First year undergraduate nursing students' perceptions of the effectiveness of blended learning approaches for nursing numeracy.

The ability to safely calculate and administer medications are indispensable, core nursing skills in nursing education and practice. Therefore, it is imperative that nursing students are adequately prepared with the necessary numeracy skills during their undergraduate nursing studies. The focus of this study, conducted at a single multi-campus university in the western Sydney region of Australia, was to determine the effectiveness of a suite of blended learning approaches on numeracy self-efficacy from the students' perspective. Surveys were administered as part of the study and included open-ended questions. 525 students provided open-ended responses that were analysed by the research team. Four main themes were identified from the open-ended responses: (i) Self-realisation; (ii) Practice, practice, practice; (iii) Boosting confidence; and (iv) Wanting more. The themes captured students' perceptions of the benefits of having a rigorous learning design in blended learning approaches. The study showed that a structured pedagogical approach to nursing numeracy in undergraduate programs improved students' self-reported self-efficacy with mathematics and assisted students in realising the importance of learning and applying these skills as nursing clinicians.

The influence of mathematics self-efficacy on numeracy performance in first-year nursing students: A quasi-experimental study.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES: To examine the factors that influence nursing students' mathematics self-efficacy, the effect of numeracy instruction on self-efficacy, and the association between self-efficacy and numeracy test performance. BACKGROUND: Medication administration errors, including administering incorrect dosages or infusion rates, can result in serious harm to patients. Hence, it is essential that nursing students are adequately prepared with the necessary numeracy skills during their nursing program. DESIGN: This quasi-experimental cohort study used a pre- and post-test survey design. The study complied with the STROBE checklist for cohort research. METHODS: In total, n = 715 undergraduate first year nursing students participated in the study from June to October 2017 at a single multi-campus university in the Western Sydney region of Australia. Data were collected at three time-points: (a) baseline, including assessing pre-instruction mathematics self-efficacy (NSE-Math scale); (b) 6-week follow-up; including assessing post-instruction mathematics self-efficacy; and (c) numeracy test performance was collected at 7-week follow-up. FINDINGS: At baseline, those with high NSE-Math scale scores were more likely to be male and have at least high school advanced mathematics level education. Following structured numeracy instruction, NSE-Math scale scores increased significantly, and those who obtained a satisfactory grade in their numeracy assessment were more likely to have high NSE-Math scale scores and high academic performance in the previous semester. CONCLUSION: The study shows that structured numeracy instruction improved mathematics self-efficacy, which in turn influenced numeracy test performance. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Using a structured medication numeracy pedagogical approach, to teach skills in nursing undergraduate programs, provides students with the foundations to improve mathematics self-efficacy and to be successful and safe with medication numeracy calculations and administration in clinical practice.