Impact of a Required Pharmaceutical Calculations Course on Mathematics Ability and Knowledge Retention

Hegener, Michael; Buring, Shauna M.; Papas, Elizabeth

doi:10.5688/ajpe776124

Cited by 17 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Other studies demonstrate immediate increases in student understanding directly following a specific educational intervention 16,17 or document knowledge or skill retention from baseline to a sole second time point months after the educational intervention. 18,19 Study designs that collect data at only 2 time points limit the ability to evaluate knowledge retention trends, whereas assessing knowledge more often over the same or longer intervals provides more meaningful data regarding knowledge retention. Two pharmacy student investigations assessed knowledge retention at 3 time points.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improved Knowledge Retention Among Clinical Pharmacy Students Using an Anthropology Classroom Assessment Technique

Whitley

Parton

2014

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education

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Objective. To adapt a classroom assessment technique (CAT) from an anthropology course to a diabetes module in a clinical pharmacy skills laboratory and to determine student knowledge retention from baseline. Design. Diabetes item stems, focused on module objectives, replaced anthropology terms. Answer choices, coded to Bloom's Taxonomy, were expanded to include higher-order thinking. Students completed the online 5-item probe 4 times: prelaboratory lecture, postlaboratory, and at 6 months and 12 months after laboratory. Statistical analyses utilized a single factor, repeated measures design using rank transformations of means with a Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test. Assessment. The CAT revealed a significant increase in knowledge from prelaboratory compared to all postlaboratory measurements (p,0.0001). Significant knowledge retention was maintained with basic terms, but declined with complex terms between 6 and 12 months. Conclusion. The anthropology assessment tool was effectively adapted using Bloom's Taxonomy as a guide and, when used repeatedly, demonstrated knowledge retention. Minimal time was devoted to application of the probe making it an easily adaptable CAT.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improved Knowledge Retention Among Clinical Pharmacy Students Using an Anthropology Classroom Assessment Technique

Whitley

Parton

2014

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education

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“…Another learning style is the use of formative assessments [13,20]. Students undertake these in a location of their choice, without the use of any materials.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They cover a range of topics of varying difficulty [13,21]. These mini-tests were claimed to improve skills and performance [22] as they assess students' knowledge, retention and the ability to apply concepts [3,20]. After having completed the exercises, rapid, detailed feedback is received, allowing learning adjustments to be made and also the opportunity of repeated practice [23,24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Study to Explore Learning Style Preferences of Pharmacy Students With Regard to Pharmaceutical Calculations

Wara

Daly

Morrissey

et al. 2019

Int J Curr Pharm Sci

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Objective: Pharmaceutical calculations are an essential aspect of learning for pharmacy students in order to avoid drug dose errors and maintain patient safety in future practice. Learning styles influence how lecturers approach the teaching-learning process. So far no specific learning preference is believed to be most appropriate for the pharmacy curricular; however certain learning styles are favoured by students as they improve their understanding of course material, knowledge and performance.Methods: 148Master of pharmacy participants from the second and third year were given a questionnaire to complete during a compulsory Individual Readiness Assurance Test session. Participants were restricted to just one option.Results: Workshops with a tutor was the most selected (36%) followed by 25% of participants favouring formative assessments, 28% selected workbooks alone, 37% for whole-class lecturers and videos option was the least selected. Reasons for the most and least preferred learning styles were highlighted and separated into advantages and disadvantages using themes. In the knowledge test; 92% of participants selected "unsure" or "didn't know" the answer, 29% had a partially correct answer and 19% selected incorrect answers.The overall order of ranking arose in regards to the most beneficial learning style which enhances performance. The responses revealed a variety of advantages and disadvantages which were reflected between year groups and similar to views obtained from recent literature. Students reflected a lack of understanding on extemporaneous preparation (EPs) terms used in pharmaceutical compounding practices, thus the university should consider addressing the lack of awareness and consider the best teaching-learning style in doing so. Conclusion:Overall the findings suggested that the sample students have similar views on the learning styles used to deliver pharmaceutical calculations on their academic performance to that expressed by the authors from recent published literature.A more recent concept being used to teach PCs is video recordings; a complete presentation is recorded by the lecturer and made available to students to download or simply watch online [16]. In this model, lecturers are able to track student engagement and students are able revisit concepts multiple times to understand more than 50% of students learn better in workshops compared to lectures. Further, the use of team work within these sessions increased scores>20% compared to individual marks [9]. Workshops appear able to improve students' understanding of course materials, making them confident in carrying out calculations [9].

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“…Nurses and pharmacists are known to struggle with drug dose calculations, posing a threat to patient safety in relation to the preparation and administration of drugs, intravenous (IV) fluids and nutritional supplements (Latif and Grillo 2002;Oldridge et al 2004;McMullan et al 2010;Wright 2010;Hegener et al 2013). The term "health numeracy" is generally used in relation to patients.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinician Numeracy: The Development of an Assessment Measure for Doctors

Taylor

Byrne‐Davis

2016

Numeracy

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Low numeracy in doctors poses serious risks to patient safety because inaccurate drug dose calculation may lead to under-treatment or overdose, while erroneous data interpretation affects medical decision making. Most research on numeracy in healthcare focuses on health numeracy in patients, while research on numeracy in doctors, "clinician numeracy", is limited, partly due to the lack of a suitable assessment measure. We developed a new assessment, the Medical Interpretation and Numeracy Test (MINT), to assess clinician numeracy. The MINT tests computational, analytical and statistical constructs, using a combination of questions validated in other studies, and new test material specifically designed for doctors. We recruited 135 recently qualified doctors attending a teaching session on clinical decision making and risk communication to take our test. Psychometric analysis indicates that the MINT is a valid and reliable measure of clinician numeracy, with good internal-consistency reliability. Correlation with other numeracy/health numeracy tests varied greatly: this variation is understandable in view of the limited scope of many existing assessments that test only single constructs of numeracy/health numeracy. We conclude that the MINT provides a broad overview of clinician numeracy and can be a useful new assessment measure. Because of its important implications for patient safety, further research is needed to investigate clinician numeracy in doctors and other healthcare professionals, and to address and remediate deficiencies.

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Impact of a Required Pharmaceutical Calculations Course on Mathematics Ability and Knowledge Retention

Cited by 17 publications

References 11 publications

Improved Knowledge Retention Among Clinical Pharmacy Students Using an Anthropology Classroom Assessment Technique

Improved Knowledge Retention Among Clinical Pharmacy Students Using an Anthropology Classroom Assessment Technique

A Study to Explore Learning Style Preferences of Pharmacy Students With Regard to Pharmaceutical Calculations

Clinician Numeracy: The Development of an Assessment Measure for Doctors

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