Book Review
Practical medication mathematics
Norman P., Norman D.
ISBN: 0 17 008928 2; 1994; 198 pages; Thomas Nelson Australia South Melbourne;
David Gilham
University of South Australia, Adelaide SA
Practical medication mathematics provides a comprehensive guide to drug dosage calculation carried out by nurses. This book would be effective for average nursing students in conjunction with guided practice in tutorial classes. The text is enhanced by provision of considerable background information on medication administration. Drug dosage questions include not only mathematical problems but realistic drug doses and appropriate patient diagnoses. The resultant effect is simulation of realistic clinical problems.
Readers are given the opportunity to improve their knowledge of medications by using the association of medications and diagnosis. This approach is particularly useful for students or qualified nurses who may be reluctant to practice purely mathematical problems. The use of diagrams and photographs is effective for a group of readers who may be more responsive to visual rather than mathematical presentation. Collectively these positive attributes ensure the text compares very favourably to other drug dosage texts available.
While the text is appropriate for average students, it does not provide a self-directed guide appropriate for nursing students in tertiary education institutions who have particular difficulty with maths. Clearly the authors do not have this intention, but educators should be aware that they cannot expect a quality text such as this to solve the problems of those students in need of remedial maths tuition. A text for such students would need to include many more worked solutions focusing on basic mathematics.
Teachers may be advised to use the answers at the back of Chapter 4 with caution. These answers are given in the form of calculator readouts and, as such, may discourage readers from practising the mathematics without a calculator. Until research indicates otherwise, it is essential that nurses retain the ability to carry out drug dosage calculations without calculators, using these only as a devise for checking. In conclusion the text is worthy of strong recommendation as it compares very favourably with other texts available. However, as noted by the authors it may be best used in conjunction with 10 hours of guided teaching. Further to this, some nursing students may require additional remedial support.
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