statistically significant difference was found between the
Registered Nurses and nursing students in their overall drug
calculation ability. This was particularly concerning as these
Registered Nurses were experienced, skilled and often senior
Nurses who were being trained to prescribe medicines. This
result seemed to be in conflict with the novice-to-expert
model of Benner (1984), which assumes a positive relationship
between experience and levels of competence. Yet, in our
study, the experienced nurses were found to be equally
competent in performing drug calculations as the novice/
advanced beginner nursing students.