The Effects of Dimensional Analysis on the Medication Dosage Calculation Abilities of Nursing Students
type: CreativeWork
description: The purpose of this study was to examine if the use of the problem-solving method of dimensional analysis would improve the medication dosage calculation abilities of nursing students. To investigate the effectiveness of dimensional analysis, a quasi-experimental research study was designed. The 59 nursing students participating in the study included an experimental group of 30 nursing students from a diploma nursing program and a control group of 29 nursing students from an associate nursing program located in central Iowa. Two research hypotheses were proposed for this study. The first research hypothesis was: Nursing students in the experimental group who are taught dimensional analysis will demonstrate significantly greater improvement in the medication calculation pretest/post-test scores than nursing students in the control group. This hypothesis was supported (t=4,96, p=.00001). The second research hypothesis was: Nursing students in the experimental group who are taught dimensional analysis will have higher scores on the medication calculation post-test than the nursing students in the control group. This hypothesis was not supported (t=-.77, p=.78), An additional finding was a slightly inverse relationship with the number of steps and conversions in each problem when correlated with the number of correct responses on the post-test for the experimental group (steps/r=-0.476, conversions/r=-0.340), control group steps/r=-0,238, conversions/r=-0.151)~ and both groups combined (steps/r=-0.371, conversions/r=-0.253). Another finding demonstrated that there was a significant difference between the pretest scores of the experimental and control groups (t=-5.55, p=.0000f ). This was somewhat expected based on the chemistry and mathematical differences revealed on the demographic tool. The literature identified that dosage calculation deficiencies are a problem within the nursing discipline. The findings of this study are significant in that theysupport the use of d…
abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine if the use of the problem-solving method of dimensional analysis would improve the medication dosage calculation abilities of nursing students. To investigate the effectiveness of dimensional analysis, a quasi-experimental research study was designed. The 59 nursing students participating in the study included an experimental group of 30 nursing students from a diploma nursing program and a control group of 29 nursing students from an associate nursing program located in central Iowa. Two research hypotheses were proposed for this study. The first research hypothesis was: Nursing students in the experimental group who are taught dimensional analysis will demonstrate significantly greater improvement in the medication calculation pretest/post-test scores than nursing students in the control group. This hypothesis was supported (t=4,96, p=.00001). The second research hypothesis was: Nursing students in the experimental group who are taught dimensional analysis will have higher scores on the medication calculation post-test than the nursing students in the control group. This hypothesis was not supported (t=-.77, p=.78), An additional finding was a slightly inverse relationship with the number of steps and conversions in each problem when correlated with the number of correct responses on the post-test for the experimental group (steps/r=-0.476, conversions/r=-0.340), control group steps/r=-0,238, conversions/r=-0.151)~ and both groups combined (steps/r=-0.371, conversions/r=-0.253). Another finding demonstrated that there was a significant difference between the pretest scores of the experimental and control groups (t=-5.55, p=.0000f ). This was somewhat expected based on the chemistry and mathematical differences revealed on the demographic tool. The literature identified that dosage calculation deficiencies are a problem within the nursing discipline. The findings of this study are significant in that theysupport the use of d…
author: Craig, Gloria P.
language: en_US
keywords: Nursing students--Evaluation, Drugs--Dosage--Analysis, Drugs--Dose-response relationship--Evaluation, Problem-solving--Analysis
date published: 1993-11
date modified: 2026-07-27T19:20:19Z
provider: Drake University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Drake University

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2092/437