title: How do nurses solve drug calculation problems?
abstract: This article reports on a pilot study that examined the cognitive processes and strategies used by senior nurses to solve written drug calculation problems.
  
  
  METHODS
  Verbal protocol methodology was used to gain and analyse data from eight senior nurses now working in the education setting. The data was analysed using verbal protocol analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nurses used a range of strategies to solve the problems, not just the nursing formula. The cognitive processes of the nurses showed a larger number of steps devoted to problem representation and only a few steps devoted to actually solving the problem.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nurse educators need to consider the importance of problem representation in solving drug calculations and in particular ensure that written questions are representative of clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: University of Greenwich, Avery Hill Campus, Eltham, London, SE9 2UG, United Kingdom. k.wright@gre.ac.uk
authors.forename: Kerri
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wright
mesh_terms: D003071:Cognition; D054796:Drug Dosage Calculations; D006801:Humans; D008433:Mathematics / Q000379:methods*; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011340:Problem Solving; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis