ABSTRACT
Introduction: To safely prescribe medication in clinic, drug calculation ability is one of the basic skills that nurses must have. The major cause of medication errors is wrong dose calculation prescribed by nurses. This study aims to enhance the drug calculation ability of nurses of Hazrate Fatemeh Zahra hospital of Najaf Abad
Method: It was a quasi-experimental approach in which questionnaire was used to collect data. The population was nurses working in Hazrate Fatemeh Zahra hospital of Najaf Abad. Sampling method was convenience sampling. First, by using a researcher made questionnaire, pre-test was conducted from 43 people of the population. Then, intervention was done through workshops and after three weeks, the post-test was done. Reliability determined by using internal consistency and by split-half reliability and calculating Spearman-Brown reliability coefficient was 0.93. Data analysed with SPSS statistical software version 18 and statistical tests such as independent t-test, sign, Wilcoxon, Mann-Whitney, McNemar and Pearson's correlation coefficient was performed
Results: Out of the 43 nurses participating in the study, 21 nurses [48.8%] were at the intermediate level before training and after training all the nurses [n=43, 100%] were at the advanced level and answered at least 83% of the questions correctly. Before performing drug calculations course, the mean score of female nurses was 14.52 and the mean score of male nurses was 18.93 and the total mean score of nurses was 15.93. In the beginning, there was a significant difference between the scores of male and female nurses [P<0.05] and male nurses had higher total drug calculation score. After taking the course, the mean scores of female nurses increased to 23.03 and male nurses to 23.29 and the total mean score of nurses to 23.12, and a significant difference between the scores of the nurses in the sample and in both males and females in the drug calculation test before and after the course was observed [P<0.05]
Conclusion: The results of this study indicate an increase in drug calculation abilities of nurses based on their score improvement in drug calculation in written test which was performed before and after intervention. According to the findings, the need for nurses in drug calculations was clear and by planned and ongoing training, these skills that are sensitive in preventing medication errors can be increased. Considering the importance of the issue and the reduced mastery of drug calculations that has been observed, it is suggested that these programs continue in different working periods of nurses so that they would be effective