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As an instructor of medical math for veterinary assistants and technicians, I have searched high and low, far and wide, for the perfect math textbook, and… it doesn’t exist. Even if I wrote my own math book, it would not be perfect. Even if it was perfect for my usages within the classroom, it certainly wouldn’t be perfect for EVERYONE. Why? Math teachers are different; math learners are different. We are all shaped by our previous educational experiences, learning styles, and current practices. So it is difficult to write a completely objective review of this, or any, book designed to be used for teaching and learning math skills. Therefore my best recommendation to both math teachers and math learners is to read and use several different books (and other resources). You may find “the one” that you really like, or you may find that there are aspects of several that “work for you” and other aspects that don’t.
With that said, Dr. Bill’s math textbook is one of a few that I use in my classes. Here’s why:
The first chapter is a self-assessment exercise. Learners are asked to work arithmetic problems with decimal numbers, fractions, and percentages, and problems that solve for “X” (basic algebra). The answers to the self-assessment questions are provided so that learners can decide if they are ready to jump straight into medical math calculations or if they need review of these concepts first.
Chapters two through five contain a review of basic concepts and each section within the chapters includes a set of practice problems, again with answers provided, as well as a summary set of problems at the end of each chapter. The remaining chapters cover calculations relevant to clinical practice: dosage calculations and measurements (metric and non-metric systems), drug labels and medication orders, intravenous infusions, and a few miscellaneous calculations such as dilutions and temperature conversions. As in the early chapters, there are sets of practice problems for each section of material as well as a summary set of problems at the end of each chapter. These are, for the most part, basic pharmacy math problems. As a medical math fundamentals text, I find this coverage to be more than adequate.
Not covered are more advanced problems such as constant rate drug infusions, or calculations performed in other areas of clinical practice such as clinical pathology, feeding/nutrition, and inhalational anesthesia. Learners will find these in other, subject-specific texts for veterinary staff. I also found a few minor problems with this book. First, there are no answer keys for the end-of-chapter problems. Although the logic of not providing the answers may be understandable as some learners may be tempted to peek at the answer BEFORE attempting to solve the problem on their own, I have found many people are frustrated by the inability to check their work as they go. Not providing answer keys also makes it difficult for independent learners to monitor their own progress.
There are some mistakes in the end-of-chapter problems for Chapter Eight, “Dose Calculations and Syringe Measurements.” One question is missing drug concentration information, and another question about doses for two patients actually uses three different patient names. I believe that these are editing issues as the questions have been revised from the first edition of this book, and in the process of revision, some information appears to have been missed. Personally, I wish that the more complicated, multi-part word problems were broken down a bit instead of written in paragraph form. Finally, the smaller “pocket” size of this book is generally a plus, but in some instances is not conducive to a clear layout and formatting for complex problems. It is challenging to read an equation or step in a solution that takes up more than one line of text, making chapter five, “Solving for the Unknown Value X” a little more confusing than it might already be for someone who hasn’t done algebra for “X” number of years!
None of these issues are deal-breakers for me as an instructor and lifelong learner and I consider this little book very useful and usually user-friendly. As an instructor, I will continue to use and recommend it to veterinary technician students as well as veterinarians, veterinary technicians, veterinary assistants, and others who want to learn or refresh their medical math skills.
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell (2009).
425 pg; soft cover.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8138-2363-8.
Editor’s note: See also the VIN Review of this book.