Counting on Change: Conquering Challenges in Teaching Pharmaceutical Calculations
Alexis N. Crawford, Heidi N. Anksorus, Colleen A. Clark Dula, Mary E. Fredrickson, Apryl N. Peddi, Brittany Riley, Jennifer N. Wisniewski, Sharon Wu
Abstract
All pharmacists are expected to accurately perform pharmaceutical calculations to ensure patient safety. In recent years, there have been trends in declining performance on the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination related to calculations. Understanding the cause of this decline and determining methods to correct underlying issues could benefit pharmacy administration, faculty, students, and patients. The aims of this commentary are to present the factors impacting the students' pharmaceutical calculations abilities, discuss the consequences of declining math skills, and provide a call to action for scholarship of teaching and learning pertaining to calculations, as well as increased administrative support to rectify this challenge.