Description
Drug Dosage Calculations | Level 2 | Online Training Course | CPDUK Accredited | Instant Course Access | Includes Assessment & Certificate | Instant Certificate Download.
Welcome to our online Drug Dosage Calculations training course for front-line healthcare and social care providers. All our online training courses, programmes and qualifications are accredited by the CPD Certification Service (CPDUK).
Insufficient skills in drug dose calculations increase the risk of medication errors. Even experienced nurses may struggle with drug dose calculations. Learning flexibility and cost considerations make e-learning interesting as an alternative to classroom teaching.
Most nurses and other clinical staff will often be called upon to administer or supervise the administration of all types of medicines in different forms and strengths. As part of this drug calculations training course, you will learn how to do this safely and efficiently.
Certificate duration: 2 years
Entry requirements: No entry restrictions
Recommended prerequisites: N/A
Assessment type: End of course assessment
Assessment pass mark – 80% needed to pass and gain a CPD certificate
Cost(s) of assessment and certification – All costs included in the course price
Awarding/Accrediting body – CPD Certification Service (CPDUK)
Who is the course for?
This online Drug Dosage Calculations training course should be completed by those who work in health and social care services, including:
- NHS medical, nursing, AHP and care staff
- Locum doctors and nurses
- Locum allied health professionals (AHPs)
- Agency nurses
- Agency workers
- Healthcare Assistants
- Support workers
- Care assistants
- Nursery staff
- Teaching staff
- Community services.
What is covered in this course?
This Drug Dosage Calculations e-learning course covers the following:
- Introduction to drug dosage calculations,
- Why are drug calculations important?
- Double-checking calculations,
- Numeracy and drug calculations,
- S.I. units of measurement,
- Commonly used abbreviations for drug calculations,
- Top tips about drug calculations and administration,
- Converting units of weight and volume,
- Drug dosage calculations and conversions,
- Converting drug measurements,
- Converting units of weight and volume,
- Standard dosage calculations,
- Calculating drug concentrations,
- Worked calculations of drug concentrations,
- Ratios for drug calculations,
- Worked out examples of ratios,
- Calculating oral doses in tablets,
- Worked calculations of oral doses in tablets,
- Drugs in liquid form,
- Worked out examples of drugs in liquid form,
- Calculating oral doses for children and neonates,
- Worked calculations of oral doses for children and neonates,
- Calculating IV drug doses,
- Worked calculation of IV drug doses,
- Calculating drip rates for gravity flow infusions,
- Worked out calculations of drip rates for gravity flow infusions,
- Calculating infusion rates for infusion devices,
- Worked calculations of infusion rates for infusion devices,
- Calculating rates for syringe drivers,
- Worked examples of calculating rates for syringe drivers,
- Calculating IV drug doses for children and neonates,
- Worked calculation of IV drug doses for children and neonates,
- Summary,
- Key points to remember,
- References and resources, and
- Online course assessment.
Comprehensive examples and exercises are included at the end of each lesson.
Course aims
The main aim of this Drug Dosage Calculations e-learning course is to improve the skills of nurses and other healthcare staff so that they know how to calculate drug dosages accurately and avoid drug errors.
During your career, you will often be called upon to administer or supervise the administration of several types of medicines.
As part of this drug dosage calculations course, you will be shown how to do this safely and efficiently. However, the achievement of this aim requires the development of a certain degree of mathematical skill. The required level is not high, but attaining it is necessary to ensure that the safety of patients is not compromised.
Learning outcomes
On completion of this online Drug Dosage Calculations training online course, the learner will:
- Understand the need for basic arithmetical skills in drug calculations and demonstrate competency in this area using interactive exercises,
- Avoid drug errors by adopting a standardised approach to drug dose calculations, including converting between different SI units,
- Ultimately prevent patient injury or harm as a consequence of drug errors, and
- Know how to record and report drug dosage errors in practice.
What are drug calculations?
Drug calculations involve the basic arithmetic operations to measure and ascertain exact drug/medication dosages as per prescription, including addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. In some clinical areas, some drug calculations can also include more advanced operations, such as manipulations of percentages, square roots, exponentiation, and logarithmic functions depending on how the medications or drugs have been prescribed or in line with local guidance or protocols.
Most nurses and other clinical staff will often be called upon to administer or supervise the administration of all types of medicines in different forms and strengths. As part of this drug calculations training course, you will learn how to do this safely and efficiently. However, the achievement of this aim requires the development of a certain degree of basic mathematical skills. The required level of basic mathematics is not high, but attaining it is necessary to ensure that the safety of patients is not compromised.
It is important to note that drug calculations appear to be impossibly difficult unless you break them down into small steps. They are vitally important to get right, yet so easy to get wrong. This online drug calculations course will now look at some commonly used drug calculations and the way that mistakes can happen.
This drug calculations training course covers a variety of numeracy based tasks which nurses, midwives and other clinical staff may be required to perform in practice. These include drug calculations and setting drip rates on the controls of intravenous infusion controllers.
Why is this online Drug Dosage Calculations training course important?
Nursing competence in drug calculations has been a cause for concern (Duffin, 2000; Coombes, 2000). Hutton (1998a) suggests that a degree of ‘de-skilling’ has resulted from the increasing user-friendliness of drug preparations and widespread use of electronic drip counters.
The lack of basic math skills can be a major problem when it comes to nurses administering drugs to patients, often with very serious consequences. Poor drug calculations are still a significant source of drug error. Evidence has shown that many nurses are weak with drug calculations of all sorts. This comprehensive drug calculations course will help to review the major concepts related to drug calculations, help walk you through a few exercises and provide a few exercises you can perform on your own to check your skills. There are many reference books available to review basic math skills if you find that you have difficulty with even the basic conversion exercises.
