Improved math education for student nurses could avert some safety events

The majority of nursing student errors appear to involve medication administration, and the majority of those errors stem from dosing calculations. This finding is based on early data collected by the Safe Student Reports (SSR) Research Study, a national web-based network for anonymous reporting of student errors and near misses. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) makes SSR available to prelicensure nursing programs free of charge in exchange for taking part in the research study. In light of this preliminary finding, NCSBN is collaborating with the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) Math Education for Nurses Task Force to explore strategies for improving math education for nurses.