I just took the online pharmacology test for my staffing agency. A big percentage of the questions were calculating drip rates.
I learned these 16 years ago in nursing school and have never used them since. But, they always have them on these pharmacology competancy tests. It seems dumb to test on these when there are so many more current topics that they could be covering.
I don't know why nursing schools waste time on archaic information, meanwhile many other, more current areas of nursing remain uncovered. I mean, we spent some time in first semester covering the apothecary system!
Calculating a gtt rate is very elementary. However, I was surprised that about 30% of this med test involved gtt rates.
Well, the med test is really overblown on that, but it is one of the more difficult calculations. I can understand that a facility wants its nurses capable of doing simple arithmetic - although the implication that we're such incompetent children that we need such a test is another thread entirely.
I've had to calculate drip rates because of pump failures. Twice in the last month as a matter of fact.
I just took the online pharmacology test for my staffing agency. A big percentage of the questions were calculating drip rates.
I learned these 16 years ago in nursing school and have never used them since. But, they always have them on these pharmacology competancy tests. It seems dumb to test on these when there are so many more current topics that they could be covering.
I don't know why nursing schools waste time on archaic information, meanwhile many other, more current areas of nursing remain uncovered. I mean, we spent some time in first semester covering the apothecary system!
"Unless you have some flint and kindling around, what would that better way be?
If the pumps go out, you have to set it to gravity. Period. Why would anyone object to some simple arithmetic?
(amount * drip rate) / time in minutes. What's the big deal?"
I could try a lighter. As for drips, time strips were the more accurate way to determine how much IV fluid a patient received. I object to so much emphasis on an archaic ritual. The math is easy and I remember hanging D51/2ns with 20kcl on a drip without a pump. I also remember the patient who was told that after that IV infuses you can go home, so she opened the stop wide open and infused her fluids (thankfully, without potassium), in 15 minutes then hit the call light to inform me she was discharged.
I am in nursing school and twice I have had to calculate drip rates for a bladder irrigation set-up. It was not used with a pump. Counting those drops...
Specializes in Emergency, Case Management, Informatics.
It's so frustrating. Really, things change. Yes, you can justify starting a fire by rubbing two sticks together, but really, do you need to start a fire, and on those rare occasions, can't you find a better way?
Your analogy would only be applicable if there were a very real chance that you would be thrust into a situation where you had no other choice than to rub two sticks together to get fire.
And in that case, you sure as hell better know how to rub sticks, huh?
A few may not like to hear this, but if you can't manage basic math you shouldn't be a nurse. Sorry.
Thank you.
I do have to agree with the gtts rate being one of the hardest. The unit conversions are harder, esp between the different measurement systems. Being in the NICU, we regualry convert things from mg to mcg, and usually wind up with really really small numbers....
"Your analogy would only be applicable if there were a very real chance that you would be thrust into a situation where you had no other choice than to rub two sticks together to get fire.
And in that case, you sure as hell better know how to rub sticks, huh?"
Yup, not much of a real chance. And a simple exposure to the technique, as opposed to "A big percentage of the questions were calculating drip rates. "
Specializes in Emergency, Case Management, Informatics.
Yup, not much of a real chance. And a simple exposure to the technique, as opposed to "A big percentage of the questions were calculating drip rates. " Would be more to the point.
The OP made the statement that time was wasted on the "archaic" method of calculating drip rates, as if to imply that no one uses such an old-fashioned method any more and no one should be required to have any knowledge of it.
What an agency puts on their entrance exam is of no concern to me. I have taken entrance exams at 3 different nursing agencies, and they all covered the basics that I learned in nursing school, and nothing more.
I think it's just fine for an agency to determine whether or not their staff has enough knowledge to avoid killing someone, and I believe that whatever you learned in nursing school is fair game. What percentage of each individual topic they put on the exam is irrelevant.
FireStarterRN, BSN, RN
3,824 Posts
Calculating a gtt rate is very elementary. However, I was surprised that about 30% of this med test involved gtt rates.