title: Striving for a good standard of maths for potential student nurses.
abstract: This article explores some of the issues surrounding numerical competence for potential pre-registration children's nursing students, with examples of success and failure, at the University of Hertfordshire. With poor numerical ability causing concern in the UK, and the effect of low competence on patient safety when calculating drug dosages in healthcare, this article considers some of the literature surrounding numerical ability, confidence and anxiety, along with considering whether a 'C' grade at GCSE is a suitable marker for assessing numerical competence before starting a pre-registration nursing programme.
authors.affiliation: Senior Lecturer in Children's Nursing, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield.
authors.forename: Sheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: Senior Lecturer in Children's Nursing, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Campbell
mesh_terms: D004506:Education, Nursing / Q000592:standards*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D013338:Students, Nursing
keywords: Candidates; Children's nursing; Numeracy ability; Recruitment; Selection