Simulation improves calculation

« The “five rights” of medication administration require that the right patient be given the right medication in the right dose by the right route at the right time. »(1)

Worryingly, the USA’s Joint Commission notes that « 6 % of all sentinel events from 2004 through 2010 were caused by medication errors »(2) and that « nurses are the health care providers most often implicated in medication errors ».(3)

Anxiety and unfamiliarity with material and techniques may contribute to this situation. Moreover, a high score in classroom calculations doesn’t always mean accuracy in the clinical setting. One possible solution is to integrate medication calculations into training simulations.

The trainee nurse is removed from the traditional classroom and placed in a clinical environment, with access to all the accessories necessary to the manipulation in question. The researcher explains : « If calculating how much medication goes into an IV bag, the vial of medication, the IV bag, and the syringe serve as visual and tactile stimuli. »(1)

Benefits of this approach include a possible reduction in the anxiety experienced by the nurse when faced with solving medication problems ; giving assessors the possibility to assess the nurse’s patient monitoring and critical thinking skills. Improving test results and increasing nurse confidence, especially in cases where a significant lapse of time occurs between learning a skill and employing it.