you were caught having a calculator on your watch, having your cell phone even remotely close to you or pda you would automatically fail the test. Who can fit a desk top computer in their pocket? Where did you go to school that you were allowed this luxury? I have not known a school yet that did not allow them at some point.

*sigh* Well....I went to school before PDA's existed and cell phones were still new-fangled(and they certainly didn't have calculators), lol. I honestly don't remember if we were allowed to use calculators or not but if we didn't.....it's silly.

My point is that once you are already in nursing school is not the time to find out if your students know basic math or not. I entered the program with classes in college level algebra, chemistry and physics under my belt. Doing drug calculations which really only basic algebra was old hat to me by that time. Isn't that the way it is now?

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Geriatrics.
Personally basic math is a basic skill. Most drug calculations involve basic math (mine do anyways remember I'm a vet tech and not a nurse). To me basic math involves addition, subtraction, multiplication, and divison. Just like basic English involves spelling, grammer, punctuation, and definitions. These are things that people should be learning while they are in grade and high school. I should be able to do a basic math problem without technology just like I should be able to correctly write a simple sentence without technology.

From what I can tell it's not like we are doing calculus, trigonometry, or advanced algebra here. We're just putting numbers into a formula to find an unknown amount. That unknown amount may save someone or kill him depending on our skills and understanding.

Fuzzy

See my post above this one. By the time you enter nursing school, that is not the time to "test" your students knowledge of basic math by making sure they can do math without a calculator. You should be basically assured that your nursing students can do the math without a calculator thus there should be no need to ban them. If the nursing schools are admitting people today who are struggling with drug calculations which as I stated above is really basic algebra, then they need to be more discriminating.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
Sounds harsh, but yes, maybe if you are very bad at math, nursing may not be for you.

Guess that would have screwed me then if that were the requirement, except for the fact that i aced Dose Cal, despite the fact that i've sucked at anything algebra and above in high school.

Point being, you just never know.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
No! If you are bad at math, and nursing is what you truely want to do. YOU need to take the initiative to upgrade your math skills.

Exactly, THANK YOU.

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Specializes in OR.
Guess that would have screwed me then if that were the requirement, except for the fact that i aced Dose Cal, despite the fact that i've sucked at anything algebra and above in high school.

Point being, you just never know.

By "very bad" at math, I mean people who can't do basic math and furthermore, have no interest in trying to improve. I myself only got as far as trigonometry(had to take it for my tech degree, still don't know why a scrub tech would need it!) but things like mutiplication, division etc should not be beyond the comprehension of any nursing student. Technology is a great thing but when you start depending on calculators, computers, IV pumps etc that can put you and the patient in a precarious situation. My school is starting to toughen up the requirements because we were getting people with poor reading skills and math skills and instructors were spending way too much time providing "remedial" services.
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Specializes in ICU, PACU.

I graduated nursing school in 2003, we were allowed to use calculators, but had to show our work - for example, the initial set up of the problem before you use a calculator.

Also, we had to use their calculators to eliminate any chance of people cheating and we couldn't even have a drink on the desk.

We had to pass with 100% accuracy and had 3 times to pass it.

I believe they should allow for calculator usage, everyone uses them at work, it is reality.

Heidi

calculator user in Phoenix

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