Numeracy and nurse prescribing: do the standards achieve their aim?

The new standards of proficiency for Nurse and Midwife prescribers have been in place for 4 years and have provided a challenge for education providers and students alike. Many students find the pass mark of 100% for numeracy a frightening prospect, the way numeracy is assessed can vary across the higher education institutions adding to the complexity of the problem. Drug calculation remains a challenge for the nursing profession and the standards for numeracy assessment in nurse prescribing add more to the debate.