Contextualising numeracy skill development and assessment in a first year undergraduate nursing subject : a mixed methods research study

Background, Undergraduate nursing students continue to perform poorly on clinically-related numeracy tasks, making errors that betray fundamental misconceptions about the underlying mathematics. Graduate nurses are also prone to error in this area but they have the benefit of performing their calculations in a real-world setting with the assistance of colleague nurses if required. These conditions are difficult to simulate in a classroom environment, but when effort is made in this direction the effects can be rewarding for students and educators. Objectives, To investigate the effect on undergraduate nursing students' learning experience and test performance of a practical, clinically contextualised numeracy workshop featuring individual and collaborative modes of assessment. Design, A mixed methods study using pre and post tests and a survey. Settings, Clinical practice classrooms at an Australian university. Participants, First year undergraduate nursing students undertaking a subject whose curriculum features medication safety and clinically-related numeracy. Methods, Administration of individual and collaborative short-answer pre and post tests, a survey, and facilitation of team-based, clinically-related numeracy activities over a 1.5 h workshop. All test marking, data collection and analysis were performed by the authors. Results, Positive responses to survey questions probing students' judgement of the effect of contextualised learning on their confidence, engagement and proficiency in nursing numeracy, as well as the value of working in a clinical setting. Significant improvement in students' performance in pre/post tests. Conclusions, Contextualised, practical and collaborative learning and assessment of nursing numeracy is valued by students and has a positive effect on their experience and performance in the content area