MEDICATION CALCULATIONS COMPETENCY AMONG NURSES: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract Background: Medication calculation, dispensing, and administration are one of the major tasks of nurses, and Medication Errors (MEs) are one of the most common errors in the medical field, where some of these errors are fatal. ME can be attributed to many causes, such as medication dosage calculation errors. Accordingly, this study aims to assess Jordanian nurses` competency regarding medication calculation and its associated factors. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used to assess the medication calculation skills of 126 registered nurses in Jordan, representing different departments of three governmental hospitals. Nurses’ dosage calculation skills were evaluated using self-administered Nursing Medication Calculation Competency Tool (NMCCT) prepared by experts in nursing practice assessing nurses’ medication calculation competency in oral, parenteral, and intravenous flow rate. Data was collected, data entry was done on a Microsoft Office Excel sheet, and analyzed using SPSS 25.0. Results: Results show that 95% of participated nurses (n=120) did not receive any mathematical education during their university nursing program education, 84.9 % (n=107) reported absence of a medication calculation competency program at their respective hospitals. 79.7% (n=113) did not attend any medication calculation courses/programs after graduation and 90.5% of participated nurses reported unavailability of medication administration guidelines at their hospitals. The highest level of medication calculation competency was obtained for oral medications (65.1%) followed by intravenous flow rate calculation (57.9%), then parenteral/ intravenous medications calculation (48.9%). 27.8% (n=35) reported to be competent in the three aspects. The only factors that showed a significant impact on the total nurse's competency toward medication calculations were; the age of the participated nurse, availability of medication calculation competency programs at the participated hospitals, and attending medication calculation courses/programs after graduation (p= .045, .013, and <.001, respectively). Conclusion: Nursing curriculum and continuing education programs should recognize pharmaceutical education including drug calculation skills as an essential part of their content. Also, the researchers encourage the adoption of national wide learning/ competency program that is able to assess the level of competency, track gaps in medication calculation skills, and provide a supportive learning program in this aspect as needed.