Medication dose calculation errors and other numeracy mishaps in hospitals: Analysis of the nature and enablers of incident reports

The objectives of this study were twofold: (1) To determine the predictors of performance on a medication dose calculation test in first year baccalaureate nursing students. The variables studied were: level of math anxiety; math personality; arithmetic ability; program of study; age; and the number of strategies used to prepare for a medication dose calculation test. (2) To determine the factors that affect math anxiety. The variables studied were: arithmetic ability, program of study, math personality, the number of test preparation strategies used and age. Participants consisted of a convenience sample (n = 163) from the first year of a Canadian baccalaureate nursing program. Participants completed a mathematics test, which served as a baseline measure of arithmetic ability. They also completed a series of online questionnaires on math anxiety and math personality, age and program of study (compressed program vs. collaborative program). Participants then completed a medication dose calculation test after which they were asked how many different strategies that they had used in preparation for the test. Performance on the medication dose calculation test was regressed on arithmetic ability, mathematics anxiety, program of study, mathematics personality, the number of test preparation strategies and age. Math anxiety was regressed on pretest score, program of study, math personality, the number of test preparation strategies used and age. The variables found to predict performance on the medication dose calculation test were anxiety and program of study. Of the predictors investigated, only the “Inchworm” math personality and number of test preparation strategies used by students significantly predicted anxiety. Strategies to improve nursing students’ ability to perform dosage calculations should incorporate anxiety-reducing tactics as anxiety was found to be a key predictor of performance on the medication dose calculation test. These strategies should focus on supporting students who possess an “inchworm” math personality.

Download Full-text

Using Incident Reports to Identify Vulnerabilities: A Case Study in Radiation Therapy

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e572172013-182 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Christen Lopez ◽

Laura G. Militello ◽

William S. Brown ◽

John Wreathall ◽

Julie Marble ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Radiation Therapy ◽

Incident Reports

Download Full-text

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Renal Impairment in Real-World with Large Outpatient Electronic Medical Records—Antihyperglycemic Medication Dose Adjustment

Diabetes ◽

10.2337/db18-1553-p ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 67 (Supplement 1) ◽

pp. 1553-P

Author(s):

SANG MO HONG ◽

CHEOL-YOUNG PARK

Keyword(s):

Diabetes Mellitus ◽

Type 2 Diabetes ◽

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus ◽

Renal Impairment ◽

Electronic Medical Records ◽

Real World ◽

Medical Records ◽

Dose Adjustment ◽

Medication Dose

Download Full-text

Classification of methods for generating pseudo-CT from MRI images for MRI-alone RT

Medical Technologies Journal ◽

10.26415/2572-004x-vol1iss3p54-54 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 1 (3) ◽

pp. 54

Author(s):

BOUKELLOUZ Wafa ◽

MOUSSAOUI Abdelouahab

Keyword(s):

Performance Metrics ◽

Radiation Treatment ◽

Hybrid Methods ◽

Dose Calculation ◽

Absolute Error ◽

Ct Images ◽

General Technique ◽

Therapy Field ◽

The Brain

Background: Since the last decades, research have been oriented towards an MRI-alone radiation treatment planning (RTP), where MRI is used as the primary modality for imaging, delineation and dose calculation by assigning to it the needed electron density (ED) information. The idea is to create a computed tomography (CT) image or so-called pseudo-CT from MRI data. In this paper, we review and classify methods for creating pseudo-CT images from MRI data. Each class of methods is explained and a group of works in the literature is presented in detail with statistical performance. We discuss the advantages, drawbacks and limitations of each class of methods. Methods: We classified most recent works in deriving a pseudo-CT from MR images into four classes: segmentation-based, intensity-based, atlas-based and hybrid methods. We based the classification on the general technique applied in the approach. Results: Most of research focused on the brain and the pelvis regions. The mean absolute error (MAE) ranged from 80 HU to 137 HU and from 36.4 HU to 74 HU for the brain and pelvis, respectively. In addition, an interest in the Dixon MR sequence is increasing since it has the advantage of producing multiple contrast images with a single acquisition. Conclusion: Radiation therapy field is emerging towards the generalization of MRI-only RT thanks to the advances in techniques for generation of pseudo-CT images. However, a benchmark is needed to set in common performance metrics to assess the quality of the generated pseudo-CT and judge on the efficiency of a certain method.

Download Full-text