It is essential for nurses to perform medication calculations competently and confidently. We created a formula card to distribute to all nursing students about to start a professional placement. The card contains the most commonly used formulae and serves as an educational tool and an aide-mémoire for the students while on placement. It is expected that referring to the card will help the students feel more confident carrying out medication calculations.
A draft of the formula card was initially created at the University of Glasgow and further developed at a Resource Development workshop (organised by Sigma) at the University of Coventry in June 2011.
The formula cards were distributed to Level 3 students in October 2011 and to Level 2 students in February 2012. Level 1 students were given the cards before their placement in June 2012.
Feedback has been received from the teaching staff at the School of Nursing and Health Care at the University of Glasgow and when the students are back in university they will be given a questionnaire on their experience of using the formula card.
Following evaluation the formula card will be submitted to the MathCentre Community Project under a Creative Commons Licence.
