Med Calc Exam

LadyBugRN · Oct 3, 2003

It was a long time ago when I went to school to become a nurse. I recall that you had to answer all questions correctly. Show your calculations as to how you got the answers. Passing grade for math test was 100%.

Glad2brn · Oct 4, 2003

I am currently in my last year of Nursing School. We were tested when coming back to school this fall and had to get 100% in order to continue with clinical time.

There was a mixture of math problems including wt calcutations(lbs to kg) up to and including IV drip calculations. We were able to retake the test 3 times and if we did not pass with 100% we were not allowed to continue with the nursing program.

Harsh - maybe. Appropriate - yes. I wouldn't want a nurse giving my family or myself any medication if he/she can not do the math correctly. Med errors are a major complication of nursing and we have to start somewhere trying to cut down on these costly mistakes. I do not want a serious injury or possible death of one of my patients on my conscious.

How about you?

mnyapala · Jan 5, 2006

I'm not saying it isn't the right thing to know how to and to give med 100% correct 100% of the time, but we as students don't set the policy - only our own goals - the school sets the policy.

i agree with you sara the school has issues.may be the 80% has critical titrations unlike the ones who took simple conversions and giving gtts/min and so forth.Its the school policy to enforce that and not the students.yes for the critics out there i had also to get 100% however 805 is still passing considering most calculations will already be done by the pharmacy.(Though we should know how to calculate0:lol2:

luvmy2angels · Jan 5, 2006

WOW! be glad that you get to pass at 80%! In my class we have to take 2 med calc tests, one at the beginning of each level and one at the end. We have to get a 100% or we fail and must leave the program! Our instructor used our first test grades as a very important tool! She took all the mistakes we made on the tests and put them into real life situations...had we made the mistakes for real that we made on the test we would have killed 16 patients!! :eek: That was a REAL eye-opener as to just how important knowing your med calculations are!! Good Luck!!

DCJ3 · Jan 5, 2006

lucky you...passing for our class was 100%. anything less and you had to re-take it, couldn't pass the class otherwise.
usually it's dosage calculations (ordered: 35 mg benadryl, you have on hand 25 mg/ml, how many ml will you give?), conversions, say, from mg to grains to grams to micrograms....also iv drip calculations (gtts/cc, how many gtts/min for so many cc's per hr). figure on a few questions involving the pt's weight, such as weight-based heparin or pediatric calculations in which the dosage is in mg/kg or mg/kg/hr (for a drip rate).
many hospitals still require a medications calculations exam as part of a pre-employment screening as well...so you won't see the last of that with this test!
good luck!

our school is the same as babs except that we don't have to get 100%, we need 90% or better. they give us a chance to test out of it over the summer, so we don't have to take the class and thank god i passed it over the summer. in all of our exams they always at least 2 math problems. usually the "x ordered...x available...how much do you give" type of problems...

good luck!

b. :)

-------------------------------------

i hear and i forget

i see and i remember

i do and i understand~ old proverb

Hoozdo, ADN · Jan 5, 2006

I am currently in my last year of Nursing School. We were tested when coming back to school this fall and had to get 100% in order to continue with clinical time.
There was a mixture of math problems including wt calcutations(lbs to kg) up to and including IV drip calculations. We were able to retake the test 3 times and if we did not pass with 100% we were not allowed to continue with the nursing program.
Harsh - maybe. Appropriate - yes. I wouldn't want a nurse giving my family or myself any medication if he/she can not do the math correctly. Med errors are a major complication of nursing and we have to start somewhere trying to cut down on these costly mistakes. I do not want a serious injury or possible death of one of my patients on my conscious.
How about you?

I agree. I am a new grad and in my program it was 100% or you flunked. You had 3 chances to get 100 on 3 consecutive days. If you did not achieve 100 then you had to go back to the previous semester and TAKE ALL OF THE COURSE WORK OVER AGAIN, including clinicals.

You could cut the tension with a knife during these math tests. Every semester we had one. I guess it was good practise for working under pressure!

lcbradley · Jan 5, 2006

I will be going back to school on Monday for the second semester of nursing and we have a math comp exam on Thursday. No ifs, ands, or buts about it you must make 100%. You do get two attempts, however.

CyndieRN2007 · Jan 5, 2006

Our Math Access is next week and we must pass with a 90%. I guess we are lucky. I guess we get to kill one person. Just joking, :lol2: I know its not funny....

lcbradley · Jan 5, 2006

Our Math Access is next week and we must pass with a 90%. I guess we are lucky. I guess we get to kill one person. Just joking, I know its not funny....

LOL:rotfl: