Numeracy in Nursing and Healthcare:
Calculations and Practice
By Pearl Shihab
August 2009
Pearson Education
Distrubuted by Trans-Atlantic Publications Inc.
ISBN: 9780273720744
248 pages
$47.50 Paper Original
Description
Competency in Maths is essential for safe nursing practice; this is the only text to clearly explain Maths specifically for students in nursing and healthcare, expelling the tears and frustration that can be experienced whilst trying to grapple with the subject.
The author has been teaching anatomy, physiology and pharmacology to nursing students for 25 years, and is well placed to understand the fears that students have when addressing numbers and maths. This text will help students to handle numbers confidently in the administration of drugs and other practice settings. Clinical examples will be used to illustrate the use of arithmetic and the student will be able to work at their own pace throughout.
In addition to drug calculations, the text will allow students to feel confident in other practice settings such as: calculating the body mass index (BMI) of a patient, reading and interpreting a blood result back from the lab, interpreting demographic data, calculating the nutritional intake for a patient, and measuring a patient’s blood pressure, pulse, and temperature.
ContentsChapter 1 Basic Arithmetic Skills
The things you don’t want to ask about but need to know.
Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division from the beginning to give you confidence for tackling the chapters involving drug calculations.
Chapter 2 Decimals and Other Fractions
How to deal with the bits and pieces.
Using the skills from chapter 1 to calculate vulgar and decimal fractions in preparation for
calculating small drug doses.
Chapter 3 SI Units
How’s your French? You only need one phrase ‘Système International d’Unités’.
Learn about units that are used to record patients’ height, weight, temperature and fluid balance as well as measurements used for drug therapy.
Chapter 4 Drug calculations
Pills, potions and pinpricks.
Calculating all types of drug treatments – tablets, medicines and injections
Chapter 5 Drug concentrations
The jokers in the pack.
Calculating drugs that are not measured in SI units.
Chapter 6 Per cent, percentage and ratios
Hundreds and thousands and much more.
Find out how much 20% off really means and learn to calculate the amount of drug is in a percentage solution.
Chapter 7 Intravenous fluid and drug administration
Drips, drops and devices
Intravenous fluids need to be given over a prescribed period of time. This chapter shows you how to do the calculations using different types of fluid administration devices.
Chapter 8 Common Clinical Measurements
Charting, charting and more charting.
Taking and recording patients’ vital signs forms an important part in monitoring their progress to recovery. This chapter shows you how to record this information accurately.
Chapter 9 Physiological Measurements
Blood, but no sweat and tears.
Get to know what is normal and recognise the abnormal. Monitor patients’ nutritional status and be aware of the energy value of food.
Chapter 10 Statistics and reading research articles
No ostriches here please.
A gentle introduction to some of the terms used in journal articles and knowing what to look for when reading articles in preparation for assignments and completing portfolios.
Appendices
I Roman numerals and their Arabic equivalent
II Multiples
and divisions of SI units
III Important
elements in the body. Isotopes and Avogadro’s
constant.
IV Physiological reference values for adults
V Abbreviations
used in prescribing
VI An
example of a medicine chart
VII Peak
flow measurements
VIII Body
Mass Index and Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST)
IX Nomogram for calculating body surface
area
X Weight
conversion chart
XI Summary
of methods for drug calculations
- Is written specifically for Nursing and Healthcare students
- The structured style of this book will help the student to work at their own pace, either individually or as part of a small learning group
- Clinical examples will be used to illustrate the use of arithmetic so that the student can see the purpose of the exercises
- Each chapter will begin with a pre-test to allow the student to find the level at which they need to work
- Potential areas for error will be highlighted in ‘Look Out!’ boxes. At the end of each section, the student will be able to recap and test their learning. Further optional tests will be given at the end of the book
- Goes ‘back to basics’ to give the students the understanding of the subject which they can then build on throughout their studies
- Will help students to make drug calculations, calculate the body mass index (BMI) of a patient, read and interpret a blood result back from the lab, be able to interpret demographic data, and work out the nutritional intake for a patient and measure a patient’s blood pressure, pulse, and temperature
- Written by an author that has been teaching anatomy, physiology and pharmacology to nursing students for 25 years, and is well placed to understand the fears that students have when addressing numbers and maths
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