Medication calculation skills of graduating nursing students within European context.

To access publisher's full text version of this article, please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field or click on the hyperlink at the top of the page marked DownloadAim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the medication calculation skills of graduating nursing students in six European countries and analyse the associated factors. Background: Medication calculation skills are fundamental to medication safety, which is a substantial part of patient safety. Previous studies have raised concerns about the medication calculation skills of nurses and nursing students. Design: As part of a broader research project, this study applies a multinational cross-sectional survey design with three populations: graduating nursing students, nurse managers and patients. Methods: The students performed two calculations (tablet and fluid) testing medication calculation skills requiring different levels of conceptual understanding and arithmetic. The managers and patients answered one question about the students' medication kills. In total, 1,796 students, 538 managers and 1,327 patients participated the study. The data were analysed statistically. The STROBE guideline for cross-sectional studies was applied. Results: Almost all (99%) of the students performed the tablet calculation correctly, and the majority (71%) answered the fluid calculation correctly. Older age, a previous degree in health care and satisfaction with their current degree programme was positively associated with correct fluid calculations. The patients evaluated the students' medication skills higher than the nurse managers did and the evaluations were not systematically aligned with the calculation skills tested. Conclusions: Nursing students have the skills to perform simple medication calculations, but a significant number of students have difficulties with calculations involving multiple operations and a higher level of conceptual understanding. Due to the variation in students' medication calculation skills and the unalignment between the managers' and patients' evaluations and the calculation tests, further research is needed. Relevance to clinical practice: Graduating nursing students enter clinical field as qualified professionals, but there is still room for improvement in their medication calculation skills. This calls for attention in the fields of clinical nursing, education and research. Keywords: drug dosage calculations; graduating nursing students; medication calculation skills; nurse managers; patients.Academy of Finland European Commissio

Computer-aided evaluation of polarization properties of optical elements

W artykule przedstawiono metodologię i wyniki pomiarów macierzy Muellera wybranych włókien światłowodowych zrealizowanych z wykorzystaniem autorskiego, specjalistycznego oprogramowania sterującego. Oprogramowanie to umożliwia zdalny i szybki pomiar oraz automatyczne wyznaczenie interesujących wielkości fizycznych opisujących badane włókna. Pomiar macierzy Muellera przeprowadzano w konfiguracji układowej: źródło światła, specjalizowany światłowodowy generator stanu polaryzacji, badane włókno oraz polarymetr z wejściem światłowodowym.The rapid development of telecommunication and sensor technology requires more comprehensive evaluation of the optical properties of optical components used. At present it seems that in both groups of applications, obtaining information about the polarization properties of fiber-optic components used in an optical path plays an increasing role. This leads to the need for ever more sophisticated measurement techniques in which the key issue is to use a computer performing functions of control, reading and processing data. In this paper a methodology and experimental results of Mueller matrices measurements of optical fibres based on specially designed software are presented. The successive sections present: the theoretical basis of the measurement method, the measurement system, description of the library I/O - VISA and the measurement results. The developed software allows for remote and fast measurements as well as control of all devices in the measurement system. A Mueller matrix was measured based on the following configuration: a laser light source, an optical fibre polarization generator, a tested optical fibre and a polarimeter with an optical fibre adapter (Fig. 1). The presented preliminary results are satisfactory and give a very good perspective for building a measurement system that will allow for automatic characterization of not only the polarization properties of optical fibers, but also passive components made based on them. The described measurement system will be used as a base for developing the system enabling full characterization of fiber optic components with special reference to their polarizing properties