An integrative review of medication calculation assessment strategies for student nurses

Administering the correct medication dose is an important nursing competency. To perform an integrative review comparing two or more assessment strategies used to assess student nurse’s skills in calculating medication dosages. A literature searches of six health care databases, ScienceDirect, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health, PUBMED, PROQUEST, MEDLINE and Cochrane’s library to identify journal articles. Research articles on safe medication calculation assessment strategies were considered for inclusion in this review. The search yielded 1663 papers of which 9 met the inclusion criteria. A sample size of 1274 student nurses from the nine papers were included in the final review. Assessments of medication calculation competency included medication dosage calculation and administration exams and simulation assessments. Traditional medication calculation tests are common practice among educators to assess medication calculation skills and have been found to predict student nurse’s numeracy skills. However, simulation-based assessment or authentic online assessment may also be used to test student’s performance on clinical placement; few studies into this emerging area exist; more rigorous research is needed.