Strategy Submission

Strategy Overview The math simulation experience is designed to meet the needs of first-semester undergraduate nursing students in a Pre-Licensure Program. The simulation is a quality improvement project within the educational setting to prepare students for future nursing semesters. The simulation is designed to improve student retention of mathematical skills which leads to safer clinical practices through accurate calculations. This simulation includes opportunities for students to practice mathematical skills learned throughout the semester (preparing oral and parenteral medications, programming IV pumps, etc.) and apply them to real-life scenarios. This application helps to better prepare students to practice safely in future clinical settings. Further, implementation of this simulation is to provide a learning experience that is non-stressful and fun. Not only will students identify areas of weakness in his or her mathematical calculation abilities, but also reduce medication errors. A nursing student that can adequately calculate medication doses will not only provide safe patient care but also decrease medication errors in the clinical setting. Strategy/Simulation Activity Students will be given the opportunity to participate in a math simulation before the dosages and solution final exam. The math simulation will have five stations (IV, oral tablets, oral liquid, household/metric conversions, & parenteral injections) with five students starting at each station (total of 25 students). Each student will be assigned a color-coded folder labeled A through E (example: Folder A is red). The students will keep the same assigned letter and color throughout the entire simulation (folders will remain at each station). Each folder will contain dosage calculation problems and student answer sheets. Students will be given 10 minutes to complete the problems and simulation. Once the student reaches the simulation aspect, the answer sheet will be given to the instructor to evaluate completion of math problems. The instructor will evaluate the simulation after grading the student’s answer sheets. Graded sheets will be collected at the end of the simulation experience. After students have completed all five stations, an evaluation form will be given to each student regarding the math simulation experience. Remediation will be offered to students who make less than 90%.